Hey everyone,

i had an oil change done this morning by a dealer. THey said everythings fine except im gna need new pads and rotors. Now they wanted $910 for parts and labour. I said ill come back and do it another time. Im planning on upgrading my pads and rotors. I want to order them online and probably have a buddy of mine install them for ALOT cheaper than 910. Now my question is do you think the 2mm of pad left can last me for a few more weeks ????!!! I REALLY dont wanna pay the 910, and plus i wanna upgrade my rotors and pads. WHat do you guys think i should do!! Im trying my best not to use my brakes at all, im downshifting alot.

Thanks in advance.

 

There is a piece of metal on one side of the pads that acts as a low brake pad warning (assuming these are OEM pads). When the pads are almost gone, it will scrape against the rotor and squeal a lot. That being said; if you're not hearing any squealing, you should be fine for a short while. But do promptly order new brake equipment.

The easiest one stop shop would be www.tirerack.com . I'm sure others will chime in with different suggestions.

 

If it does occur that it goes metal to metal (the squeal you are talking about im assuming) will anything be damaged in that area ? Like i said pads and rotors will be replaced. Its a matter of time.

 

the only thing that could be damaged is that the old metal on the pads could rub on your rotors, causing them to need to be turned or replaced. Chances are if the dealer told you they need replaced they only need turned at best

 

This is by design; worst case scenario is it digs a rut into the rotors. If left unattended long enough, your pads will be GONE, and you may all of a sudden lose braking ability; so don't dilly-dally on getting new pads.

 

I guess best thing to do would be order the parts ASAP and get them one ASAP hopefully before the squeal noise starts. This is pissing me off cause i feel like i cant drive my 8. Like im trying to "preserve" the brakes as much as i can right now. Do you guys think that the pads should be done very soon though, like i said im downshifting ALOT ... and only time i brake is at a red light ... like ill downshift to second and let rpm drop to like 2000 then neutral then LIGHTLY brake.

Im jsut scared ill **** up my 8 LOL .

 

2mm is still a lot of meat, a new pad is like no more than 5mm

2mm is close to be replaced, so you should start ordering new ones.

 

Thanks !!!! Sounds good. Dealers always make you try to replace things sooner than they actually need to be replaced.

 

You should replace the brake pads asap because:

1. It is better to stay alive
2. Same thing happened to my mum's car, didn't change it until we heard the first squeal warning, toasted the rotor and must be replaced.

 

Is it okay to just change my pads for now at the dealer and then wait for my new rotors to come in and have that done later on ?

 

are your rotors really thin?
usually if rotors are fine, the dealer just need to true them and put new pads in. fronts shouldnt really be over $170 including pads and labor.

fronts minimum is 22mm
rears minimum is 16mm

 

Most times the rotors are fine and don't need to be replaced just the pads. Which shouldn't cost more than $100 for a full set plus labor if you don't want to install them yourself.

Don't turn the rotors. Have them cleaned with some brake cleaner and Scotchbrite pad. The main reason dealers and others tell you to turn or resurface your rotors to clean the brake material deposited on the rotor.

I have 56K miles on my '04 including 10+ track and autox days and my rotors are still well above min thickness. They still work like a champ. When I change pads (on my 3rd set) I thoroughly clean both sides with brake cleaner and scotchbright pads. I scrub off all the brake pad deposits, swap out the pads and I'm ready to go.

You need to bed them in properly as usual but really it should cost you no more than $100 for pads plus labor to swap them. If you do it yourself it's free.

 

I will have to measure tomorrow morning. In terms of pads, my rear ones are fine, so do I just get them to change my. Fronts ? Also I wanted hawk ceramics, so how would that work ? Front hawks with rear stocks ? Or do I change all 4

 

You can just change the fronts. Although if you run different pads you should know how they're going to work together and what that will do to the overall brake feel and balance. Ceramics are going to bite differently than your OEM rear pads.

 

By the looks of it ill change my fronts with oems and wait till these pads are done to upgrade my rotors and pads. Thanks for the help guys and hopefully the pads don't flake off on my way to the dealership tomorrow (its kinda far fml)

 

So i just called my dealer in mind that i would ONLY chnge my front pads and wait till all pads and rotors are done to upgrade to slotted and hawks. And the estimate he gave me to change my fronts was 360 bucks !!! He said you need to lubricate the calipers.... Im pissed that they keep trying to pill on ****. BTW this is in Canada so prices might vary. I cant keep spending money on servicing like this man. Sorry its my little rant.

 

Dealer is probably lying about needing new rotors or needing to resurface rotors and lubricating the calipers.

There is a little "h"-shaped metal squeal indicator on the front passenger side that starts squealing between 3 mm and 2 mm left of the brake pad. Actually, in terms of inches, new pads are 6/16". The squeal indicator will start squealing around 3/16" to 2/16".

You're a little under 2/16". You'll be fine for a while and can drive probably for a few more thousand miles if you're not too aggressive. If the squealing is bothering you, you could remove it yourself and at the same time verify the thickness of the front brake pad. If you do, don't forget to check BOTH the inside AND outside front passenger brake pads for thickness.

Regardless, you should just buy new OEM brake pads and replace front pads yourself. Don't worry about the rotors. Just slap on the new front brake pads and drive. If you don't get shudder or pulsing and everything is fine, then keep on driving and realize your dealership tried to screw you!

 

Oh, also don't worry about the rear pads for now. I drive real easy and I've changed out my front brake pads 3 times already and each time right around 50,000 miles. In contrast, I've replaced my rear pads only once and that was at 100,000 miles. The braking is biased on the fronts.

I also noticed you mentioned Hawk pads. I'm assuming you understand you will reduce the life of your rotor if you use ANY of the Hawk pads? But that choice is up to you. IMO the OEM ones are excellent and stop the car extremely well. If you don't track the car, then why get slotted rotors and Hawk pads?

 

Ill forget the hawks for now. Cause it might take too long to come in and i dont wanna encounter the squeal situation while waiting. Ill go with oems for now. About the hawks, which rotors would they damage ? The OEMs (if i were to put those on) or the slotted rotors ?

Thanks for the info man. I just called them for an appointment tomorrow. Do you think i can just buy the part and get another guy to do it. I already told they that i wanted my usual mechanic to do it for me.

 

Absolutely get another guy to do it. It should be no more than ONE HOUR of labor. Probably take less time but most mechanics charge 1 hour labor minimum.

The Hawks won't damage rotors; they will just wear the rotors out faster than the OEM pads would.

 

check around and see if someone will test the rotors for thickness. Some places will resurface them cheap...like 30 dollars per axle. Pads are cheap and VERY easy to replace yourself. You can probably get away with like 150 to 200 dollars total for the fix.

question is, is it just the front pads or all 4? if its all 4 thats pretty amazing.

 

Just order all four new Hawk HPS pads and install them yourself....it wont take more than 2 hours for a newbie. There is a DIY thread on this forum on how to change the pads yourself.

 

^^^agreed.^^^

it is stupid easy to replace pads on the RX-8. i had never done brakes before, although i'm fairly good around cars. it took me 30 mins to do the first corner and less than 10 mins after that. if you have a place to work (i.e., not parked on the street) and you're not entirely helpless, you should be able to handle it.

 

Just my front 2 are running 2mm

 

Wow guess what !! I'm at work and I see this guy working on a car, I ask if he's a mechanic and he says yes for mercedes. I ask him to check my pads and rotors and he said my rotors are fine and my pads have more than 2mm left. He even measured there's like 4. Something left !!! Wow the dealer tried to screw me over !!