[imaxxedout]

Alright, so a few days ago my SVX starts making a HORRIBLE grinding noise from the back drivers side wheel whenever I apply the brakes. Well, I figured that it was a chunk of rust... my rear rotors are really bad... and I figured a chunk sorta fell off and got caught between the rotor and the rear rotor 'cover' (the gravel protector thing)... anyway, I pulled my wheel off two days ago and MAN, my pad is just GONE. It's metal on metal. So basically, its ruining my rotor, which isn't a big deal at all because I was planning on getting new ones. :| However, here's the rub, I was planning on getting new rotors/pads in the SPRING, not in the winter.... right now I'm quasi tight on cash, and this sucks. Well, I found some EXTREMELY cheap rotors on nopi.com... here they are:

http://www.nopionline.com/index.cfm?...0Disc&vaffid=0

What do you guys think? Only 30 bucks each! :0

Think I should go for it? Or spend 180 and get slotted nickel cad plated rotors like my current front rotors?

- Ca$h

[Nimisys]

first off can your current rotors be turned (resurfaced)? and how badly rutted are they? chances are, as long as they are not warped, they can be used with a new set of pads without problems until you can afford to get the good ones in the spring.

i would not go cheap on brake rotors, espiccaly on a heavy svx.

[imaxxedout]

Me neither, but with rent (400 a month) plus bills plus gas plus tuition I'm low on $ at the moment... so I just want it to work until spring, when I'll probably afford to get good rotors/pads.

- Ca$h

[Nimisys]

like i said as long as the rotors aren;t too badly gouged or wapred you can still use them with new ppads as an intermediate fix. try taking them to a machine shop and see if they can be turned

[awaspaas]

Andy's levelheaded conservative proposal: get a set of middle-of-the-road (i.e. not bargain basement, but not nickel cad) rotors, put them through your next couple pad changes, then have enough saved up for the really nice ones. I'm all about putting ho-hum middle of the road brakes on my car, but that's just me!

[PowerMatt]

Originally posted by awaspaas:
Andy's levelheaded conservative proposal: get a set of middle-of-the-road (i.e. not bargain basement, but not nickel cad) rotors, put them through your next couple pad changes, then have enough saved up for the really nice ones. I'm all about putting ho-hum middle of the road brakes on my car, but that's just me!

Put cheap new pads on until summer and don't worry about the rotors, unless you are having trouble stopping. You will wreck the pads but if you are going to put on performance rotors you will want new pads anyway. The rear brakes don't provide much stopping power anyway so you should be in the clear until you have the Ca$h (no pun intended).

[benb]

Originally posted by Nimisys:
first off can your current rotors be turned (resurfaced)? and how badly rutted are they? chances are, as long as they are not warped, they can be used with a new set of pads without problems until you can afford to get the good ones in the spring.

i would not go cheap on brake rotors, espiccaly on a heavy svx.

Ah dude, apparantly you don't know too much about cars. Rotors can only be turned down to a certain amount. His caliper piston was contacting the rotor. He would be EXTREMELY lucky if he could have it turned. The thing is probably deeply scored.

-----

Ca$h,

Sorry pal, but your in for a complete (rear at least) brake job. Your rotor is toast, which means you need 2. You cannot do one. And you will need pads for both, and a most likely new caliper on the side that lost the pad. Don't go cheap on the brakes, do it right. There is too much at stake with the brakes.

Regards,
Ben

[PowerMatt]

Originally posted by benb:
AHis caliper piston was contacting the rotor.

Probably not. I have never seen the piston directly contact the rotor. Usually there is a metal plate on the pad that prevents this from happening. However, if the piston was in direct contact with the rotor, new calipers might be on the menu.

[benb]

Originally posted by PowerMatt:
Put cheap new pads on until summer and don't worry about the rotors, unless you are having trouble stopping. You will wreck the pads but if you are going to put on performance rotors you will want new pads anyway. The rear brakes don't provide much stopping power anyway so you should be in the clear until you have the Ca$h (no pun intended).

No way. The caliper is probably gone as well. The rotor might be cracked, or massively instable. The rears provide about 20-30% of stopping power, and he could upset the brake bias by following your advice.

I generally like to do things as cheap as possible, but what you are proposing is ignorant, stupid, and worse, grossly unsafe. Do it right, or don't do it. For your safety, and the safety of others who share the road with you.

Regards,
Ben

[benb]

Originally posted by PowerMatt:
Probably not. I have never seen the piston directly contact the rotor. Usually there is a metal plate on the pad that prevents this from happening. However, if the piston was in direct contact with the rotor, new calipers might be on the menu.

Ok, I understood him to mean the pad is completely gone, nonexistant. If this is the case, the piston would very well be contacting the rotor. If not, the backing plate would be contacting the rotor. Either way the rotor is toast.

Regards,
Ben

[awaspaas]

Originally posted by benb:
Ok, I understood him to mean the pad is completely gone, nonexistant. If this is the case, the piston would very well be contacting the rotor. If not, the backing plate would be contacting the rotor. Either way the rotor is toast.

Regards,
Ben

It would have to be grinding for many many weeks to make it all the way through the steel backing on the brake pad - that's why it's there. I stand by my levelheaded conservative proposal.

[PowerMatt]

Originally posted by benb:
Do it right, or don't do it. For your safety, and the safety of others who share the road with you.

How could not doing it make the roads safe for him and us?

