timd38

Rotor life and driving habits go hand and hand. $1,000 to put pads and rotors on a car sound like a bad deal to me. Before I changed to Wilwoods, I did not spend much more and used Baer two piece rotors that are priced far higher than the junk Z51 rotors.

DSOMC6

I'm in Laguna Niguel as well. PM me if you want to stop over and we can take a quick measurement. I'm home after 3pm.

jackhall99

Ya gotta learn Elmer speak better if you are going to quote him!

It is "Be vewwy, vewwy caweful".

68/70Vette

For these dealer quotes, get on the forum and ask for information. The local Cadillac dealer wanted $738 to replace the spark plug wires and spark plugs on my 95 Seville. What!!!! I posed this situation on cadillacforums.com and from the responses I got, it was a very simple job. I just opened the hood, removed 4 10mm bolts from a bracket (easily accessible) and by hand replaced the plugs and wires. (Did have the spark plug socket). I t was a completely stand up and bend over operation with the hood up. I prefer not to work on my DD's since I work slow and am sometimes a little uncertain as to what I'm doing. But with $738 quotes, I just have to do it myself. I spent $170 for the best plugs and wires I could buy. Maybe an hour of my time. If I had done it before, maybe 15 minutes.

User 2623

Cross Drilled Rotors
--------------------
in millimeters
...........|...Min....|..... Discard.....|
Fronts:.|...30.6 ..|......30.3.........
Rear.....|...24.9...|......24.5.........

in inches
...........|...Min....|..... Discard.....|
Fronts:.|............|......1.193....... ..
Rear.....|............|.........965..... ....

So you need rotors don't putz around .....
But you should have gotton brake squeal at that measurment.

IMHO

usraptor

I'd take DSOMC6 up on his offer before I spent that kind of money. Good luck!

bullitr

My z51 front rotors was 1187 I was told that it needs to be discarded already since the minimum is 1200+
What's the thickness of the new front rotor should be ?

HOXXOH

I had 51,000 on my originals ('08) and then turned them to approximately their half-life. I swap back and forth with base brake rotors during racing season, so the F55 rotors now have around 75K and the base ones nearly 25K.

To totally kill rotors without racing or other abuse, it'd probably take upwards of 75K.

AtHomeSoda

Z51 cross drilled here, had them turned at 32,000 miles, plenty thick enough, and put on NAPA Ceramic pads, love them, no dust and stop great. A couple of hours work and about $300.

2006c6keller

You have recieved some very good advice above. Brakes pads are not difficult to change out, especially with daily drivers (DD). On a DD with not excessive braking such as autocross or road racing, the OEM pads will last a long time and the rotors also. Unless you are driving and braking hard, it is not unusual to get this high mileage (75K+) and still able to use the old rotors. Especially on the first or second pad change and you have an extremely small ridge on sides of the rotors, very unlikely that the rotors need to be changed out unless cracked. Again, everything is based on the type of driving you do - light or hard (road racing or autocross). So, type of driving is critical.

You can even "mike" (micrometer) the rotors when they are on the car without having to remove them; if they pass the mimimum tolarances and are not groved badly (from heavy road dirt and gravel impregnated in the pads to score the rotors), you can only replace the pads. The hardest part is getting the bolts and threaded pins out (cracked loose) but more just getting the correct wrench angles on the bolts, etc., not that hard. Of course, you need a jack and jack stands for safety. Hopefully, this will calm some of the fears of some of the individuals who are reluctant to tackle the easy problem of replacing pads, etc.

PS: Since you will be replacing the pads, use a large screwdriver to pry the pistons back into the brake calipers (put screwdriver between the pad and rotor and pry back - be sure to loosen master cylinder cap and even remove some fluid (tip: this a good time to replace brake fluid) since they have moved out to take up the wear from the old pads. Remember to lube the pins for easy caliper floating of the pads for centering when driving and off the brakes. With the new pads, there will not be alot of clearance so get the pistons fully recessed in the calipers - might not be able to get the new pads in.

Hopefully, this will help, there are many ways to tackle problems and has been noted above in other posts. This is mostly loosening and tightening bolts, prying pistons, jacking, lubing pins, etc.

Walt White Coupe

A $10 micrometer from Harbor Freight could be worth it's weight in gold.

jerry garrison

I have noticed your interest in the dba rotors and carbotech pads. I already have the pads but looking for rotors, preferably dba. Just curios if you still went with those and if so if your happy with the setup? Thank you, jerry

Mad*Max

my 07 has regular rotors (not cross drilled) with 70k miles and the braking is still solid with original pads, no pulsation at all while braking

gsflyer2011

And a hardened sockets and a torque wrench. Those caliper bolts are tough to loosen up and need ( if i remember correctly 125 or more ft lbs) and the wheels 100 ft lbs) it would be a good investment, after tools you still would save money on labour.

buckmeister2

If you have the time, go to another shop and ask them to check the thickness on the same rotor and give you their opinion as to what needs to be done, if anything.

I have not seen a micrometer used for brakes in some time...most the guys I know use
digital calipers. Customers can watch them measure, and see the reading as the caliper is on the rotor. Nothing wrong with a micrometer, though.

Kenny94945

Define short life?
40K mileage I think is good life on a C6.

Parts and labor for $1000 is close.
Price a Benz AMG two piece front rotor if you wish to raise your blood pressure.

Turning the rotors reduces there heat resilience, so I always replace instead of turn.

How do I lower the cost? Use the internet for parts and install myself.

rado63

If you are concerned about changing the rotors and pads yourself, it is rather simple to do, and there are plenty of people here on the forum that will talk you through it.

Also I understand that many shops don't like to resurface cross drilled rotors, because it can damage their equipment in the process.

If you went shopping for stock cross drilled rotors, I am sure they are available for less than $300? Haven't shopped for them lately, but the OEM rotors are not that expensive.

Pads are $100-150 front and rear. save yourself $500 and do it yourself. Also need some brake fluid $5-$10.

Need to get the car up on jack stands, lifted at the correct jacking points.

CadVette

I bought new Brakemotive pads and drilled and slotted rotors off EBay for $260.00. I was sceptical at first due to the cheap price, but for street use they are just fine. I put them on myself.