Machining Brake/rotors & Options

[Xizor]

Hi Gents,

My breaks are squeaking quite a lot at low speed and have since i put on the HPX pads 5 years ago (car gets very little use). I rarely drive the car so and read online it was not uncommon for the pads so never really thought much of it other than being occasionally annoyed. Anyhow i put the car for a service with some new pads (Intima) to put on and they said the discs are pretty scratched/skuffed up and expect they would make same noise regardless of whether i swap the pads over. So, for now, i'll just leave the same HPX ones on.

Now, when i had the HPX pads put on years ago i had the discs machined at the time. The workshop (different one but have looked after my car the past few years) at the moment do not usually work on old skylines (R33 S2) and are unsure how much my discs can be machined. They would need to send them off to get done too. Can anyone advise on what the minimum dimensions? And also what i should expect the cost for having them machined?

The obvious alternative being buy new rotors i guess, though, for a car i only use on the weekend spending $750 on new rotors (http://www.kudosmotorsports.com/catalog/braking-c-21_22_26_65_515.html) is not really something i want to do if can be avoided. Is there cheaper but quality alternatives i should consider given car only gets light use and very rarely heavy breaking?

Advice please? Other options i should consider?

Cheers

Rob

Edited March 2, 2016 by Xizor

[GTSBoy]

The DBA catalogue shows the minimum thickness for just about every rotor that they do. Any "workshop" that does not know how to look this shit up is clearly running at maximum thickness.

[GTSBoy]

As to the cost of rotors.....really? You want to cheap out on brakes?

Well for a start, you don't have to buy DBA 4000s. The base model rotors are cheaper.

[niZmO_Man]

Usually it's 2mm off the regular size.

Seriously, just get RDA rotors, they work fine.

[Duncan]

nothing wrong with maching brakes as many times as you like, just keep them above the minimum (generally 2mm less than new, but I tend to rely on the DBA cattledog too). Afterall, that's how they made the discs the right thickness in the first place.

Just make sure you bed the pads in again after machining, it will remove all the pad build up and it needs to be restored

[Xizor]

Oh my haha, I never said they did not know or were not willing to lookup the stats for how much can be machined - just that they did not know off hand (it was afternoon, they were happy to find out but they would of needed to get done overnight, i needed car back same day, and i had them machined once before so not that confident in doing it again, no idea how much they took off last time).

I quite clearly did NOT say i want to cheap out on brakes. Come on. I said cheaper than the slotted or whatever ones were at Kudo, which i have no need for, but still reputable quality. If that is the base model RDA for my car thats cool.... thats all you had to say I have some Intima pads i bought on here a year or so ago ready to go on the car but I have been out of the scene for many, many years now, and am not familiar with what the options are wrt to brands, models, or even where to buy so just asking the community for assistance to keep a Skyline on the road.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Xizor

[GTSBoy]

Asking without searching first usually gets an acerbic response.

[75coupe]

Ive never had to have the rotors on my 33 machined, squealing brakes is not a sign that the rotors need to be machined...

[niZmO_Man]

Asking without searching first usually gets an acerbic response.

I thought you said "arabic response"

[GTSBoy]

ISIS style?

[Daleo]

At a DBA brakes tech night a while back; the guys from DBA made the comment that Australia is a bit of an anomaly in the worldwide brake market, because of the fact that we tend to machine rotors rather than replace them as a matter of course.

Most markets simply replace the rotor, if they get a lip, or develop shudder/noise; which I thought was quite strange.

Turns out we aren't a s much of a disposable society as I'd thought.

[Trex]

Do you have brake shims?

41080-40P25 - 33GTST - ~$120

41080-40P26 - Z34 - $60

41080-40P27 - 32R - $75

They're all essentially the same kit, the 33 has half plates while the 32R and Z32 have full sized plates.

I found some wrx sumitomo shims that were cheaper again. I can't see these being a problem are they're the same size caliper with the same sized pad?

You can also buy project mu shims, but they're just 0.5mm sticky pad with rubber at ~$80.

I went with standard hardware as skylines didn't sqeak from the factory and the plates can be bent a little to add more tension on the pad to the piston.