Resurfacing Brake Rotors at 30K?

[TrueFaith]

Was at my dealers a while back and they wanted to resurface my disc brake rotors. My '08 Coupe has just less than 30,000 miles on it. Is this normal or are they being a bit too pro-active? My Coupe is a manual shift. I drive very conservatively and I downshift a lot more than I use the brakes.

[J Russ]

I have no clue, but I thought I'd share that I had to get my front pads and rotors completely replaced at 22,000 miles, apparently they were "blue". I wanted to get aftermarkets from EBC and whatnot, but they wouldn't let me take the car off the lot cuz they said it was unfit for the road until I got them replaced. I call bs, but they had a deal going on and only charged me $550 lol

[MetallicSlate]

My rotors were warped at 40k when I bought the car and I made the dealer resurface them for free because that should have been seen upon inspection. A shop wouldn't let me leave once because my rear tires were bald. But 550 for rotors and pads seems steep. I would have asked for the key and done it myself.

[J Russ]

Theres a reason we call it a stealership, right?

[MetallicSlate]

Haha I suppose so. That seems like an outrageous labor charge.

[DJ_B_Easy]

Unless

a) you have obvious signs of damage to the rotor such as pitting or warping
or
b) you are installing new brake pads

there is no reason to resurface them simply because of mileage.

[J Russ]

Haha I suppose so. That seems like an outrageous labor charge.

Canadian charges are ridiculous so thats the main reason with that... labor was like 150, rotors 100 each ( ) and pads 50 each ( ) and all the bracketry and whatnot was like 60... I really got screwed over

[TrueFaith]

Well they "recommended" it and I passed, saying we could do it at the next service if it was that bad. They did not say they were pitted or warped, just that they had surface rust, which didn't surprise me since I wasn't driving it that much at the time. I think they were just fishing for more charges to add to an already inflated bill for routine maintainance. I was a little disappointed since this dealership has a really good rating for NOT doing that kind of thing.

[J Russ]

Now that you say that, my sister has a Rogue and they actually wanted to replace the rotors due to surface rust, I told her to run for the hills and never listen to them again! (she doesn't know too much about cars btw) good job on passing them up

[RicerX]

I have found in my experience with Altimas that the OEM brake configuration is poor with respect to longevity. I replaced pads and rotors at 30k with EBC rotors and Hawk pads. I rode those until I traded it.

I'm not surprised they said you should look into rotor resurfacing at all. You'll likely be looking at replacement around 40,000 miles. I'm a conservative driver as well, but with the occasional spirited driving. But to put things into perspective for you, I replaced my Altimas pads and rotors at 30k miles while my 370Z with the Akebono brakes from the Sport Package is just getting to needing brake pad replacement at 34k and I'll likely leave the rotors as they're in fine shape. The Z is my play car, so it gets a bit harsher driving treatment than my Altima ever did, and the brakes are holding up better.

I will say this - with a basic set of tools you can change the front pads and rotors in an hour. I will add the following point - you will likely want to hit yourself in the face with a cinder block after attempting to do the rear pads and rotors yourself. It took me 30 minutes to do the front pads and rotors on my Altima in my garage and took me 3 HOURS to do the rear due to the stupid multilink rear suspension components that sit in front of the bolts to remove the caliper brace to get to the rotors.

[DJ_B_Easy]

^Really? I just got into some funky angles and did them just as fast as the front. I think you are referring to being able to actually remove the rear most bolt to remove the caliper bracket? You cant because the suspension is in the way? I didnt remove it, just loosened it and then swung the bracket out of the way with the other bolt removed.

[RicerX]

Yeah man it was absurd. That was on my 2010 though - don't know if they changed the layout. Trying to break that bolt loose with (I think it was) the endlink in the way. I should have taken a picture of it. The only thing I could fit back there with the tools I had was a regular open ended wrench. There was little to zero clearance to get it off.

For some reason I remember not being able to swing the bracket far enough to clear the rotor. I just remember swearing at the thing and promising myself that I would work up the gumption to bring the car somewhere to get brakes done the next time I needed them done. But there is a small possibility I am retarded as well.

[stevewaclo]

TrueFaith,

" I drive very conservatively and I downshift a lot more than I use the brakes."

Unless you are matching revs at 99% on those downshifts, you are not doing yourself any favors. The cost of brake work pales when you compare it to the cost of clutch replacement. Learned my lesson decades ago with an Audi 100lS. Downshifting was fun, but clutch went bye-bye in 15k. Started using the brakes after that .

Best wishes.