Prius brake pads

If the rotors are cheaper than cutting the rotors, I would just replace them. No point in trying to save a few bucks and having a thinner rotor which will eat away your brake pads quicker due to the heat from braking.

I agree that the right way to inspect the rotors are to do a run-out test with a dial indicator, but do you think most DIY at home people would invest in a 100-200$ tool? I sure don’t have one and not about to waste my time checking for run-out on rotors lol... just my honest opinion.

 

For that kind of money these days, you could buy five or ten nice Harbor-Freight variety dial indicators that will hold up just fine to DIY usage, and give the rest to four or nine of your friends.

I'm not sure rotors always are cheaper than cutting the rotors. Cheap rotors are cheaper than cutting the rotors ... hence the number of cars that have had original rotors removed that were in fact perfectly fine, and replaced with cheap ones....

 

I haven’t bought any for the Prius yet, but my accord rotors were pretty cheap with the brake pads. Not wasting time going to a shop and have them cut the rotors if it’s about the same cost.

Also, I don’t trust harbor freight specialty tools, they’re cheap China made tools. I’d rather invest into matcotools for specialty tools.

 

I got my dial indicator and micrometer set over 35 years ago. I don't bother to use them with every brake inspection. Rotors have with one exception outlasted our cars, though not that many miles.

 

You can find 43512-47040 online discounted for around $50. Machining was less than that around here, last I checked. Maybe depending on how you price your time for dropping them off and picking them up, it could come out a wash. Cheap ones are cheaper, which is why I suspect a lot of people who follow this strategy are actually throwing away perfectly serviceable original rotors to replace them with cheap ones.

The main thing you have to trust with a dial indicator is "does it read 10 mm if I push it 10 mm?" and that's actually pretty easy to check, no matter what language was spoken by the people who built it. Use another indicator you trust, a nut and bolt of known thread pitch, whatever.

Really, you know it will read correctly when new; counting gear teeth works the same in China as in the US. The difference between it and a Matco will probably be in how much slop is in the reading after you've used it ten thousand times, and for a DIYer, it's gonna take a while for any difference to show up.

And it's quite possible your Matco will give ten times the trouble-free life of my Türlen. But will it give more life than ten Türlens?

The significance of affordable measuring tools for a DIY forum like this one is, as long as people think the only dial indicators that exist are priced like Matco, they just won't buy them, and will keep on throwing out good car parts to replace them with cheap ones because they'll think that doing the simple check is beyond their means. When you know there are affordable ones out there, that changes.

 

O/p must be fascinated

 

I would go further, say:

a lot of people who follow this strategy are actually throwing away perfectly good original rotors...

That don't really need any attention.

 

Only ones who DIY that doesn’t know the oem brand that does it. Especially the ones who buy parts at Autozone, oreilly, and such