PLAIN AND SIMPLE....
my calipers are fine...
all 4 sets of pads are very thick still...look almost new...
rotors are thick and straight but appear to be "glazed"
the brakes seem to "fade" if i stay on them too long...

i am going to turn the rotors soon and am wondering if the pads would be glazed too?
either way...when i turn the rotors should i...
just put the pads back in?
scuff up the pads and reuse them?
replace all the pads?

 

Well ... the "ASE answer" is put in new pads, too. Hard to argue much with that, given that brakes are kind of important to your continued existence, and pads don't cost that much.

HOWEVER. In my younger, poorer days, I used to salvage "good" pads from customers' cars I worked on. I took a little sandpaper and scuffed up the pads that still had wear left (assuming they hadn't been contaminated with brake fluid, oil, grease, brake cleaner, etc.), and put them on my car - I don't think I paid for brake pads until I graduated from college. I never had a problem with them. I don't recommend that today, but that was my experience.

 

First off, I don't believe in grinding rotors, period....even shark rotors...
if they have really really deep grooves in them, replace them...in pairs...
if you don't like the pads, just replace them with good stock type pads...I personally don't care a whole lot for Performance Friction pads....I think a stock type is best for street use...keeps rotor wear down...damn rotors are 80 bux each American made....pads are poopie cheap...

GENE

 

I second mrvette's opinion. I never have rotors trued. I tied performance friction once... wasn't impressed and they squeeled no matter what I didto try to fix it. :U

 

i find this very interesting...i am 50 yrs old and although I DO NOT CLAIM TO BE A MECHANIC BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION...i have been "monkeying" around with cars all my life...
i have never heard anybody say that they didnt believe in turning rotors...
hhhmmm...i dont mean any offense by this, nor am i saying that your opinion is incorrect...i just have never heard anybody say this before...
i would love to hear more opinions on this issue...
thanx

 

Signguy, I started some decades ago when I found out with my own first car a '60 vette, that it cost me damn near a weeks wages to get my car fixed....
so a few trips to Sears and I had a tool set ...having allready had a voltmeter...time to get self edjemakated....

so I noticed from the early daze of cars the standard rotor thickness for most any decent car was 1.25 inches vented, iron...wether on a shark or a GTO or a Grandville/Bonneville/Caddy whatever...Dodge van/truck....

now a daze it seems they want to put non vented rotors on these super light cars, to reduce mass and weight and such other design considerations..but at a sacrifice in durability....they most allways warp....even the 3/4 to one inch thick vented ones....and they are not redo able....best thing to do is sandpaper them down with a jitterbug, if that....
I have been just replacing pads for decades on cars, never touch the rotors, even if slightly grooved, the pads wear in and it's no sweat....
never have a warped rotor either.....
any metal taken off a rotor weakens the heat dissipation abilities of the rotor, and negates the braking performance...

if you notice any professional race car...the brakes....1.25 inch thick iron vented rotors....about 13-15 whatever diameter they can do.....
sharks may be a bit lacking in the diameter/swept area...but certainly good enough for the street.....look at the C4 and C5 groups to ask about warping on rotors.....any heavy duty driving and i'ts a problem...but not on a shark....

GENE

 

funny story to emphasise my point on brakes....

I do this horrendously stupid move, coming on the freeway over a bridge near me...take sharkey up to 130 plus mph...check mirrors for traffic and cops...failing to notice that white car up ahead said COPS...POLICE on it untill he sees me slamming down on him by about 60 mph faster than he was going...so we in a brake lite contest.....I"m even with him and steady on my brakes he had to let up and pump several times, from 70....ME from 130 was in a steady decel mode all along....no fade whatsoever....
needless to say his cruiser is heavier, but being considerable newer also had those silly undersized rotors, bet on it....not to mention all that cop gear they carry, ton of lead....

GENE