Why my proposed method is not "ignorant, stupid, etc."
1. He has only been hearing the noise for a few days. So chances are that his rotor has not cracked. (If it is cracked then it most definately needs replacing, and as you said, probably the calipers as well.)
2. Unless the brake cylander is leaking (a lot) or the rotor is cracked, the chances of upsetting the bias are very slim. If the rotor is just pitted from the metal of the backing plate on the pad, and the caliper is fine, then this is a non issue.
3. I am not trying to get Cash killed.

[benb]

Originally posted by awaspaas:
It would have to be grinding for many many weeks to make it all the way through the steel backing on the brake pad - that's why it's there. I stand by my levelheaded conservative proposal.

Possibly true, but what does this have to do with the rotors? The rotors are in question here, and possibly the calipers, depending on how much of the pad was actually gone. The remains of the pad are not significant, except to asses the damage to the caliper piston. Either way, new rotors are in order.

Regards,
Ben

[Nimisys]

Originally posted by benb:
Ah dude, apparantly you don't know too much about cars. Rotors can only be turned down to a certain amount. His caliper piston was contacting the rotor. He would be EXTREMELY lucky if he could have it turned. The thing is probably deeply scored.
Regards,
Ben

don't kid your self. of cource rotors can only be turned down so far. however even when the studs that hold the pads to their backing plates come in contact withthe rotor they don;t instally start deep gouging. most likly it is gouged but still lightly. the minimum thinkness of that rotor will be stamped onto the rotor along with the car's minimum in a shop manual of some sort ( FSM, Haynes, Chiltons, etc), you take a dial inidicator to the lowest spost you can find and check to see if it could be turned. any decent machine shop could tell him if he gives them the mininums.

EVEN in the event that the rotor is gouged to deep to be turned (which isn't impossible) new pads will still function, but will dust m re and be slightly less effective and will also wear faster because of the groves. they wil also continue the rotor damage, but will stop the vehicle. also you will never see a car go all the way throught hte pads, the packing plate and to the caliper piston, as many pistons wil not extend so far as to touch the rotor by them selves.

[Nimisys]

Originally posted by benb:
Possibly true, but what does this have to do with the rotors? The rotors are in question here, and possibly the calipers, depending on how much of the pad was actually gone. The remains of the pad are not significant, except to asses the damage to the caliper piston. Either way, new rotors are in order.

Regards,
Ben

the calipers will be fine. there is no chance of damage to them. the rotors themselves will have light to medmium gouging at the most. rear brakes don't have near the clamping force of the fronts.

[Cubeoid]

My cousin once had an online SVX parts dealership (kinetic concepts). But it's gone now.

[PowerMatt]

Good post Nimisys!

[imaxxedout]

Originally posted by benb:
Ah dude, apparantly you don't know too much about cars. Rotors can only be turned down to a certain amount. His caliper piston was contacting the rotor. He would be EXTREMELY lucky if he could have it turned. The thing is probably deeply scored.

-----

Ca$h,

Sorry pal, but your in for a complete (rear at least) brake job. Your rotor is toast, which means you need 2. You cannot do one. And you will need pads for both, and a most likely new caliper on the side that lost the pad. Don't go cheap on the brakes, do it right. There is too much at stake with the brakes.

Regards,
Ben

No, the caliper is not touching the rotor....

ack.

I hate it when people misinterpret. The PAD part is gone...hte metal part of the pad is still there.

Basically, its using the metal base of the pad as the pad.

Comprehende? In other words, my caliper is fine, my rotor is ugly, and I could definitely just throw new pads on until spring....

- Ca$h

[imaxxedout]

Originally posted by benb:
No way. The caliper is probably gone as well. The rotor might be cracked, or massively instable. The rears provide about 20-30% of stopping power, and he could upset the brake bias by following your advice.

I generally like to do things as cheap as possible, but what you are proposing is ignorant, stupid, and worse, grossly unsafe. Do it right, or don't do it. For your safety, and the safety of others who share the road with you.

Regards,
Ben

The caliper piston is not touching hte rotor. If that were the case, I'm POSITIVE that the rubber seals next to the caliper piston would be destroyed, and I'd lose all my brake fluid.

- Ca$h

[imaxxedout]

Originally posted by awaspaas:
It would have to be grinding for many many weeks to make it all the way through the steel backing on the brake pad - that's why it's there. I stand by my levelheaded conservative proposal.

I would say more like months. These are the original rotors and 2nd set of pads, and the car has 142k on it. Rear brakes don't do much.

- Ca$h

[imaxxedout]

The only thing I'm worried about is brake drag. Are disc brakes supposed to have a tiny bit of drag? I hithte brakes, and it grinds... right? Right... then I let off the brakes, and i can hear "shck....schk...schk...schk schk...shck...." gradually quieter and quieter. I hope hte caliper isnt sticking, that'd suck.

- Ca$h

[Nimisys]

sounds more like a slightly warped rotor... and no disk brakes should not drag

[imaxxedout]

The rears are a tiny bit warped, hence my reasoning for planning on getting new ones in the spring. They're hte original rear rotors. 142k on em. Heh. THIN and beat the hell up.

Oh well, I guess I'll get some more of these and be low on cash.... :




www.raceconcepts.net If you guys are in the market, these are great. Nickel plated so they stay fresh looking, slotted to release gas, and dimple drilled for looks (avoid cross drilled rotors). I've had them in front for 10k miles, with a few hard stops from 130-about 60mph, no warpage. They have a ton of applications for htem, and they'll usually give you a deal on the price.

- Ca$h

[Nimisys]

most modern rotors are gasless actually