Hey I have a guy and he needs me to change his brakes. its a 98 camaro ls1, Im wondering what is a good rule of thumb for changing rotors too. He has some grooves in the rotor that can be felt when running your finger over, but I have seen worse.

So should I change the rotors?

Thanks,
Josh

 

If you can feel them with your finger as distinct grooves (not just a slightly rough surface), I would definitely change the rotors. Otherwise, the pads have to wear down to match the grooves, and until that happens you've got much less pad contact area than you should, meaning poor brake performance.

 

Thanks, that was what I was thinking I was just making sure before he spent the money.

 

Alternatively you could just have the rotors you have turned. Much cheaper. If your going to replace them with something better than stock then go for it.

 

Yeah, get them turned at your local brake shop. Why replace if its not necessary?

 

As a counterpoint, why risk it for a performance car? Quality rotors are not tha expensive these days.
Personally, I replace rotors and pads at the same time. Even on my DD. Not worth the chance for me. But that's just me.

 

Sure if your going to get cross drill and slotted rotors I say do it. Otherwise if the rotors are just slightly grooved stockers your can get em turned new again at pepboys for less than the cost of one new one. They won't turn them if they are too thin. A freshly turned stocker will work better than a new stocker due to the finish it produces. But by all means, replace them with a QUALITY rotor, not a stock one if you go that route.

 

Risk what? Turning rotors is a standard brake maintenance procedure. Nothing risky about it.

 

Chance????

A set of correctly turned rotors are going to be a lot more reliable than the Chinese crap that seems to be the only thing available on the market these days.