Cost of a break job?

I think I have a tendency to avoid hard braking unless necessary.
During the process of braking, I also have a tendency to modulate the
pressure rather than just holding the brake down at a constant
pressure. I don't know if that is a good or bad for the brakes.
Could that habit be helping the pads last longer but not be removing
enough surface rust from the rotors?

 

do you want to be able to emergency brake effectively? regardless of
how you drive it normally, the vehicle still has to be able to perform
to the max in emergencies. you need to take it there to ensure it does.

 

Oh, an hour or so. Bit more, bit less.

You want enough driving to scrape off the rust that's built up, to get the
engine oil hot enough to burn off any water/fuel/acids, to work the various
rubber seals, that sort of thing.

The point is regular extended exercise. If the car is driven infrequently,
or is driven frequently but for very short trips, that's when problems are
more likely to arise.

 

Rear brakes do very little work on a front wheel drive car. You may not be
braking hard enough to make them operate completely. If you brake too
lightly, the rust will never get scraped off. Are BOTH sides like this?

Having said that, what jim says about seized brake compnents is valid. The
pistons, caliper and its sliders should all be moving/floating freely,
otherwise the outer pad (or inner pad, depending) will not contact the
rotor properly. Are BOTH sides like this?

If a piston on the rear is seizing, there is a cheap and easy way of
freeing it up that usually works fairly well and does not require a
rebuild.

The surface texture on the fronts looks a bit rough. Probably the lathe's
bit was mispositioned or was worn. Still, over time, and with enough
driving, the surface should eventually wear in to the mirror finish you're
used to seeing. If the surface never goes mirror-y, but gets black instead,
the surface was /too/ rough and has glazed up.

 

What would that be?

a

 

A plastic syringe (WITHOUT the pointy bit!) and some silicone grease.

You wash off the grit from the dust boot with brake cleaner, stick the
syringe under the boot, and extrude some silicone grease all around the
piston. Screw back in, then eject it with the caliper off the rotor. Back
and forth a few times this way and the piston will usualy free up quite a
bit.

 

Yes, both sides are rusty in color, and the outer pads look the same
thickness. Main difference is that on the other side is that, oddly,
there is an approximately 2.5 inch long x 1.5inch high (sort-of-
rectangular in shape) section near the top of the disk that isn't
rusty.

 

Thx!

a

 

That's probably the outline of the brake pad on that side. The pad/caliper
have shielded that part of the disc from water, so no rust would develop
there.

Your rear brakes are not being used, hence the persistent rust. You need to
brake a lot harder, at least for one or two stops once in a while.

 

Ok, thanks! Also, just realized that they washed the car for free
after the job was done, so that could explain the rust.