Hey all,

My 04 Mustang has started making noise coming from the front driver's side wheel. The noise is noticeable while driving and becomes much louder once brakes are applied. it sounds as if something is rubbing against the brake pads or wheel base with each revolution.

I finally had it checked it out and the mechanic said the noise was occuring because my front rotors have worn thin. Can anyone shed light on this? How would thin rotors cause a noise such as this, and how often are rotors replaced?

Thanks!

 

When you do your brakes, you should always have the rotors shaved. If not can due to rotors making noise and getting warped. Nothing bad, but very annoying.
I'm sure someone can explain this better. I suck at explaining. :/
Thin rotors will cause noise (not sure how), get hotter faster and I believe warp faster.
Sometimes the noise can come from not using brake quite stuff and missing the thin metal pieace, I can't think of the name, but whatever holds the brake pads in place.

I'm not sure how often to replace rotors, because I haven't had to and I've had my car for over 2 years now. Your rotors could have gotten thin due to taking it to a shop that didn't bother to check if there was enough rotor to shave off and still be safe.

 

thin rotors dont make noise just on being thin. Go to a different shop.

 

You don't ever have to replace rotors. You only have to if something is wrong with them, either it be warping or whatever it may be. I have vehicles with over 200K miles that have stock rotors that been on since 0miles. Just thought I'd input that.

 

Mine made noise, but thats because they were warped and the caliper was bad so it didnt wear evenly. If they are warped change them, it will save on more things in the long run.

 

Sorry to veer off topic a bit, but as far as brakes go is there a good way to keep rust off the outer rotor hub where it bolts to the axle, most visible right behind the wheel? I hate that **** with a passion...

 

You end up replacing them sooner or later, but it's different for every drive. Everytime you do your breaks you should have the rotors shaved or whatever it's called. Even when warping all you have to do is have the them shaved and will be fine. But may depend on how bad it is, not sure, but I had them done on the SUV and they're fine now.
We have multiple people coming in the shop daily having new rotors put on.

I forgot all about the Caliper, I feel like an idiot. haha
Have you thought of having the Rotors shaved? Because you shouldn't have to replace them if they get warped. We save people a lot of money at the shop doing that. Not sure if it's standard or not, but a lot better then spending un needed money.

I'd suggest painting them. I will be doing it sometime this Summer, along with the Calipers.

 

By time i had the money to change them they were pretty shot. It was towards the end of the school year so i was low on cash. I replaced the caliper , both rotors and the pads... which were pretty cheap. I put nice ones in.

 

Now that makes me worry about mine. FML
Mine been warped for awhile and waiting on the shop to do all my rotors, well shave them all and then use brake quite. Hopefully they're not that bad.

 

I'm guessing caliper paint would do the trick?

 

To be honest I don't really know, but I think it wont work. I'm getting different color paint anyways, but I'm trying to find High Heat Paint, to stand the heat.

 

Thats completely wrong. Once the rotors are worn down enough, they have to be replaced. Some will last longer than others depending on driving style, but if you think you never have to replace them, then good luck. You need to have them checked and resurfaced from time to time, but eventually they'll need to be replaced. They aren't that expensive either. You should've seen mine when r3d and I swapped out my brakes.

 

I think there is some missing information to explain your problem. Thin rotors don't make noise, but worn out pads will. If they are worn enough, they will actually damage the rotor.

Rotors get replaced for the following reasons:

1 - Too thin which makes them subject to warping. They get thin from wear, or thin from re-surfacing them too many times.

2 - Whne they are damaged from letting a pad wear out too far.

3 - Whne you wan tto upgrade them.

Me? I generally replace my rotors whenever I replace the place the pads. Why? They seat much better when everything is new and rotors are cheap. It takes about 5 more minutes to replace a rotor once you are doing the pads, and driving to the auto parts store to have them re-surfaced cost money (though not much), takes time, and is a pain in the ***.

Depending on the car, you can buy a set of rotors for $50 to $100....resurfacing cost about $30. For the extra money, I would rather have it all doen right.

To be honest, the last time I did the fronts on my wife's car, I just replaced the pads. The pads were really bad and I needed to do something right away. They had pads in stock....but not the rotors. I will likely have to replace them again a lot sooner then had I replaced the rotors too.