so my front brakes started squeaking a week ago, I inspected both the front brakes and found that there were little groves on the rotors, especially the right one. My shop teacher recommends to go to a shop and get the rotors machined and install new brake pads because the squeaking is metal on metal.

What do you guys think?

Should I do them myself?

 

btw my car is a 93 sc300

 

yes, do it yourself. And if there are little grooves, then you NEED those rotors refinished! I actually just made a picture how-to on changing brake pads in an SC3, its somewhere in the Tire Rack Wheel Tire Brake forum.

 

the grooves aren't that big at all, just tiny lines. How do I refinish it? at a shop or can I just use some kind of sand paper?

 

can you feel the grooves with your fingernail? If you can, I would highly recommend getting them refinished. You have to go to a shop, doing it by hand will make it uneven. Good luck

 

yes I can feel them w/ my fingernails. Btw, how much does it cost to get it refinish?


Thanks for advice

 

$ 5-10 per rotor at any place that does brake jobs. And again, I would highly recommend doing this yourself, you'll save money and get some good experience doing it. If you do do it yourself, make sure to check out that How-to.

Good luck

 

If the pads have worn to the point where there is metal-to-metal contact, then the sound is more likely to be a grinding noise, rather than a squeeking one. If that's happened, the metal of the brake pad backing is grinding into the rotor, making it so rough that resurfacing the rotor is required, or the new pads will wear down to nothing in a few weeks.

Personally, as long as I have not worn them down to the metal backing, I change my pads without resurfacing. Since the rotors are not perfectly flat, it takes longer for the new pads to bed into the grooves of the surface, so I take it easy on the stops for a few weeks.