I can feel that one of my brake rotors is warped (im guessing front driver side). It vibrates when I hit the brakes at speed (50+ mph), and "pulses" at low speed (5 mph or less).

I have 33" tires on for mudding.

Questions follow:

Should I get new rotors, or see if they can be resurfaced first?

Change the brake pads when I do the rotors, or leave them (they have about 60% left)

ceramic pads? crossdrilled/slotted rotors (I hear these help a lot in wet/mud)?

Should I lube up the caliper bolts? With what?

 

Is the brake fluid clear? If not with 16 years on it I would go through the whole system.

 

New rotors and pads. Would only buy normal on both as mud and all its little rocks and sand can do bad things in those slots and tare up the pads bad. And the caliper bolts in my opinion need nothing. You could put some anti-seas on the shank of the bolts but not the threaded part. But I don't think it is necessary.

 

I would say get new. If they warped once, they've already got weak spots.

60% isn't bad. I wouldn't change them, but I'm cheap, and swapping pads isn't a huge challange.

I don't know about cermaic or not, but EBC has been good to me in more than one application. Not just on an off road vehicle.

I would personally run slotted rotors.

I've heard that crossdrilling and slotting can cause weak spots and issues, but I've heard more cracking coming from doing them both. Again, if it were me, I would stick with just slotted rotors.

The caliper bolts? Use PB blaster. The sliders, use white lithium grease if you don't have anything better.

 

the parts stores have small packets of caliper grease. they are about the size of a wet-nap and would be cheaper than buying a full container. i have bought brake pads that came with these grease packs in the box.

 

Dot 3, right? If I am flushing it all should I upgrade to dot 5? No abs if it matters

Go around from closest to furthest caliper to the master cylinder? or is it the other way around (I can never remember).

Is it just like bleeding, only keep adding fluid and pumping until the fluid runs clear? How long of a Job is it to flush all that crap out?

Thanks for the input everyone


How hard are the drum brakes to work on (adjust, flush, etc)? I only worked on one set of drums on a 74 ford years ago, and I don't really remember much besides the fact that I was rather confused by all the small parts. I guess it all went back together though

 

I think you start from the furthest away, at least when bleeding.

Then again, I could be backwards too.

 

When bleeding brakes:
1 Passenger rear
2 Driver rear
3 Passenger front
4 Driver front

When dealing with the rear drums, only disassemble 1 side at a time, if you forget how to reassemble look at the other side for reference. The rear drums are mirror images of one another, take a look at both sides with the drums off and you will see what I mean.

 

DO NOT PUT DOT 5 IN. IT will ruin the system. Dot 5 is a silicon based fluid it will not mix with other fluids, IT WILL DESTROY every hose, caliper and anything else in the system. They do make dot 5.1 that will mix with other fluids. I have never personally delt with this issue, but I know on the street bike scene it has been a huge problem.

Most sport bikes come with dot 5 now. Higher boiling temp, but if mixed with any other type of brake fluid it will gel.

YES lube the sliders of the caliper, not necessarly the bolts, but the part of the caliper that slides on the bracket.

Up to you if you want to replace pads. Semi metalic (ebc is a GREAT name in preformance breaks). Ceramic is quiter, and cleaner (less dark break dust), but doesnt stop quite as good.

As cheap as rotors are, I would just replace.

 

Don't forget that DOT 5 is not for use in ABS equipped systems either.

 

How much fluid will it take if I flush it all out? I picked up a qt of dot 4 (guy at oreilys said it should do) but I would hate to ride my bike to the store when I run out of fluid

 

Performance friction http://www.performancefriction.com/
These brakes are the best I have ever used. My brother and I both have XJ's and live in the mountains. His is an automatic, and rotors were warping on him. I have been using Perfomance Friction for some years now, and he switched and no more warps.
My girl friend has a 99 camry which ate brakes every 6 months or so here in the hills, I put on new rotors and a set of Performance Friction pads and it has been over 4 years without a problem, same pads.
They are made back in SC and are used on NASCAR, police cars and heavy industrial equipment.

 

Followup:

it took a little over a quart of dot 4 to flush the whole system (glad I bought that little bottle too!). The fluid that came out was way nasty. Dark, and a couple of the lines shat little chunks out, and pushed a lot of air/gas out (about halfway through the flush too, those bubbles got up high). Glad I got fresh dot4 in there.

Doesn't quite stop as fast, but I'm trying to be easy on the pads. I want them to bed in to the new rotors well, and not glaze up. The stopping performance improved on the 10 mile drive from my bosses garage to my apt, so I am looking forward to vibration free, squeak free, peace of mind stopping for a good while.

Thanks for everyone's contributions