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Brake Pad and Rotor Replacement 102

    Almost 2 years ago I wrote my brake pad and rotor replacement 101 post detailing some of the stuff I went through to replace the brake pads and rotors on my 2004 Pontiac Sunfire. A few weeks ago I noticed that the car was pulsing a bit under heavy braking. That’s never a good sign. I took the car into my mechanic for a regular oil change and asked them to take a look at my brakes. With the good luck we recently had on the Pontiac Vibe brakes, I was hoping for the best but really expecting the worst.

    Sure enough, my brake rotors are shot. Now, the interesting part – my brake pads were still in fantastic condition.

    I actually had to come back home and read my original post to jog my memory about what parts I had put on the Sunfire. Turns out, I put the high quality Monroe brake pads from Canadian Tire on the Sunfire. Unfortunately, I put the cheapest rotors on as that was all they had at my local Canadian Tire the day I went in. I had been looking for the Monroe rotors at the time. Crap. Yes, the rotors lasted about 40,000km but having my mechanic tell me that the pads are still in fantastic shape irritates me.

    What I’ve taken from this, and why I’m calling this post “Brake Pad and Rotor Replacement 102”, is that it’s probably better to spend money on good rotors instead of good pads. Well, at least don’t mix and match quality. ;)

    Anyways, due to some recent changes in real life, I didn’t have time to do another brake pad and rotor job on the Sunfire myself so I dropped almost $450 at the garage for the brake inspection, adjustment and replacement, my oil change and my tires getting rotated. Barf. Here’s hoping I don’t have to do any brake work for at least 50,000km.

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