I’m not sure if the rough surface is necessary for proper pad break-in as usually stated or cheaper than finally polishing and the break-in process finishes the job on the rotors.

George

 

A quick summary on the right rear brake problem on my 2003. The noise was from the metal on metal contact on the inner pad scraping on the rotor. This excessive wear was due to the caliper piston being stuck in its bore. Here is a summary of what was done to fix it.
I go to NAPA and get a reman.caliper for only $117.88!!! but that includes the $45.00 core charge. Still a little high. I drive back and we look at the old rotor and decide it has been worn way too thin to use. I go back into town and pick up a brand new rotor for $59.00 and we then install the new rotor, the reman. NAPA caliper with the new AAP ceramic pads. Gino bleeds the brakes 3X to get all the air out of the system. Back on the road. Life is Good.
I know that brakes are usually replaced in pairs: If you replace the right rear pads, you would normally replace the left rear pads at the same time. I generally agree with that. But I think this was an unsual situation caused by the piston freezing in the cal. bore. I wil definitely remove the left rear caliper soon and look closely at the pads, cali pins and make sure all is in good working order and the pads are not worn out. I have the pads for the left rear on hand and will replace them if necessary.

 

Some clarification on a few points. Regards NAPA. They charge a premium, but they also have a high level of quality. I speak from their reman. water pumps and reman. brake calipers as my most recent experiences. I now think of NAPA as I used to think of AC Delco---yes, their price is higher, but their parts quality is higher, Translation: I like to do a repair job once and have it last. So it is worth it to me to pay more for their parts and have no leaks or mechanical failures. I don't want to have to replace a water pump or a brake caliper I just installed even if the parts retailer cheerfully gives me a replacement for the defective parts! It still means I have to redo a repair job unecessarily.

I also want to say that the GM Blazer and GMC Jimmy are very finicky and prefer OEM electrical parts such as spark plugs, dist. caps & rotors, plug wires, and O2 sensors, for example. But in other important areas, the GM vehicles are much more tolerant and accomodating. As an example of this, I used different sources for my rear brake job for the rotor, the caliper and the pads. This was an eclectic mix and worked fine. Some cars such as Toyota and Honda, are not as accomodating about their replacement parts such as brakes !
This is an area where this forum is invaluable. Thanks, Jim in SC

 

I wanted follow up on the concept of replacing brake pads in pairs. When you buy a set of pads, you always get four pads for the two wheels. I wanted to do the emergency repair on the passenger side rear first. The rear pads were worn down to the metal and had worn the rotor to under the required minimum of 18.5 MM.as embossed on my rear rotor. This week, I had a free moment and decided to have a go at the replacement with my Advance Auto Parts ceramic pads. I jacked up the rear and took a look at the pads. The pads were about half worn. I soon had the caliper piston compressed into the caliper. I replaced the new pads, using all new stainless steel hardware and greased them with ceramic high temp brake lube by Permex. Remember the brake pad 'squealers' s are mounted at the leading edge.
To me, one of the crucial replacement procedures is cleaning and lubing the two caliper pins so they move freely. This is critical for a floating caliper design to function properly. Remember not to get any lube on the pads or the rotor. Clean the rotor with brake clean. Now carefully button it up and torque the wheel lugs in a 'star' pattern. Not the NASCAR clockwise pattern. Never do that. Now--important step-- seat in the new pads slowly and carefully. There are many different approaches on how to best seat the new pads to the rotor. Read several instructions or watch video's and take the best of these procedures to make your new pads last and perform the best. Please note there are different procedures for ceramic vs semi-metallic pads and stock style solid rotors vs drilled and slotted rotors ! ! !

 

I learned this lesson the hard way! I lost a set of rotors and pads and replaced the calipers because salt water got on them when I was retrieving my boat at a ramp. It was a nutty day and I had to back in more than usual because of gravel having been pushed on to the ramp by the waves.