E350 cost for front brakes?

ron.dittmer wrote:
I have learned that rotors are never good enough to reuse without cutting.

It is interesting how different people "learn" different things from similar experiences.

I've been driving for more than 50 years and have NEVER cut a rotor that did not have obvious damage......and a outer shoulder does NOT constitute damage.

The exception to that was a Caddy STS that I had. BIG, THICK rotors, not driven hard but they seemed to keep "warping". After the third turning I finally figured out that I was wasting money. New rotors lasted about 60K miles and the second set of pads went on with only a light dressing of the surface. I suspect that it wasn't warping at all but defective material in the original metal composition.

Vulcan Rider wrote:

SRockwood wrote:

Hand-sanding them will just make for an uneven surface.

I SAID that the rotors should not be "turned" if they don't need to be.

And if there are imperfections or uneven wear that will cause problems, I much prefer replacement to turning. This is especially true if they are "warped" because turning won't solve the underlying problem that caused the warping in the first place.

In many cases, the overall cost is not that much different.

I have learned that rotors are never good enough to reuse without cutting. The surface is never flat enough, and sanding will never get deep enough to get the glazing off properly. I say this assuming your goal is to get maximum brake performance and maximum life expectancy from your brake job. Doing anything less with yield something compromised. Maybe the compromise is okay for you and I truly understand your logic, so please don't misunderstand my point here. I am only trying to point out how to maximize your brake life & performance.

SRockwood wrote:

Hand-sanding them will just make for an uneven surface.

I SAID that the rotors should not be "turned" if they don't need to be.

And if there are imperfections or uneven wear that will cause problems, I much prefer replacement to turning. This is especially true if they are "warped" because turning won't solve the underlying problem that caused the warping in the first place.

In many cases, the overall cost is not that much different.

we just did the brakes on my sons 201o camaro. quality pads were around $50 a set. $15 per rotor to turn. Unless there are no grooves or lip ridges on the rotors you should have them turned. I have gone 2 set of pads without turning but there were no grooves, scores or lips on the rotors. My son had lips on his rotors, but that was it but the cost is incidental to turn.

If keeping the rig yes by all means get new calipers but if it is being sold and there are no wear issues on the pads you should be good to go.

Total cost (we did brakes our selves) was about $150 for fronts and rears. Dealer gave him estimate of $900-1500 for same job.

Vulcan Rider wrote:

SRockwood wrote:
Rotors should also be turned any time the pads are replaced to allow for proper bedding and reduce chances of noise.

Nope, sorry, I do NOT agree with that.

Turning rotors greatly decreases their life.
Many/most cars being built these days have rotors so thin that trying to turn them creates a safety hazard. Truck rotors might not be that thin......yet.

A couple of minutes with a piece of sand paper in hand is sufficient to break the glaze and help with "bedding".

If the rotors are turned below spec, then they should be replaced. Since you turn rotors to even out surface imperfections and grooves, that life is effectively the same regardless of whether you turn them or not. If they're warped and end up below spec after turning, they should've been replaced anyway. By not turning them to remove imperfections or warping, you're just making it really hard to measure whether or not they're within spec. In other words: if you have a 30mm thick rotor, with a minimum spec of 28mm, they're out of spec if they've got 1.1mm deep grooves on both faces, whether you turn them or not.

Hand-sanding them will just make for an uneven surface.

Adding:

When doing a brake job, be sure to clean the surfaces on the calipers where the pads rest. The smoother the better. I don't know if the E-series uses stainless steel clips like cars (no such experience yet for me) clips or no clips, make sure the resting points don't have burrs or swells of rust because you don't want the pads hanging up on them.

As previously mentioned by others, you want to repack the bearings and caliper slides.

On vehicles where the rotor is a separate piece from the hub, make sure the mating surfaces are clean and free of rust to prevent accelerated rust formation. Rust between rotor and hub will swell, then warp and might even crack the rotor. I've seen it happen. Clean surfaces offer full contact which also assures the new or cut rotor will not wobble on the hub.

I personally like to carefully smear a "very" thin coating of anti-seize where the pads rest on the calipers (when there are no stainless clips) and between rotor and hub. I always clean the stainless clips to shiny new using 0000 steel wool.

I totally agree with you Ron. Every rotor has the minimum thickness allowed stamped on it and must be replaced if less than the stated minimum.

Vulcan Rider wrote:

SRockwood wrote:
Rotors should also be turned any time the pads are replaced to allow for proper bedding and reduce chances of noise.

Nope, sorry, I do NOT agree with that.

Turning rotors greatly decreases their life.
Many/most cars being built these days have rotors so thin that trying to turn them creates a safety hazard. Truck rotors might not be that thin......yet.

A couple of minutes with a piece of sand paper in hand is sufficient to break the glaze and help with "bedding".

I do a lot of brake work and I have to agree with SRockwood, assuming the thickness of the rotors remain within spec after cutting.

The perfect flat surface on the fresh-cut rotor provides full pad contact. If you don't cut the rotors, you will have a mismatch surface between pad & rotor. The argument is that the softer pad will conform to the steel rotor which is very true. The issue is that until then, during that break-in period you have limited contact which creates hot & cold rings on the rotor when braking. That uneven temperature across the rotor encourages warping which eventually translates into pulsating brakes. Also, during the long break-in period, your brakes will under-perform.

I would either cut the rotors or replace them. I do not recommend slapping new pads on an untouched used rotor unless your plan is to by time until doing it right & soon at a more opportune time. But then plan for new pads again because the ones you just installed will no longer be flat enough to mate to a fresh cut or new rotor.

After having a stuck caliper on one side, I changed both calipers, the hoses, and the pads. The rotors weren't scored or blued, basically felt smooth. Where I live, surface rust forms on the braking surfaces between trips. After several (albeit short) trips, I noticed the full surface wasn't getting cleaned off on my trips. At that point I pulled it all apart again and had the rotors surfaced.
The surfaced rotors stopped with a more confident feeling.
Two points if you're DIY:
1. The caliper mounts have to come out to pull the rotors. (So watch out that a shop doesn't pack only the outer bearing since getting to the inner is a PITA with the mounting and then the grease seal.) The mount bolts are large (21mm socket) and have a high torque spec (around 160) so you need a decent breaker bar or cheater pipe on your 1/2" ratchet to get them loose.
2. If you have lots of miles and wear, or even if you need new rotors along with your calipers, a "take-off" front axle "kit" from a 4x4 conversion shop can be less expensive than all those parts and you get new axles with new ball joints, bushings, etc. If your E-Series is 2007 or older, this is also upgrades to the larger, much better 2008+ front brakes.

SRockwood wrote:


Rotors should also be turned any time the pads are replaced to allow for proper bedding and reduce chances of noise.

Nope, sorry, I do NOT agree with that.

Turning rotors greatly decreases their life.
Many/most cars being built these days have rotors so thin that trying to turn them creates a safety hazard. Truck rotors might not be that thin......yet.

A couple of minutes with a piece of sand paper in hand is sufficient to break the glaze and help with "bedding".