AutoJunkieMan

OK so I heard a "ting" noise when I parked today, sounded like my rear left break. I heard this issue with JKs by the dealer (oddly enough.. last oil change..) tryed to charge me over $200 to get my breaks lubricated to stop this from happening (the jeep has 17,000 kms on it) So I was like I'll think about it, did some research found out ok I could probably do the job myself one day maybe.

So I let it go, and today I heard this so I looked at the break thru the wheel spokes and saw there was a deep groove running along the top of the rotor (urgh..) i've heard of people maching these out but I don't know, anyone who has some info (or some time..) to diagnose and look at this with me would be great. I am all about learning to do this myself, I really don't want to goto the dealer and end up with a $600 price tag at the end of the visit, I know breaks are something that wears out, and if you can do it yourself your golden. Trust me, I want to do this myself.

Some photos of my breaks below.

Rear Left Break (grooved one..)


Rear Right Break (it's all good)


Front Left (front right looks the same)


Any Help would be great! I heard you can machine grooves out of your breaks but like I said I not super experienced my knowledge is in home PCs (I just spent two days rebuilding my PC computer) i just wish I could do the same with my jeep!

zrs

You know, I wouldn't get too concerned about those minor grooves your seeing. Lubricating your caliper slides, and pad resting points is actually a very good idea to do yearly. Once those pins start sticking, your caliper will hold the pads on slightly. This creates an enormous amount of heat which melts the resins in the friction material. Your pads glaze, and create all kind of noise issues after that, even if the caliper is serviced and freed up. I know I'll get flamed for backing the shops on this one, but annual brake servicing can really extend the life of your brakes. Ideally, you get a mechanic buddy over to show you how to do it, then you can do it yourself after that.

AutoJunkieMan

I would rather do this myself, as it seems to be a regular upkeep thing that is more time consuming then costly. The grooves that are in the rotor are pretty deep, while the others are very smooth, this was my only concern. Plus the sound made me concern, it's a very expensive expense (over $200) to have this done, and if I can get around it with time out of my life rather then money I would be very happy.

oldfart

I agree with zrs, check the sliders etc. you might have something embedded in the pad on that side that has caused the groove. I would change the pads while you have the caliper off and also change the rotor, I never cut the rotors, new ones are not that expensive. Disk brakes are not difficult to work on, it's not rocket science.

AutoJunkieMan

Well it is if you don't know what your doing (like me..) and having to replace the rotor on a vehicle a little over a year old kind of sucks :( can't say I am happy about the idea.

oldfart

It really is not that difficult to work on disk brakes, there are lots of how to's on the net. brakes are considered a wear item, sometimes they last seemingly forever but a small stone or abrasive mud caught in the pad can score them up in seconds, That minor scoring you have will not effect the braking ability as long as the pad is good.

AutoJunkieMan

I hardly ever use my brakes at all, I really doubt the pads are worn down that much at all.

oldfart

That may be true but one of them might have picked up something that has stuck itself into the pad.

AutoJunkieMan

Maybe, if I felt more confident in tearing into the things that stop my 4000lb vehicle and knew I could put it all back together again without much difficulty, then I would do it. It just feels like a big gamble if I've literally never done it before. I rotated my tires before, thats about as mechanical as ive gotten.

Other then sterios and rewiring a sunroof and radio antenna (sheilding on thos wires are a pain in the butt)

oldfart

If you don't feel confident about tackling it yourself, try talking to some of the jeep club guys in your area, there's going to be at least one guy who knows how to do brakes and is willing to hold your hand while you do it. It's something worth learning as it will save you a fortune over the coming years. If you want to take a trip to Montreal I'd be happy to show you.