Strange brake rotors

[dripley]

Getting rotation today and as I take look at the brakes while all the wheels are off and see something strange. Right front.

Left front.

 There appears to be cracking and you can feel it with your finger nail. Never had this before. Seems there cracking. Any one had this happen on theirs?

[hdpwipmonkey]

I've never had it happen to me but that can't be good.  Getting too hot or too thin and stressed.  Being both sides look like that I'd say its not a caliper sticking (unless they both are ).  

[dripley]

34 minutes ago, hdpwipmonkey said:

I've never had it happen to me but that can't be good.  Getting too hot or too thin and stressed.  Being both sides look like that I'd say its not a caliper sticking (unless they both are ).  

It does look heat related, but dont believe the brakes are dragging. Drives straight and stops straight. The rotors went on the same time the pads did, maybe 3 years ago. Never been resurfaced. The pads are ceramic. First time I ever ran them.

[hdpwipmonkey]

I just put ceramics on mine but I also put on drilled and slotted rotors too so I could help dissipate the heat from the ceramics.  Maybe the ceramics are too much for those rotors 

[dripley]

23 minutes ago, hdpwipmonkey said:

I just put ceramics on mine but I also put on drilled and slotted rotors too so I could help dissipate the heat from the ceramics.  Maybe the ceramics are too much for those rotors 

Maybe. They came as package deal from Rock auto. Pretty cheap at around 100 bucks IIRC. The pads are about 50%. Might get my old rotors resurfaced and try them. The cracking cant be good. I dont seeing that when I bought new tires about 3 months ago.

[AH64ID]

Cheap rotors means cheap metal and decreases service life. Probably got what you paid for out of them. 

 

I like your idea of resurfacing the OE rotors. 

Edited August 3, 2019 by AH64ID

[JAG1]

Dripley, To me it looks like a glazing on the surface that has the cracks not the actual rotor itself otherwise with that many cracks them things should be shattered by now. . Mike says never use ceramic pads for some reason, always get the organics.

Edited August 3, 2019 by JAG1

[Old Blue - 1998.5]

IMHO -That color change on the metal surface (blue tint in the photos) is the result of a lot of heat. Brakes work by scrubbing off rotational energy, converting it to heat. Ceramics are hard and can withstand much more heat than organics, so they wear longer. But the rotor needs to be up to the task of withstanding the additional heat generated by the harder ceramics and be able to dissipate that additional heat effectively...

 

If it were mine, I would replace 'em. If the original rotors aren't too worn, I like your idea of having them refaced and using them again with organic pads.

 

Where I live in Alaska, we have a lot of volcanic ash, which under a microscope looks like bits of sharp broken glass. Since a disc brake rides at 'zero clearance' that can lead to faster wear and (if not caught soon enough) scoring - proper pad selection and maintenance is a must. They last about half as long in this country...

[dripley]

2 hours ago, AH64ID said:

Cheap rotors means cheap metal and decreases service life. Probably got what you paid for out of them. 

 

I like your idea of resurfacing the OE rotors. 

 Most likely they case. The ceramic pads probably did not help.

2 hours ago, JAG1 said:

Dripley, To me it looks like a glazing on the surface that has the cracks not the actual rotor itself otherwise with that many cracks them things should be shattered by now. . Mike says never use ceramic pads for some reason, always get the organics.

I dont believe its on the surface, to much bare metal showing. 

1 hour ago, Old Blue - 1998.5 said:

IMHO -That color change on the metal surface (blue tint in the photos) is the result of a lot of heat. Brakes work by scrubbing off rotational energy, converting it to heat. Ceramics are hard and can withstand much more heat than organics, so they wear longer. But the rotor needs to be up to the task of withstanding the additional heat generated by the harder ceramics and be able to dissipate that additional heat effectively...

 

If it were mine, I would replace 'em. If the original rotors aren't too worn, I like your idea of having them refaced and using them again with organic pads.

 

Where I live in Alaska, we have a lot of volcanic ash, which under a microscope looks like bits of sharp broken glass. Since a disc brake rides at 'zero clearance' that can lead to faster wear and (if not caught soon enough) scoring - proper pad selection and maintenance is a must. They last about half as long in this country...

