Bluebelle

So my baby got new shoes today and when I picked her up was told my rear brakes were at about 4 cm. When should I get them replaced and what should I expect to pay?

corvettekent

I think that you mean MM not CM.
If it was my car I would buy new pads from Rockauto.com and install them myself. At 4 MM it's time to replace them.

A few questions.
How many MM's on the front pads?
How many miles on the car?

Bluebelle

Thanks Kent for the correction MM and the heads up. Was told the front pads are good. The car has 32,000 miles on it.

They did tell me they could turn the rotors but I’m going back and let them in a couple of weeks to replace the brakes maybe front one too just to have all fresh brakes.

Dano523

Couple of missing parts to the above.
First off, what brake pads are in play in the first place? If the rears pads are just about shot, then front ones have already been replaced since they will wear out first.
Rear Brake pads worn out at 32K, is screaming that you had oem HD pads in place to start with. So model of car would help to figure out the the pads.
Now that we know that the front pads have been replace, then question comes down to what pads where used for their replacement.

Bluntly, when you replace pads, what to do them for all 4 tires, since this keeps the braking bias correct front to back with the same pads.
As for the rotors, even running HD pads on the stock rotors that will need to be replaced around the 30K mark on a Z51 option/GS/Z06/ZR1 car, should be enough meat on the steel rotors allow them to be turned for a new set of pads (should be able to get two set of pads out of the rotors with one turning of them on the second replacement set). On the Zr1, it comes with CF rotors, so no turning them, but should still be able to get two sets of pads on them.

So, model of car, and if base, does it have the J55 brakes to start with.
This will narrow down what brake pads should go back on the car. Since we know that the front brakes where replaced with the amount of wear on the rear, and don't have a clue what front pads where replaced with, plan on having all 4 tires replaced with the same set of brake pads.
On the rear rotors, they can be turned to square them back up, while on the front, have them check them to see if the front rotors are still squared as well. To check the front rotors, just mic the outer diameters, against the inner diameters of the rotors, since the outer parts of the rotors will wear at a fast rate. If not still square/surface no still clean, then they can be turned at the same time as the rears, and then the new pad sets installed on all 4 corners to make sure that the pads are a matching set to keep brake bias.

As for pads, if this is just a base car with JL9 brakes, the Durlast pads are less than $100 for complete set from and back, while if this is a J55 base car, or GS/Z06 car, do not use the ceramic duralast pads. The upper grade braking systems use the HD pads that have more intial bite, better pedal feed back, and higher working temps than your standard cermaic pads like the Duralast pads.
Bluntly, even on a GS for just DD driving, you don't want to use the Duralast ceramic pads , since it's just a mater of time before you melt the pads from just normal driving from the added pressure of those calipers/ the increased braking grip of the wider oem tires, since the pads to not have the needed working temp ranges for the car.



The last one, while the brake system is being serviced, make sure that they power flush the brake fluid for the system as well. The brake fluid needs to be power flushed about every 2 years, since the fluid does collect water in it (from the moisture it pulls out the air),and if the water soaked fluid is left too long in the system, can take out the valves in the EBCM. Also, the water soaked fluid does cause the braking pedal pressure to less than ideal, but the fluid flushes on a timely bases are about preventing water corrosion in the braking system parts in the first place.
To note here, when the brake fluid temps do reach their higher working temps, will pull more moisture from the air. So if you use the car for a HPDE event, once completed with the event, power bleed the brake fluid afterwards, even if it was just after the brake fluid was already power bleed before the event.

So on that note, if you are doing the work yourself, can keep all this to a min cost. In my area, turning even drilled rotors are only $15 each from the shop up the street, quart of dot 4 is $15 to power bleed the system, and depending on the brake pads, could be looking at $100 for all 4 set for say the Duralast ceramic base type pads, to a few hundred if you need to run the HD type pads instead.
If your in the Denver area, more them welcome to come over to have me give you a hand, since have a shop a few blocks away that can turn the rotors, and only take a few hours total time. Plus, with the rotors off, give me a chance to show you how to adjust the E brake shoes at the same time(over missed when taking in a C6 for a brake job.
Note, to tell if the E brake shoes are adjusted correctly, count the clicks that it take to get the E handle all the way up. the E handle should be tight in about 11 clicks, and to get the 12 click, should feel like your dislocating your shoulder. If the e lever goes shoulder dislocating hard in less than say 8 clicks up, e brake shoes are adjusted way too tight.
And no, the E brake shoes are not not self adjusting,so when a brake job is completed on the car, the E shoes have to be adjusted each time during such.

Bluebelle

Hi Dano. Thanks for the info. I just bought the car from Corvette World of Texas. I am a female owner who doesn’t work on cars but I will take it to reputable places and pay to maintain and take care of her. I live in Georgia. If I were out your way, I’d look you up for this job. This is my extra vehicle or more of a Sunday driver. Since I just had new tires put on, I’m taking her back in a couple of weeks and having the brakes replaced all the way around. Just to make me feel better knowing I had it done and when it was done. I remember several years ago, when I was married, helping my husband flush the brakes on a convertible corvette we owned. I remember pumping the brakes, etc.

I’ll definitely ask them about that too.

Again, thanks for the info. Have a good one!

DrKrieger

I went with TRQ rotors and pads all the way around. $305.........and changed them myself. Took about 2 hours, and I am very happy with their performance. I don't track the car, so these work very well for a street car.

TRQ rotors and pads all the way around.

Bluebelle

Thanks, Dr. Krueger. I’m definitely putting new brakes all the way around so I’ll know for sure when they were done. Since I’m a lady, I’ll just let the experts do the job!

Have a great weekend!

sirdano

If you are in Austin area look up Aikman Performance. A very good shop to go to. If you are in Dallas Maybe someone on here can chime in