live4thrillz
New member
Well, I finally broke down and bought some rotors to go with the pads I've had sitting around for a couple years now. Since the Brembos I was waiting for (about a year on backorder) are no longer made apparently, I decided to look elsewhere. Based on opinions here I went with the NAPA Ultra Premium rotors with OEM pads, both front and rear.
I picked the Ultra Premiums over the Premiums because the machining looked a little better, and the center and vane portions are powder-coated so it'll look good and probably last a little longer. Paid about $330 for all rotors and I forget about the pads (~$85?).
Job went very smoothly:
1. The wheels took a good kick to break free of the hub., which I've never experienced like this before. Most likely due to waiting so long to rotate the tires (~20K miles+...oops).
2. Both of my front lower inboard caliper pistons were "lazy"; not seized thankfully. I tried working them in and out a few times to free them up a little. I'm not sure if that'll help or not. Seems I'm only really applying most pressure to 3 out of 4 on each. Also, pushed the first one almost all the way out!! I think it was out since when I pressed it back in I heard air and a small amount of fluid bubbled out.
3. Front shims were not too bad, but I'll do them next time. Rears were rusting and bending due to lack of structural strength, but I didn't feel like spending the $$ from the dealer (since no places sell them separately from pads) so I cleaned them up with a wire wheel. Also used plenty of anti-squeal grease on all metal/rubber surfaces in contact. I didn't forget to lube the pins this time either (they were a little corroded and sticky coming out but not too bad).
4. The old rear rotors were junk and the front were just grooved (and I'm sure the runout was really bad too). Both sets had pad "imprints" in them. I had noticed this a while ago on the rears but this time they both had them (the front had like 6-7 sets of marks each). I believe this to be from holding the brakes when they were hot (panic stops?).
5. Cleaned up hub surface with wire brushes where it mates with rotors, as well as studs.
6. Torqued caliper bolts to 91 lb-ft for both front and rear. I read about the front spec on here and assumed the rear were the same? Hope that's a good assumption!
7. Torque wheels off the ground to 83 lb-ft.
8. Quick bleed of system.
Quick lap around the block to make sure nothing major was wrong then proceeded to "bed" the brakes. I went to the industrial park and did a series of ~5-6 stops from ~60MPH to 10MPH until I could feel a little fade (softness) and smell the pad material burning, then drove for ~10 minutes to let them cool. All this was done without ever stopping or going below ~5MPH. I performed the same series of stops until I could smell, see smoke from the front, and drove it to cool down while never stopping! Finally after driving for a solid 15-20 minutes of cool-down I went home and stopped it.
I noticed a grayish tint to the rotors where the pad touches which I believe means the pad material is properly "bedded" onto them. Also, the inner portion of the rotor has a slight bluish tint meaning they went through a high heat cycle. I don't know exactly if this was the "right" cycle since it seems everyone has a different "bed" procedure, but I think they came out good.
They felt smooth and balanced and quiet!, but it did seem some wheels were braking harder than others (squirmy) at first during "bedding". Could be parts settling into place differently and the road conditions weren't great so the computer could have been playing with them??
Felt good on the highway (not much use tho!!) and "balanced". I think it smoothed out my steering, which means my old rotors were definitely warped!
I could really feel the tires bite quicker on turns now that I rotated front-back. Since I had 20K+ before rotation the front edges were quite worn (fast highway cornering,, thanx XREAS). I figure this is something I'll have to get used to, they'll wear in, and/or I'll check the pressures soon. Anyone know the weight distribution front to rear, and also ~how much this affects air pressure when rotating tires? I just aired them to 35 psi all- around a week ago so I'll see where they're at now.
So, there it is! I'm one more person to confirm the caliper piston sticking issue. And to have used a "bedding" procedure to hopefully improve brake performance/life. We'll see how all this works in the long term. I'll update at some point.
I meant to take pictures along the way but decided greasy fingers were just going to make it a big PITA.. sorry folks! Let me know if anyone has any comments or questions! Thanks for reading this incredibly long post!
I picked the Ultra Premiums over the Premiums because the machining looked a little better, and the center and vane portions are powder-coated so it'll look good and probably last a little longer. Paid about $330 for all rotors and I forget about the pads (~$85?).
Job went very smoothly:
1. The wheels took a good kick to break free of the hub., which I've never experienced like this before. Most likely due to waiting so long to rotate the tires (~20K miles+...oops).
2. Both of my front lower inboard caliper pistons were "lazy"; not seized thankfully. I tried working them in and out a few times to free them up a little. I'm not sure if that'll help or not. Seems I'm only really applying most pressure to 3 out of 4 on each. Also, pushed the first one almost all the way out!! I think it was out since when I pressed it back in I heard air and a small amount of fluid bubbled out.
3. Front shims were not too bad, but I'll do them next time. Rears were rusting and bending due to lack of structural strength, but I didn't feel like spending the $$ from the dealer (since no places sell them separately from pads) so I cleaned them up with a wire wheel. Also used plenty of anti-squeal grease on all metal/rubber surfaces in contact. I didn't forget to lube the pins this time either (they were a little corroded and sticky coming out but not too bad).
4. The old rear rotors were junk and the front were just grooved (and I'm sure the runout was really bad too). Both sets had pad "imprints" in them. I had noticed this a while ago on the rears but this time they both had them (the front had like 6-7 sets of marks each). I believe this to be from holding the brakes when they were hot (panic stops?).
5. Cleaned up hub surface with wire brushes where it mates with rotors, as well as studs.
6. Torqued caliper bolts to 91 lb-ft for both front and rear. I read about the front spec on here and assumed the rear were the same? Hope that's a good assumption!
7. Torque wheels off the ground to 83 lb-ft.
8. Quick bleed of system.
Quick lap around the block to make sure nothing major was wrong then proceeded to "bed" the brakes. I went to the industrial park and did a series of ~5-6 stops from ~60MPH to 10MPH until I could feel a little fade (softness) and smell the pad material burning, then drove for ~10 minutes to let them cool. All this was done without ever stopping or going below ~5MPH. I performed the same series of stops until I could smell, see smoke from the front, and drove it to cool down while never stopping! Finally after driving for a solid 15-20 minutes of cool-down I went home and stopped it.
I noticed a grayish tint to the rotors where the pad touches which I believe means the pad material is properly "bedded" onto them. Also, the inner portion of the rotor has a slight bluish tint meaning they went through a high heat cycle. I don't know exactly if this was the "right" cycle since it seems everyone has a different "bed" procedure, but I think they came out good.
They felt smooth and balanced and quiet!, but it did seem some wheels were braking harder than others (squirmy) at first during "bedding". Could be parts settling into place differently and the road conditions weren't great so the computer could have been playing with them??
Felt good on the highway (not much use tho!!) and "balanced". I think it smoothed out my steering, which means my old rotors were definitely warped!
I could really feel the tires bite quicker on turns now that I rotated front-back. Since I had 20K+ before rotation the front edges were quite worn (fast highway cornering,, thanx XREAS). I figure this is something I'll have to get used to, they'll wear in, and/or I'll check the pressures soon. Anyone know the weight distribution front to rear, and also ~how much this affects air pressure when rotating tires? I just aired them to 35 psi all- around a week ago so I'll see where they're at now.
So, there it is! I'm one more person to confirm the caliper piston sticking issue. And to have used a "bedding" procedure to hopefully improve brake performance/life. We'll see how all this works in the long term. I'll update at some point.
I meant to take pictures along the way but decided greasy fingers were just going to make it a big PITA.. sorry folks! Let me know if anyone has any comments or questions! Thanks for reading this incredibly long post!
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