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Rotors lifespan

boldram

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at 40,000 miles my original rotors as smooth as bathroom mirror, pads are 6 mm so overall doing just fine. When pads gets worn out should rotors be replaced at the same time?
The way my pads look today i will change them at 55,000-60,000 miles or so. Many repair garages around me insist to replace both pads and rotors when pads become worn out.
On my other cars ( sedans ) i never replace pads and rotors simultaneously, i usually go thru 2-3 sets of pads before replacing rotors.
 
at 40,000 miles my original rotors as smooth as bathroom mirror, pads are 6 mm so overall doing just fine. When pads gets worn out should rotors be replaced at the same time?
The way my pads look today i will change them at 55,000-60,000 miles or so. Many repair garages around me insist to replace both pads and rotors when pads become worn out.
On my other cars ( sedans ) i never replace pads and rotors simultaneously, i usually go thru 2-3 sets of pads before replacing rotors.
"On my other cars ( sedans ) i never replace pads and rotors simultaneously, i usually go thru 2-3 sets of pads before replacing rotors."

probably safe to do the same
 
Usually I swap both at same time, do it once and be done for a long time. I also live in the midwest and the rotors are rusted and looking bad by then.
 
Rotors have a certain thickness spec. As long as they are within that, and still smooth, you may be fine. I'll always replace both. I'll not cheap out on one of the most important parts of my vehicles.
 
It all depends on how you use and drive your truck. Here is an anecdotal example:
 
I typically prefer to change my rotors and pads at the same time because anytime I've machined them, they always start to warp and I have to do it again anyways. Usually less money and waste for me to change them together. Though this is often with high performance sedans than trucks.

Honestly, I haven't owned a full size truck in the last decade or so that needed new rotors or pads, not at least by the 5th year or so when I trade them in. Though I may keep my Rebel longer than that now.
 
I find the rotors on my Ram’s to be real good quality and never warp unlike many other manufacturers. I’ve always just changed pads only and never had a single issue. As long as they’re nice and smooth without excess rust your good to go. Save yourself some money and extra labor time. Very easy to do yourself.
 
I wonder if the etorque system will prolong the pads due to regenerative braking.
 
Mine just started making some noise at 53,000 miles. I tow a lot but am generally easy on brakes in terms of wear though they do get hot. I think I would have easily went over 100k on the pads and likely wouldn’t have had any issues with rotors if I didn’t tow so often. They weren’t exhibiting any pulsation you could feel yet just noise when they got warmer coming off of highway speed (My off ramp to work is fairly abrupt from 70-75 mph so they get worked there daily).

I had planned to surface all rotors and re install since all pads are 80% or so. I use a local Napa because they are the only people who can seem to do a nice job anymore. They did the rears a couple weeks ago no issue. They did the fronts and as soon as I started driving it they were much worse than what I took off. I checked the runout and it was very poor.

Figured I was over messing with them so I put on a set of their premium coated rotors and the adaptive 1 truck and suv pads. I have a 1000 mile one way towing trip in a week or else I would have done more research on pad upgrades. These pads seem to have quite a bit more bite than the OE stuff so we will see how it goes when I tow on the highway with them. OE pads had quite a bit of cracking in the friction material.
 
Mine just started making some noise at 53,000 miles. I tow a lot but am generally easy on brakes in terms of wear though they do get hot. I think I would have easily went over 100k on the pads and likely wouldn’t have had any issues with rotors if I didn’t tow so often. They weren’t exhibiting any pulsation you could feel yet just noise when they got warmer coming off of highway speed (My off ramp to work is fairly abrupt from 70-75 mph so they get worked there daily).

I had planned to surface all rotors and re install since all pads are 80% or so. I use a local Napa because they are the only people who can seem to do a nice job anymore. They did the rears a couple weeks ago no issue. They did the fronts and as soon as I started driving it they were much worse than what I took off. I checked the runout and it was very poor.

Figured I was over messing with them so I put on a set of their premium coated rotors and the adaptive 1 truck and suv pads. I have a 1000 mile one way towing trip in a week or else I would have done more research on pad upgrades. These pads seem to have quite a bit more bite than the OE stuff so we will see how it goes when I tow on the highway with them. OE pads had quite a bit of cracking in the friction material.
It's hard to compare work out factory parts to brand new aftermarket parts. As the brakes wore the stopping efficiency got worse but it was such a gradual change you never noticed. When. You put brand new parts on, they should work better, but the same thing will happen over time.
 
Right. It’s just like tires. Same brand but new rides much smoother every time. Will see how they perform towing.
 
I wonder if the etorque system will prolong the pads due to regenerative braking.
Yes, brakes come down to the driver. I have driven cars hitting 80k miles on original pads and over 100k on rotors. Don't brake often and when you do brake hard, not long. If traffic is stopped just let it coast, eaysier with torque as the drag is huge.
 

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