[LesBaer]

Originally Posted by Hyper1SS

People are changing them mostly because of the amount of brake dust you get from the stock pads. I never turn my rotors unless they are not smooth and have grooves in them. Otherwise I just scuff them up a little with some fine sandpaper and wipe them down real good with brake cleaner to allow the new pads to bed properly.

Ah ok, gotcha...if it's just because of brake dust I'm not going to bother.

[Sub]

I tracked my z06 for several years. I used stock pads on the street and carbotech on the track. After swapping the race pads on, I'd do a lap and bed them in (several increasingly harder stops till the brakes faded or I smelled them - never stop dead while bedding in, and drive around until they are cooled off).

I probably did this pad swap 40 times and never had a single issue with the braking (beyond normal fade from overuse, later solved by cooling ducts!). I feel it is totally unnecessary to turn the rotors - all you'll do is lower their lifespan. Swap the pads, do a bed in procedure and you'll mesh the surface geometry of the pad to the rotor - whatever bumps and grooves exist will be transferred to the pad, along with some pad material to the rotor, which will aid in stopping performance.

Lethal has some really great instructional videos, but he doesn't know about performance/track driving (as indicated in his April 5th brake line swap video). Know your information sources!

[BradfordCamaro]

Originally Posted by LesBaer

While I appreciate all of the instructional videos he makes, I always validate any of his suggestions with someone who knows what they're doing. He's an enthusiast/tinkerer, not an experienced mechanic so I wouldn't take anything he says as gospel...especially when it comes to reviews of products that come from vendors that sponsor him.

QFT

[KMPrenger]

Wow...so I had forgotten to come back and check this thread for more replies. Good stuff here.

Originally Posted by Max RS

I changed my brake pads with the Z26 with 3000 miles on the clock. I just cleaned the rotors and install the new pads. They are working great, no issues, no squeaks and far less brake dust.

Great feedback. Exactly what I'm looking for.

Originally Posted by laynlo15

This is not the 1990's and these new rotors with the current materials are discards, don't turn them Keith. If you turn them its possible they'll end of warping as they heat up and you'll get a shake in the steering wheel. We see it all the time at our shop with rotors that are turned with new pads installed. I'm old and everybody used to turn the rotors and that was pretty normal but not todays rotors.

Hey Greg, I was kind of thinking the same thing. I know it used to be more the norm but now with these rotors and the low mileage I just wasn't sure. Appreciate your input. Sounds like a good cleaning should do the trick.

Originally Posted by LesBaer

Why are people changing their pads so soon, track use? 3k miles seems very early for a car that's only seen the street like mine...

As said before...in my case its purely for the dust. Others may shun me for remove the stock pads, but I don't care. Getting rid of the majority of that dust will be worth it. I spend as much or more time on my wheels than cleaning the body of the car, and it doesn't have to be that way. I've got new wheels coming next week, and I don't want to be having to clean them constantly also.

[greg72982]

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

As said before...in my case its purely for the dust. Others may shun me for remove the stock pads, but I don't care. Getting rid of the majority of that dust will be worth it. I spend as much or more time on my wheels than cleaning the body of the car, and it doesn't have to be that way. I've got new wheels coming next week, and I don't want to be having to clean them constantly also.

Amen. I may have finally convinced myself to swap to the Power Stops and take off the barely used Brembos. I think I will keep them though because if I decide to track it I will probably just throw those back on. I'll do way more more street driving than track driving so the Power Stops just make sense. Funny the difference a year makes in my thought process. I was so hesitant to take off the factory pads but the wheel cleaning gets old.


Now if I can only decide between Z23's or Z26's...

[LesBaer]

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

As said before...in my case its purely for the dust. Others may shun me for remove the stock pads, but I don't care. Getting rid of the majority of that dust will be worth it. I spend as much or more time on my wheels than cleaning the body of the car, and it doesn't have to be that way. I've got new wheels coming next week, and I don't want to be having to clean them constantly also.

Sorry I forgot the original post and thought there was another reason. There's a trick I remember people used to do with Pledge (carefully spray it on your wheel, not the brake). I can't remember the specific type, but it wasn't the regular lemon scented stuff. I had a friend who used to swear it worked, but I've never tried it. I'm sure if you Google it might come up. My wheels are so easy to clean that I never bothered trying it...the stock 5 spoke wheels were tough to get inside though, so I understand why now.