Brake Pads or Rotars?

Question

My wife's 2001 Audi A4 Quattro's brakes just started to grind. I have a friend who can easily replace the brake pads. My question is, how do I know if the rotars also need replacing??? What do I look for on the rotars? Is it a measurement???

Answer 1

you are going to have the rotors turned, so look on them for a stamped # in millimeters, this will be the min thickness. Or you could just take them to the person running the brake lath and he/she will check them for you.Hope it helps, and good luck

Answer 2

Ok here's the answer to your question that the shop's don't like to tell you:
Your rotors need to be turned on as lathe until they are trued
replacing the rotors with every brake job is very expensive and time consuming
if you take thje car to a reputable mechanic he will turnm your rotors and replace the pads
as long as the rotors are not extensively worn he can turn them
ask him why/ if the brakes didn't squeelch prior to grinding.
if your rotors are to thin to be turned, a measurement provided by Audi for your own protection, the shop cannot turn them past that point due to liability.
?You don';t want to put new pads on brakes that are as far gone as it sound like your wife's are because the surface of the rotor will chew the new pads in record time. Rather than truing the rotors with brake pads, have them turned by a qualified professional. If you take the car to the nearest shop. They may determine you need new rotors because an Audi A4 is no Jelopi, so ask for your old parts before they touch the car to give the impression you know what your talking about.
In fact, if you can? Take the car to the dealer for service.
They are less likely to jeapordize Audi's name for a few extra bucks.
Last thing is, if you drive the car using the hand brake this will engage the rear brakes(usually)

to find outpull the hand brake while driving slowly,
if you hear a grinding then disregard the suggestion for driving with the hand brake
as well
if the parking brake on the A4 is a pedal
you'd be better off driving really slowly than risking an accident

Answer 3

They don't make cars like they used to. Rest assured, if the brakes were grinding, you need new rotors. You can measure them with a micrometer, but I am 99 percent sure that they are junk. You could just slap in some pads and the brakes will work, but they won't be right. Rotors that are too thin can shatter and then you have no brakes on that circuit. Rotors with scoring don't have enough braking power. You want your wife to be safe.

Answer 4

Since you are hearing a grinding sound, then there's a good chance that you will need some attention to the rotors.
When your buddy is pulling the calipers also have him pull the rotors off and take them to a brake shop and have them turn them. They will measure the runout and the thickness of the rotors. Let them turn them for you and you should save a bunch of money, since all they have to do is set them on the machine and turn it on. I get mine done for 10 a wheel.

Good luck

Answer 5

You definitely need new Brake Pads. You at the very least need to get the rotars turned but look at them first, if you see any kind of grooves in them then turning may fix them or you may need new rotars.

Answer 6

there is a measurement but most likely you don;t have a micrometer to measure it but you can get a rough measurement

but expect if the rotor is gouged or defaced that it could use replaced but if it JUST started to grind you should be ok

usually rotors are due for replacement every second pad change

the dealership or auto parts store should have the spec for the min thickness of that rotor

Answer 7

if you are replacing the brake pads it is a good idea to have your rotors turned , any autoparts store can do it for a reasonable price . or try yor local machine shop. dont just replace the pads they will be ruined in a matter of weeks. do it right the first time .

Answer 8

It becomes a measurement thing if the rotors have been faced off before.
if your breaks havn't been rebuilt chances are your rotor thickness will allow you to have them refaced.
The depth and number of gouges in your rotor will determin weather or not they should be machined. It's an eye ball check.

Answer 9

i own a shop and if they been grinding you,ll see deep marks on them or they will be real uneven ,either way you have to have these turned you cant just install new pads on them and that be it,id say there a little out of round also but have the rotors checked and turned,ever who turns them can check the thickness of them and make sure there alright ,good luck with it hope this helps.

Answer 10

the reason on your steerage wheel shaking once you be conscious your brakes is likely that your rotors are warped. Take your automobile in on your popular depended on mechanic and have them verify the thickness of your pads to boot as no rely if or no longer your rotors are nonetheless "authentic". (immediately)