Last time I tried to replace my rear pads, I easitly did one side, but the other side seemed stuck, my mechanic's garage was around the corner so I just put the old pads on and drove it down there. He got the piston to retract, this was two years ago.

My e-brake was occasionally sticking this past winter, but I thought I always coaxed it into releasing.

I lost my job, started a new one, moved 300miles into an apartment, bought a house and moved in..in the last 6 months. About 2 or 3 of those months my rear brakes have been progressing from wear bar noise to actualy grinding. I finally got a chance to replace the pads last night, both calipers retracted no problem this time. I realized my e-brake cable on my right side (where it was sticking) is totally fukked. So I left it off when I put the brakes back together.

Anway, the inside of my rotors look bad, real bad. How long can I get away with driving on horrible rotors? I have a one-shot free replacement on the pads, and I have to work, so I figured who cares. When I get a chance I'll replace both rear rotors, since I doubt they can be resurfaced, but how bad of a plan is it just ride on them for a few weeks while I finish up other things?

 

you can go as long as you want. but the brakes wont be as effective and will wear faster. but the idea of poorer rear brakes and no parking brake? may just be me but i would make it a priority.

 

by "looks bad" do you mean grooved? if they are grooved too deeply your braking performance will suffer. they will also trash your new pads faster than normal. eventually they will warp. but in the meantime you'll still have brakes that do work.

my advice -- if your pads are already grooved from the old rotors, leave 'em on until they are toast. then replace the rotors and the 1-time free pads at the same time. if you replace the rotors now without also replacing the pads you'll just end up grooving the new rotors.

and get that ebrake fixed.

 

fix it . asap ... i mean . its always good to have your brake working... dont know how much you drive... but.. your going to have to spend some money pretty soon to replace you new pads... the sooner the better...

be safe... a drs bill for an accident because of that might be more expensive then just getting some cheap rotors (atleast for now)

 

change them are you kidding? even though rear brakes are only about 30% of your braking power, thats 30% youre losing! so when you say "how bad of a plan is this?" i say "how bad of an accident do you want?"

at autozone its only $20 PER ROTOR! dont cheap out on safety. replacee them!

 

and those $20 rotors at autozone are???????

 

I have a one shot free replacement on the pads, so the money angle is not valid here.
My issue is time, time to take the brakes apart again, time to replace the e-brake right side cable, time to put it all back together.

slightly longer stopping times is not inherently unsafe, and no e-brake is questionably unsafe.

 

expect to pay about 75 bucks for the brake cable. How are your calipers by the way?

 

the calipers retracted very easily, I will grease them up better when I take them apart again. I just moved in, and I have no idea where my axle grease went to. I didn't clean everything really well either. Now that I have my own (small) garage to work in, things will be infinitly easier to get done.

 

Maybe not inherently unsafe, but patently foolish.

Fortunately the rear brakes play a minor role in overall stopping performance, and even without rear brakes you should have no problem stopping at the limits of tire traction. But it could seriously affect vehicle control when you stop near the traction limit.

I don't see how changing rotors and pads is a major time problem. I can do it in the dark in a parking space in an hour, and that's going really slowly.

Now the parking brake cable can be a b*tch. Budget a couple hours for that one based on the amount of rust and razor-edged exhaust parts you have to negotiate. I strongly recommend changing both brake cables if you're going 'in there'.

Dave

 

I just replaced my rears last week. The passenger side had been grinding metal on metal for at least two weeks. Dont worry about it, just dont do anything stupid, remember that your brakes will not performe great, they will be fine, but not great.

 

it doesnt take that long to swap rotors. take off the caliper and then the rotor, swap, bolt caliper back on voila finito.

but get that e-brake line fixed.

 

..you ever been coming to a red light at the bottom of a hill and coming to a gradual stop when all of a sudden the pedal goes to the floor and the car starts rolling faster?! No brakes sucks bro.. fix 'em! Fix 'em now..
DJ

 

My time is the major problem, not how long it takes to change them. I just moved into a house built in 1928, had to get all new appliances and had electricians out there today because my 220 dryer outlet was very, very dangerous. I have pulled up two floors of carpeting, refinished my hardwood floors, have to build a cabinet to cover the dishwasher..etc..etc..
When I changed the pads, it was 2am, and I went to work at 8 the next day. I don't have a lot of time until I get the house to a manageable point, I can't even find all my shirts that I normally wore to work.
I figured fixing that would suck, not sure why I didn't notice the cable being messed up before....