I booked it in for my 60,000km service and they said I needed my rotors machined and new pads in the rear. Nothing for the front yet. It was another overnight stay as they done that and a leaky seal...

 

My 2006 GV with 2.7L and manual is over 61,000 miles and the brakes are still fine. My experience is that Suzukis with manuals can go a really long time. My Sidekick went close to 100,000 miles before it's first brakes.

Jim

 

I replaced my pads at the front at around 60.000km. Rotors are still fine, and the rear drums and shoes are still fine too. I'm nearly at 75.000km now

This is even with the bigger tires since 40.000km, which adds a lot more stress to the brakes compared to stock

 

It's ALL about how you drive and the terrain in which you do it.

Total flat freeway guys can go 10's of thousands. Nervous and jerky on the gas / on the brakes guys or city dwellers, miniscule distances in comparison.

Me...mostly primary roads and flat lands='s 40-50 K miles on front pads. Double that on the rear shoes. AND I replace at just under 50% material left, for as the material thins, it work hardens and begins to take a toll on rotors and drums. My original front rotors lasted 195K miles FWIW. Drums are original and un-turned with 257K.

 

It's ALL about how you drive and the terrain in which you do it.

I agree with this.

All too often I'm following behind traffic and all I see is brake lights......

all the while the whole duration, I never touched my brake pedal.

Does not mean tailgating, just roadcraft.

 

I think the only thing we've had done so far is turning the front rotors. 78,000km. Maybe they were replaced. We drive in a lot of salt/slush during the winter, and it's difficult to flush off the inside of the front rotors. So they rust as the GV sits around for days between drives. My only complaint is the squealing from the rear drums.

 

81000 km and all still good. Pads look to have plenty of meat left.
I never machine rotors. All the little grooves simply increase the surface area. Machining guarantees you'll need new rotors next change. A nice money making venture for brake shops. You actually pay them to machine your discs down to the wear limit and then buy new rotors from them. Incredible.

If the pedal pulses / rotor is warped, simply replace it.

 

81000 km and all still good. Pads look to have plenty of meat left.
I never machine rotors. All the little grooves simply increase the surface area. Machining guarantees you'll need new rotors next change. A nice money making venture for brake shops. You actually pay them to machine your discs down to the wear limit and then buy new rotors from them. Incredible.

If the pedal pulses / rotor is warped, simply replace it.

I posted up your post on another forum I frequent and this is one of the replies

How does having grooves on the disc create more "useful" surface area? When you fit new pads the pad has a smooth surface, not a grooved one matched to your worn rotors! Imagine the first application - you may have as little as 30 or 40% of the new pad contacting the disc on light inputs which would then result in a less than desirable braking effect meaning the driver is braking for longer creating higher temperatures and glazing the disc and pad.

I struggle to see how anyone would think not machining a disc for a new set of pads is a good idea...



just trying to get discussion & learn more

 

I never machine rotors

Same here. I just let the new pads bed in to the existing (very lightly scored) running surface.

In fact, you can get replacement aftermarket rotors for about the same price as most shops charge in labor to turn your old ones, if yours are severely scored or otherwise out of spec.

 

Mine were replaced at around 26,000 miles and 4 years old. The inner pads and disc faces were shocking, heavy scoring on the outer edges for about 30mm. Was really annoyed with Suzuki dealer as on it's 3rd year and in the UK it's first MOT safety check there was just an advisory at 21,000 saying slight corrosion on discs, if they had picked this up on the service i would have got them to change it all under warranty, 1 year later they were gone, local garage said it looked like the inner pads were not moving freely and evenly. Changed them myself for Mintex pads and discs at a reasonable UK £75 delivered. The Mintex pads were fine but the originals were very tight on the carrier part of the assembly.

Ps, i drive with a very light foot so in my ownership from 14,000 they had not been abused, don't really think it possible to abuse an underpowered 2.0 anyway :lol:

 

All,

In general, do the rear brake shoes last longer than the front pads, Ive just had my front pads changed at 32000 miles, the mechanic said if i wanted the rear shoes checked I would definately need to purchase as once yoy break open the drums the brakes fall apart so cannot check the rear to see if you need new ones or not, is that correct?

Regards,

BP.

 

In general, do the rear brake shoes last longer than the front pads

See earlier post...

Me...mostly primary roads and flat lands='s 40-50 K miles on front pads. Double that on the rear shoes.

The majority of braking effort (thus wear) by design is on the front brakes.

the mechanic said if i wanted the rear shoes checked I would definately need to purchase as once yoy break open the drums the brakes fall apart so cannot check the rear to see if you need new ones or not, is that correct?

Pretty much BS! In rare instances, the rear drums could be so worn, that the shoes won't slide past the drums due to a significant outer edge lip left behind. THAT might cause the need to pry / ruin the shoes and mechanisms inside, to force the drum off.

 

Pyperb,

Find a new mechanic. Never read such rubbish before. Absolute crap, defies belief.
Rear shoes should outlast your car.

 

I wish I was a wee bit more savvy when it comes to car maintenance because it makes me gulable when it comes to mechanics but i'm glad this forum exists to keep me enlighted

Thanks and Regards

BP.

 

i'm glad this forum exists to keep me enlighted

Hey! That's how we all learn, BP!

I've been messing w/cars for 50 years, and there's hardly a day goes by that I don't learn something new off this site.

 

Pyperb,

I now and then disassemble my rears and vacuum out the dust, and clean the shoes off any glazing with a bit of emory cloth. If the rear brakes are kept properly and serviced, then it is NO problem to take them apart.

In an old car I had, I did have a problem once removing the rear drums. As someone mentioned above, the shoes can get stuck in the groove left by the shoe dragging on the drums for long long periods of time. This was on a 15yo, 400.000km Toyota. Brakes were much smaller in diameter too. I doubt you would end up with such a problem on our GV's.

Bludger,

Thanks for posting the comment. I do agree with whoever claims that a worn rotor does give you more grip. It's like folds or ribs on a heat sink. if you could "unfold" the grooves and little scratchmarks, then I guess the surface area would be bigger by a small amount. I'm not sure how that would make much difference though.

In terms of worn rotors on new pads, then the grooves (or tops of them) would slice thru the pad like it was butter. It's simply a matter of pressure and movement. If whoever claims that your new pads would give you 30% braking power was right, then I'd say we would see a lot more accidents on the roads due to braking failure.

I'm not really on any of the fences here. I have both replaced pads on new and old rotors, and also tried turned once with new pads, and it's been all the same to me. I've never had one of those wow moments where everything was just perfect after a replacement. You just need to do the kilometers to get the pads bedded in with the rotors whatever they may be. The only good thing I've tried was with the EBC pads that I have used on a few of my cars. They come with a coating that allows them to bed in very fast, and that worked great.

 

I suspect the mechanic that commented negatively on the rear drums didn't know how to work on them. As more and more cars get 4 wheel disc brakes, this will become more common. I haven't pulled a rear drum yet but my son did on my 2006. I believe a jacking screw was required. That is a device inserted for the specific purpose of starting the drum off. It can be necessary to back the brakes off too but typically is not. In replacing the parts, it can be useful to take a picture. I usually just pull both drums but only take the shoes off one side at a time. It is not really that hard but ther are a fair number of parts and if you've never done it....

Jim

 

And if you decide to tackle the rear drum brakes on your own, this will help...

http://www.suzuki-forums.com/1g-199.../1g-1999-2005-vitara-grand-vitara/20222-brake-shoe-install-lessons-learned.html