That blue tint you are seeing is the reflection of the blue shirt I have on. I dont remember noticing any blue scorching when looking at them at the tire store. Not to say the damage is not heat related. Sure looks to be. 

 

We will see what happens after I get the others re surface.

 

 

[Evan]

Rotors are a consumable part just get new ones. At 30 bucks a rotor to resurface I think I'd just buy new.

 

I'm running carbon fiber pads just for giggles. I think ceramics are well worth it to. Everyone's going organic these days from brakes to food wtf get with times and use the technology we have.

 

Drilled rotors where to vent gasses on race cars back in the day. Heat and gasses would actually make the pad float on the rotor. The holes gave the gases a place to go not necessarily to decrease heat.

 

I cant tell any difference between carbon fiber ones I just got and ceramics. Make sure and get pads that are vented. They have a line down them instead of solid either way I doubt we need to worry about heat or gas floating our pads

[01cummins4ever]

I’ve always had bad vibes with the ceramic pads in these trucks and this just confirms my thoughts even more.

Ive always thought that the ceramic pads and slotted  and drilled rotors belong on light fast moving race cars going 150 mph or more and not on our overweight slow moving pigs.

 

I would also agree to resurface your originals if you still got them and they are up to spec, probably a lot better material than the after market China stuff. But even the China auto parts store rotors been working for me, as I replace rotors on every 3rd set of pads. But I do burn through a lot of brakes from my heavy towing.

 

I also use the mid grade oem pads, they don’t have as much bite, but are easier on the rotors and don’t leave a mess of brake dust. 

[hdpwipmonkey]

1 hour ago, Evan said:

 

Drilled rotors where to vent gasses on race cars back in the day. Heat and gasses would actually make the pad float on the rotor. The holes gave the gases a place to go not necessarily to decrease heat.

 

 

I don't know, my thought was a 2000 lb car going fast and stopping or a 8000 lb truck with trailer trying to stop either one will generate heat and gases.  I've used Powerstop brakes and rotors before on other applications and they performed well so I went with them again on this truck.  I like to drive a little too fast and I am hard on the brakes so I wanted something that was going to stop me when needed. 

So far so good but time will tell I guess.

[Evan]

I tend to drive more like my grandpa then a young guy with ponies under the hood and tranny to hold them

 

I think I have carbon fiber on the front and ceramic rear. My truck stops pretty good I have almost no brake dust on my wheels. 

I debated long and hard on doing drill and slotted. Just drilled. Dimpled just grooved.

Grooved is supposed to cut the glaze of the pads

 

I dunno I'm sure everything works well. I research to much.

[AH64ID]

I have always been under the impression that drilled and vented rotors provide lower braking on normal, day to day, driving/towing due to the decreased surface area. They only provide increased braking when the pads are hot and lots of gasses need to be expelled, which shouldn't happen to most of us with pickups... that's a race car thing. If your brakes get that hot on a regular basis it's either from an overly aggressive driving style or bad trailer brakes. You shouldn't be asking your truck brakes to stop the trailer. 

 

The OEM pads for 3rd and 4th gen's are great. They are quiet, last a long time, and plenty powerful for weights above the OE GVWR. 

 

@dripley if you need to spend money, spend it on OE 3rd or 4th gen stuff... if you have 17" wheels. 

 

The other reason for sticking with OEM, or near OEM, is that the ABS is calibrated for the braking coefficient of OE pads. If you live somewhere with snow/ice and put drastically different pads you will change the way ABS works and generally it's not for the best. 

[dripley]

I tried the ceramic just to try something different and they were not expensive at all. They did not stop any better or worse than what regular. 0 brake dust however. That was a plus. The old rotors I have are not oe ones. They are long gone. The reason I swapped rotors last time is lack of time to resurface them. Only being home on the weekends does not always a lot time to do things. I have thought going with the 3rd or 4th gen stuff. Maybe after I retire.

[Evan]

I agree  I haven't seen any drastic or noticable differences with pads.

 

My research did lead me to think that drilled rotors would decrease braking power.

Slotted might increase due to cutting the glaze of pads.

 

A 2000 lb. Car on race course will creat massive heat compared to our trucks.

 

[Mopar1973Man]

I've been using economy brake pads since the OEM pads wore out. My rotors lated over 350k miles before replacing. Never cracked or warped.