Rear Disc Brake Rotor Damage

[Rereonehundred]

My daughter now lives in a different city, and I don’t get to see her car very often. 2007 Accord SE with rear disc brakes. Since I’ve always serviced her car, she now just drives it until it breaks.

So the left rear inboard brake pad wore beyond it’s friction material, so the steel backing of the pad has ground on the rotor.

The rotor, of course, looks quite ugly on the inboard side.

I have noticed that the ceramic pad material is pretty good at “in situ machining” of rotor surfaces. I think the rotors wear as much as the pads. To save her some money, I’m considering installing some ceramic pads and seeing what happens to the ugly rotor’s surface.

It might just rip up the pad, somewhat shorten pad life, or bed in reasonably well.

This is certainly an overly economical approach to brake repair, but I’m a bit curious too.

Has anyone out there executed this approach and can share the result?

Topic

[Jon Hart]

Personally I would never do this and for the cost of new discs I Dont see why anyone else would either.

If I was going to do it i’d want to check the disc run out first to make sure the disc is not warped i’d also want to clean the rotor up as best i could before hand.

[Matthew Ross]

I agree with Fmvxx.

New rotors start at $10. http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1433638,parttype,1896

I tend to buy Akebono ceramic brake pads, which aren’t cheap. I wouldn’t want to risk ruining new pads on a damaged rotor.

[Rereonehundred]

Thanks guys. I agree it is a crass “repair”.

I’m just curious about the abilities of the ceramic pads.

[none]

Some have gotten away with it if the pads were just starting to grind into the rotor. Most wind up replacing the pads and (this time) rotors within a month or two. The car would stop, but the pads will get chewed up by the damaged rotor. Braking efficiency will be reduced some because there will be a lot of that pad material with nothing to bite into. Every low spot in that damaged rotor is a place where the pads aren’t doing their job. That can sometimes cause pulsations and vibrations like a warped rotor. I have a lot of conversations with customers where I’m selling them an expensive brake repair with the same damage and they always say, “But my kid/hubby/drinking buddy just put new pads in it last week.” Then they think I’m supposed to find a way to salvage their newly destroyed pads. Long story short, there’s no money saved in buying new pads twice.

[Rereonehundred]

Thanks. That sounds like the voice of experience and reason.

[Ingvar]

There is really nothing ceramic in “ceramic” pads and definitely no ability to re-surface eaten rotor.
Next, you likely have sticky caliper on that side. WORN OUT INNER PAD IS FIRST SIGN OF STICKY CALIPER.
Personally, off several attempts and all failed, I do not do ceramic pads on Japanese rotors. They either make annoying rubbing noise or squeal.
Semi mets are da best period.

[zero]

The brake pads will make noise on the rotor as it rubs up against the grooves, given the tight tolerances of modern brakes and the tendency of rear discs especially to not “back off” as much they will make noise regardless of the friction material most of the time.

Replacing all the components with those of lesser quality and properly servicing/lubricating the sliders and hardware will yield the best results vs installing expensive brake pads.

[Rereonehundred]

[quote=”ukrkoz” post=123309]There is really nothing ceramic in “ceramic” pads and definitely no ability to re-surface eaten rotor.
Next, you likely have sticky caliper on that side. WORN OUT INNER PAD IS FIRST SIGN OF STICKY CALIPER.
Personally, off several attempts and all failed, I do not do ceramic pads on Japanese rotors. They either make annoying rubbing noise or squeal.
Semi mets are da best period.[/quote]

It’s interesting that there is nothing ceramic about pads so advertized. Can you tell us more about this? Perhaps I should know better than to believe advertizing.

[Author]

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