2004 Front Brake Rotor Replacement

Yup, just spray down the rotor really well - make sure all that oil and grease is off. That's there to prevent surface corrosion, as the machined rotor will rust almost immediately. As for torque ratings - stick with the ratings you see for the same generation of car - if possible, the same model year, as there could be year to year running changes. Yup - lugs are 76ft.lbs - doesn't matter if they are alloy or steel wheels. Ramming the lugs on at much higher torque (read - tire shop goofballs) - and there is a chance you could warp the rotors.

 

Everything you unbolted should have the torque checked - especially the torque plates. That bracket that holds the caliper - as it will be subjected to quite a bit of force. I'm pretty sure that the torque ratings are listed around the forum. I'll check back when I peek at my FSM and see if I can get you some numbers.

Nothing wrong with being cautious - better safe than sorry.

I already did my brakes, but I will see if I can borrow the torque wrench again next weekend. Turns out all I had was a tire iron for the lugs, had every socket smaller than lugs, though.

I also want to torque the caliper bracket thing, but I just tightened it as tight as the driver's side was by hand-feel.

Driver's side brakes and rotors looked decent, passenger side was all sorts of messed up. Outer pad was about 3mm thick, inner pad was ground down to the metal. Could this happen from overtightening everything? I noticed all bolts on the passenger side were SIGNIFICANTLY tighter than the driver's side ones, as in socket wrench + metal tube + tire iron for leverage, compared to just socket wrench with no leverage assistance on passenger side)

I tightened as tight as I felt it took to "break" the bolts out on the passenger side.

Wanted to add something to this post. At the time this post was started, I was also putting new brakes on the front. I opted for the store brand Advanced Auto Wearevers (financial consideration). I put pads and rotors on. The rotors had slightly more meat on them than the originals, pads were the cheap ones ($20). I reused all the same harware. I had this combo on other cars and always had good results although I know a lot of poeple don't like them. I never really thought about buying online until reading it from Fish and later I did buy a pair of Centric rotors w/Bendix pads for my minivan for a great price- but that's a story for another website. Anyway, the brakes have slightly more grab and feel great. Here it is well over 3000 miles later and the only real complaint is the dust these things spit out- terrible. Front wheels are always black, and am considering swapping them out when it gets warmer after winter because of this. Other than that they work great. Rotors brake smoothly and evenly. Not to take away from anything said about quality here- I wholeheartedly agree you should get the good stuff, but the point is I've always maintained half the battle here is prep work- use of a torque wrench is a must. Making sure the rotor/hub surfaces are clean and always torque wheel lug nuts. Make sure all sliding surfaces have a good high temp gease, make sure the guides pins are free and smooth and make sure they're lubricated well and checking their dust boots for any rips . This is the stuff that causes problems like warped rotors and uneven wear down the road. But next time it will be brand name stuff.

wagner makes some very good ceramic brake pads for daily commuter driving. low dust, low noise, good consistent stopping power.

wagner makes some very good ceramic brake pads for daily commuter driving. low dust, low noise, good consistent stopping power.

I used to use Wagners all the time but no one carries them around here anymore, except maybe Napa. Anyone ever use anything with the Centric name on? Like I said before, I put them on my minivan which is hard on front brakes and they looked favorable to a few people on the net.

 

 

centric makes good brakes.