Pie4Foo

I called up my local dealership this afternoon to inquire on the costs of front brake pad replacement. They're not gone yet, but I'm trying to line up various other preventative service items as I hit 50K miles and end my "free" maintenance.

The SA said that along with replacing the pads themselves, they recommend replacing the rotors themselves. Apparently (and I'm paraphrasing here), the rotors and pads wear together and if I were to replace only the pads, then they wouldn't fit well with the old rotors.

Even purchasing the parts myself rachets up the price far more than I expected: say $150 (Mintex pads + labor) to $500 (Mintex pads + rotors + labor). In this scenario, I'd probably wait till my wear indicator came on in my car.

Is the explanation I was given accurate?

TIA!

S4_Cinci (I S'edTFA)

thickness by the time one set of pads have worn down to their minimum thickness. Thus for many reasons, including safety (and liability for the shop doing brake work) almost all places will recommend rotor replacement along with pad replacement. A lip will appear on the outermost edge of the rotor as the surface of the rotor itself wears due to application of the pads. This can make it difficult to seat a new set of pads on an old rotor; but it is not impossible.

I had my rotors replaced under warranty (Audi Advantage), but they kept the old pads to save AoA $. B.S. procedure, but that is what the dealer was authorized to do. I would recommend getting new rotors, unless you measure them with the proper tools and are sure that you have enough rotor "meat" left. Also realize that the more mass the rotor has, the more heat it can absorb and this means better braking efficiency with a new rotor (all other things being equal). As the rotor wears, it obviously loses mass as metal dust.

Someone else may want to crtique this explanation; but hopefully I won't mislead you with anything I've said. Good luck, but IMO two places you never want to save $ on are tire quality and brake quality. These items can save your butt in some situations, and my butt is worth a lot to me, again IMO. Your's should be to yourself as well!

gk1

~$280 (Mintex pads + Zimmermann rotors + DIY labor). There are plenty of tech articles and threads on here, plus it's not that difficult. If they are footing the bill though, then let them do whatever they want.