Should I resurface my front rotors only?
 

My car is a 2017 with 38k miles on it and I've noticed that braking from higher speeds comes with slight vibrations in the pedal and may even shudder a bit when braking downhill at low speeds. I assume this is due to warped rotors. My car is 5 years old and I haven't changed my brake fluid, but I don't think fluid would cause this?

Since I'm planning to replace my brakes in about a year or two, would it be wise to only get my front brake rotors resurfaced without touching the pads or rear brakes/rotors at all? The rear rotors still look perfect/unglazed and smooth. :thanks:

Front
https://i.ibb.co/4jb93yy/20210729-003212.jpg

Rear
https://i.ibb.co/LQBx9hc/20210729-003242.jpg

Could be pad deposits. Have you ever swapped pads out? Swapping out with non-compatible compounds can cause this.

Resurfacing rotors isn't really a thing people do anymore. If modern vented rotors become non-flat/warped and have some miles on them, machining them down will further reduce face thickness and make them more likely to go non-flat sooner. Replacement rotors are usually cheap enough that it makes more sense to just swap them out.

A few years ago my wife's Camry did the same thing. Thinking it might be uneven pad deposits as ZDan suggested above, I took it out and ran through several bedding stops. That solved the problem for a pretty long while and each time it started the shuddering again, I'd re-bed the pads and that would fix it.

I eventually replaced the rotors and pads and have had no problems since.

I've never resurfaced rotors before in 15 or so years of car ownership.

Your rotors probably aren't warped...it's uneven pad deposits as mentioned. A good rebedding can help if you catch it early. Resurfacing can also help if caught early and done correctly, but rotors aren't that expensive to just replace and that's a guarenteed fix.

You can avoid this in the future by changing your braking style slightly, namely not keeping the brake pedal down when stopped with the brakes hot. Proper bedding of the pads is also crucial. Certain brake pads are more prone to this problem too (stoptech).

Not part of this problem, but I would recommend changing your brake fluid.

- Andrew

Moms Acura would develop this no matter what, dealership did like three free brake jobs trying to fix it, it would come back within about 1-2k miles, after about a hundred thousand miles I got the chance to pick the brake pads, swapped away from oem to stoptech and it's been good for 20k and counting.

It's pad deposits, rotors don't really warp these days unless you're like endurance racing on disks from the 80s.

strat61caster: i wonder what were your Moms braking habits to get that so soon and regularly? Find it a bit hard to believe for large volume built family car OE pads to be not fit well for generic street driving, as if it were the case, probably it might result in model specific common problem, generate lot of fuss/complaints in public, class action suites and so on (or at very least unprofitable numerous pad changes during warranty period), and that's what probably any carmaker would have thought of at design/part selection phase.

While the brake fluid is probably not the culprit, you probably should've changed that out 8k miles ago. Maintenance schedule says it should be swapped out every 30k miles or every 2 years, whichever comes first.

Also do you live by the ocean? You could have some hidden corrosion in there since you've never taken the caliper apart to service the brakes.

Thank you for the replies everyone. Sounds like resurfacing the rotor is a no. Brakes are all oem. Reason I didn't want to buy new rotors was because I planned to replace both rotors and pads in about a year or so.

I've tried to do some hard brakes to bed them, but the issue is still there. Guess I will just live with this until I swap them out. These brake pads literally look brand new to me after 38k miles which is insane..

What brakes are you upgrading too? On NA Slotted Rotors, better pads, and good fluid is really all you need. In NA form BBKs really just provide more thermal capacity, better price on consumables (thicker rotors and Pads) and most BBK make is super easy to swap pads(I do this for track days but use the same rotors)

If your plaining to stay stock brakes, just get some new slotted rotors now. If you change pads in the future you can just re-bed the brake rotors to the new compound. Might I also suggest CSG or Carbotech (I run 1521s for street and XP10/8's for track days)

I thought people knew this is a usual subaru rotor issue. It has been for me. I've heat warped several of their rotors, in this platform and in my former Outback. My shuddering would subside once I let the rotor cool off and stay gone until I pushed it again. Once I replaced them from my local carquest with something else, it never came back.

Look up Centric rotors. Cheap stock replacement without the stock woes. They're used as blanks for a lot of slotted and drilled offerings. I have those linked below on my 14 frs to comment. No issues and I've pushed the brakes plenty hard to hit that subi warp temp. Blue Hawk pads in now for reference, I'd recommend those too. Did more to my brake system as well, but we're talking rotors.

It's not worth milling them if you have a heat warp issue, it won't fix it. If you have deposits, you can pull your pads and hit them with 150 grit sandpaper to knock the glaze off of them. I do this on a flat surface. You can hit the rotor with the sandpaper too. I've done this before on my subis with good pads and those warped rotors.

Centric rotors for pricing reference. $37 for a front rotor, $42 for a rear rotor. I'm happy with these as an OEM replacement.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Are glaze and deposits the same thing? New brake term for me.

when you pull the carbon to the surface, it is called cementite.



if possible, stop short and creep at lights so the pads don't stay in one place.

Centric blanks are awesome. One of those rare occurrences where cheap is actually good.

While we're on the subject, what's the minimum thickness for Centric blanks? Mine are at 21mm now and not sure when they need to be replaced. Pads are at 1/8" now so it won't be too much longer before I do another brake job.