How To Inspect And Replace The Brake Rotors On Your Car

26 June 2015 by Vicky Mills

You should inspect the brake rotors every time you replace your brake pads on your car. If you know how to replace your brakes, then you'll be able to do the rotor inspection by yourself. Here is how to inspect and replace the brake rotors on your car.

The Inspection Process

You should be able to tell if the brake rotors are going bad before you even visually inspect them. If you experience any of the following when driving, you probably need to replace at least one of your brake rotors.

Shaking Steering Wheel. Old rotors that are wearing thin or have warped due to excessive overheating will cause the steering wheel to shake, sometimes violently, when braking at high speeds.
Brake Pedal Pulsates. The brake pedal will pulsate when braking at low speeds.
Grinding Sounds. If your brake pads wear too thin, you will hear a grinding sound caused by the pins in your brake pads digging into the metal surface of the rotors.

If you experience any of these symptoms of worn brake rotors, you should take the tires off of your car so you can do a complete visual inspection of the brake rotors.

You want to look for the following damage on the rotors:

Rust
Cracks
Warping
Grooves
Thinning Metal Surface

If you see any of these things, the rotors need to be replaced.

Replacing Rotors

Here is how you can replace the rotors in three steps:

Step One

Remove the brake calipers and bracket from the brake rotor (make sure you hang the calipers and bracket from the car frame to avoid damaging them or the brake lines running to the calipers). You will also have to remove the castle nut or a cotter pin holding the rotor onto the wheel hub.

Step Two

Slide the rotors off of the lug nut studs and set it aside. The rotor usually slides off of the studs easily on newer cars, but on older cars, where the rotor might be rusted into place, you'll need to use a little extra effort to loosen the rotor. In this case, take a rubber-headed mallet and pound around the backside of the rotor until it loosens and you can slide it off of the studs.

Step Three

Slide the new rotor into place and replace the cotter pin or castle nut. Put the brake calipers back on the rotor, and replace the car tire.

You should repeat this process on the other rotors on your car to make sure all of them are in good shape.

If you decide you aren't up to replacing these yourself, contact a business like H & S Tire & Auto Center to get your brakes working properly again.

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