Cheap Disks

Took the Mitsubishi in to have the brakes checked. The front pads were worn out, which isn't surprising since it has 75,000 miles. The shop claimed the rotors were warped, so they replaced them as well. That's the third brake job I've had them do in the last few years where they replaced the rotors. On one hand it makes me a little suspicious, on the other hand the bill was only $24 (I divide all prices by ten in order to get something that looks reasonable. The dollar just isn't worth what it used to be.). Used to be brake shops would turn the rotors (machine a new, smooth face on them) whenever they replaced the pads. They would only replace the rotors if they were so badly worn that there wasn't enough metal left to reface the rotor and leave it strong enough to do it's job, but that was back when rotors cost $100 a piece. I checked rotor prices on the internet last time this happened and they were amazingly cheap, like $20, which I suspect is less than it costs to turn them. So I think what is happening is the shop has given up on turning the rotors and in the interest of speed, gone to just replacing them. Which would be okay if it only happened every 75,000 miles or so.

I had the front brakes done on my truck for the first time a couple of years ago when it had 95,000 miles on it. Rear brakes were fine. In the last year or so it developed this lumpiness in the brakes. I think it was the rear brakes, and I suspect it was a patch of rust. Comes from not being used as much, maybe. A couple of months ago I was looking at driving to Colorado and I decided that I had had enough of this lumpiness, and took it to the shop. They turned the rear drums and replaced the front rotors. I really thought the problem was confined to the rear brakes, but I asked them to fix it, and fix it they did. The lumpiness was all gone and the bill was only $200. They resurfaced the pads, but they did not replace them, or the shoes, either. There might have been rust on the rotors as well. I had the same problem with the Sebring a few years ago. So maybe this is just a feature of newer brakes: if you live someplace where it rains nine months of the year and you don't drive your car every day, your brakes will develop rusty patches that will make them lumpy.