eyoung3sm

My 2008 C6 with vented / cross drilled rotors needs the brakes changed for the first time today - but without even being turned once they need to be replaced. I bought high performance hawk ceramics to replace the pads but I cannot believe I need to change the rotors out each time? At a $1,000 a pop (all parts and labor) it is ridiculous.

How do other forum members find ways to get around this costly occurrence and still get reasonable braking performance?

Metal Skull

kedar

My 2010 vette w/ f55 (cross drilled rotors) has 22k miles. My stock brakes still have life left, but I have started looking into my options. Considering dba rotors (5000 series front and 4000 series rear) and carbotech pads. Doing the brake job yourself (not tough) is a sure way to save money.

eyoung3sm

Thanks - don't really have the tools anymore to do this type of work. I did see the DBA rotors after a search, this time going with original GM replacements because I really wasn't ready to scrap them the first time I got brakes.

DSOMC6

Who told you that you need new rotors? Did you measure them yourself to see if they are within spec? Unless they are cracked or you track the car, I doubt the rotors are worn (with that few miles) to a point of needing replaced.

wayback

All you need is a lug wrench, and a few metric wrenches. Heck even an adj wrench would work. Very easy job.

I went with DBA rotors and Hawk Ceramic pads. Have over 40,000 miles on them and have lots of pad left.

Dale1990

How many miles on the rotors and what are their current thicknesses?

The simplest answer for saving money would be to catch one of the forum vendors when they are having a sale and install the new pads/rotors yourself. Changing brakes on a Corvette is about as easy as it gets.

kedar

How many miles can we get out of the gm cross drilled rotors (no track use)?

mikeCsix

The only reason I see for changing rotors would be to go to a lighter 2-piece rotor. The factory rotors are cost effective and work well. I tracked my '08 last year for the first time and after 4 sessions, had plenty of pad and the rotors were in great shape (both original equipment). By the second session I was well versed in threshold braking, so I wasn't easy on them. Had 12k on the car when I trade for my GS. IMHO, the OEM installation gave me plenty of performance.

Unless you are tracking the car, you may want to reconsider the Hawk Ceramics. Is there a GM version of ceramic pads that may be more cost effective and produce less brake dust?

eyoung3sm

I saw the micrometer reading and it came in at 937 (according to my mechanic minimum is 980). If they are not being truthful I will need to change mechanics obviously.

eyoung3sm

Would also need a floor jack and jack stands and it's been a long time since I wrenched on cars and don't want to screw up my baby.

DSOMC6

Here's the min thickness on oem "solid" rotors for an 05-07:
Front 1.19" or 30.3mm
Rear 0.965" or 24.5mm

Maybe someone can chime-in with the tollerances for drilled.

greengo

As Elmer Fudd would say.......Be Berry Berry Careful!
The Mercedes Benz dealer told my daughter she needed 4 new rotor's and all new pads.. $2600
I took her car to a top notch mechanic friend of mine who had the rotors turned and new pads on all 4 wheels (mercedes parts).....she walked out with a total cost of $480... labor included !

BC427

Minimum thickness is stamped on the inside of each rotor. Required by law.
I still did not see how many miles were on these rotors. Even in LA traffic I would suspect 30,000 plus miles and even then rotors more than likely would not need to be replaced. Turned maybe.

cclive

I must have missed where we found out the mileage on the brakes...

Nd4spd2

I have 53000 miles on my 08 and still plenty of pad left and the rotors looks good. Haven't miked them though.

eyoung3sm

30k miles. ok can anyone recommend a good Vette mechanic in south Orange County California? I use the local mechanic for my general stuff but I'm unsure they are qualified for my car.

theofel

I've got 58,000 miles and rotors are still good.

Bill Dearborn

If the minimum thickness isn't on the back side of the rotor it will be stamped along the outside edge of the rotor. The minimums stated above are good enough numbers to work with since the calipers can only take a specific max thickness. How does he get 980 or even 937 when he should be reading in the 30 mm or 1 inch plus range? Is he talking thousandths of an inch? That still doesn't line up since 980 would be a lot lower than the minimums stated above. I have no idea what that number means but it sure doesn't look like it correlates with the minimum thickness requirements of the stock rotors. Doesn't matter whether the drilled ones may have a different minimum it won't be that much different than the solid rotors. Don't pay for anything until you find out what the H he is talking about.

BEZ06

All OE C6 rotors have the same new and discard thickness spec (except the ZR1 carbon ceramic rotors - they have minimum weight spec):

Front: new thickness 32mm or 1.26inches; discard 30.3mm or 1.19inches

Rear: new 26m or 1.02inches; discard 24.5mm or 0.965inches

Take a look at one of the front rotors off my Z06:




That stock rotor has seen at least 30,000 miles of street driving, but it's also seen a lot of track time with aggressive track pads from HP Plus, DTC70, to XP12's, which will wear down rotors much faster than a more mild street pad.

The front rotors start out 32mm thick, and the rotor discard thickness spec in the Service Manual is 30.3mm.

In the pic above you can see a pronounced lip on the edge (well...it's not a great pic, it's from my iPhone, which is the quickest/easiest way to get a pic online!).

The thickness of the firepath on that rotor is 31.4mm, i.e. it's only about 1/3 of the way worn down to discard thickness.

You can wear down a stock front rotor 1.7mm, and that's more than 1/16th of an inch!!! That would be a lip of more than 1/32nd of an inch on each side of the rotor before it's down to discard thickness.

I'm wondering the same thing as Bill - what is that "937" number???

If that's the thickness of the rear rotor in thousandths of an inch, which has a discard thickness of 0.965 inches, then your rotor has a HUGE lip on it!!!!

Front rotors typically wear faster/more than the rears, so your fronts must be really worn out!!!!

However, I really doubt your rotors are that bad at 30K miles unless you've been running a very aggressive pad compound and running lots of track sessions.

When running rotors on the track I usually have them crack before they get too thin.

Just MHO, YMMV!

Bob