Is this wear on new rotors and pads normal?

[JimmyJohns]

Just did my first brake job a couple weeks ago on my mothers 2000 Buick Century, only the front. The rotors are coated Wagners, and the pads I went with are Duralast Golds, which I got for the lifetime warranty.

This image, is of the driver front, and you can see that line/ring. If I run my finger, or fingernail over the entirety of the rotor surface, I don't really feel anything.

This image, is of the passenger front. You can see that the line/ring is less pronounced, but about an inch from the top of the rotor you can see a groove. If I run my finger/finger nail over this, you can BARELY feel it.

So my question, is this normal wear for new brakes so far? From what I've gathered, it seems like just the pad material wearing in, especially considering they're on the cheaper side of pads. I just don't want these rotors to get too messed up.

I have to change her oil this week, so I was thinking of popping off the wheels and inspecting the pads for any foreign material.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

That is not a problem at all

 

[CarbonSteel]

Very much normal; the pads never cover the complete surface area of the rotor.

 

[VeryNoisyPoet]

Looks normal to me. Brakes are exposed to all sorts of abrasive contaminants so some scoring on the rotor is expected.

On the other hand, if you end up with deep gouges and large areas so badly chewed up they do not contact the pad, then you have an issue.

 

[JimmyJohns]

I might not have worded that correctly, I'm concerned about the ring/line on the wearable surface of the rotor, not on the edges of it

 

[old1]

Everything there looks perfectly fine/normal to me.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted By: JimmyJohns
I might not have worded that correctly, I'm concerned about the ring/line on the wearable surface of the rotor, not on the edges of it

In the first image, right in the 'middle' of the diameter, yes ? I don't think that's normal unless the pads you use have a cooling slot that runs lengthwise.... I'd remove the outer pad and see if there's any debris. There may not be - it may be gone now. Hopefully the rings goes away over time but even that would only be for appearance. In all reality, it's not a problem although some will over-react and talk about "surface area contact", "decreased stopping power", and so on !

 

[KrisZ]

Looks to me like the top of the rotor doesn't have any pad material contact. I suspect the pad is not manufactured correctly to cover the area.

What I first looked at the pics I thought it was the rotor chamfer, but it is not.

 

[LeakySeals]

The pads can create wear patterns on the surface of the rotor that looks like rings in the middle where the dust slot on the pads reside for example. Totally normal.

 

[sprite1741]

Normal,but my last set of ceramic pads did that same thing and the rotors started pulsing after around 2 years. I used semi metallics this time. I change brakes often because it's such an inexpensive easy job. Any abnormality and new ones go on. Pads are lifetime and rotors 2 years so it's just an hours labor is they give trouble.

 

[Trav]

That's perfectly okay, there was a small hard spot in the pad material (normal), its going to happen many times over the life of the pad but you wont notice it.

 

[spasm3]

There are minute high and low spots on the pads, this marks the rotor. Thats why your brakes usually brake better a few weeks after the brake job. The pads mate to the rotor and you have better surface contact. Until it finishes wearing in, it will look like that.

 

[JimmyJohns]

Thanks for putting my mind at ease guys, I love to be overly paranoid about this kind of stuff

 

[silveravant]

What break in procedure was specified for the pads? What break in procedure did you do?

I have always found that 5 or more hard stops from 60 to 5 followed by as long as possible cool off before holding brakes at stop works the best. Sometimes hard to find a suitable area.

Even deposit of brake pad material to the disk is the goal.

 

[silveravant]

Coated disks may require a break in period to wear off the coating from the braking surface before the break off period.

Keeping brake and break spelled correctly is much harder than it should be.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: silveravant
What break in procedure was specified for the pads? What break in procedure did you do?

I have always found that 5 or more hard stops from 60 to 5 followed by as long as possible cool off before holding brakes at stop works the best. Sometimes hard to find a suitable area.

Even deposit of brake pad material to the disk is the goal.


I never do anything special, some people on here have had squealing brakes after they messed around with that nonsense.
Its not a race car, nothing special is required.
Instructions for a 200mph superbike is to drive it easy and brake gently (aside for emergency) for the first 500km. Why should the family coach be any different?

You want high performance brakes, buy them but forget turning stock brakes into something special, its not happening.

 

[camrydriver111]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: silveravant
What break in procedure was specified for the pads? What break in procedure did you do?

I have always found that 5 or more hard stops from 60 to 5 followed by as long as possible cool off before holding brakes at stop works the best. Sometimes hard to find a suitable area.

Even deposit of brake pad material to the disk is the goal.


I never do anything special, some people on here have had squealing brakes after they messed around with that nonsense.
Its not a race car, nothing special is required.
Instructions for a 200mph superbike is to drive it easy and brake gently (aside for emergency) for the first 500km. Why should the family coach be any different?

You want high performance brakes, buy them but forget turning stock brakes into something special, its not happening.


I tried this internet recommended bedding procedure once.

After 10,000 km I had to junk the brakes due to glazed rotors and massive vibration in the pedal and cabin.

I wonder if it was due to overdoing this procedure. I remember after my initial drive I could smell the brakes and I saw smoke coming off them.

 

[Trav]

You are not alone, one guy got nice Bendix CT-3 pads and did a break in procedure and got squealing brakes right after doing it, the pads got glazed.
After another 1K they finally went quiet.

There are some pads that need it to cure the adhesive compound but those are normally not run of the mill pads. It may take longer to cure the pads but they will in a couple of hundred miles or less of normal driving ad you wont glaze the pads.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Everyone reads the brake bedding procedures touted online and assumes one size fits all.

Bedding must be commensurate with the total braking performance of the rig you are interested in.

Got 4 or 6 piston fixed calipers and dinner plate sized rotors? Then you need hard braking events to heat those track ready pads properly.

Got floating calipers with two pistons up front on a ventilated smaller rotor, one in the back with a solid disc? A few normal stops will heat those up just fine.


And note that the race drivers are seeking the deposition of pad material onto the rotors. This will never happen on a street car due to the duty cycle.

 

[Trav]

That about sums it up.