If you have to replace a caliper, rotor or pair of brake pads, do you do both sides?

I have heard this before from shops but I dont know how important it actually is.

I have replaced a bad caliper without doing the other side before and didnt experience any noticeable problems but today I had to swap the front caliper, bracket, pads and rotor for one wheel and I want some takes on if I should do the other side asap.

Went for a test drive. Seems ok.

Brembo pads came in set of two pairs so there's that...

I think I'll take it apart to have a look tomorrow, see how the other rotor looks

This post was edited by SmallBalls on Sep 2 2020 06:46pm

pads and rotors, yes. calipers, i would only replace the fucked one.

^.

pads and rotors are always done in pairs, and generally only sold in pairs for good reason.

only time i'll do both is if they're prone to seizing on the specific model, and keep the old one as a backup spare.

shocks/struts are generally treated the same and springs are done as a full set.

Rotor looks pretty mjnt, just has all 4 done last fall so I'm just gonna do the pads. Main reason why I had to replace the right on was because the pad was worn down to the backing plate since it was sticking. Gonna swap the caliper though since I suspect the other one is nearing the end of its life and might be sticking occasionally too

make sure that the surfaces are clean, putting fresh pads on used up rotors will kill the life of the pads


also if you were worn down to the backing plate, that rotor need resurfaced, and most the time a set of rotors is equal to if not cheaper than getting them machined if they are just regular daily driver stock ones

That rotor (right side) was replaced left side looks ok but yeah I'll clean em up good thanks

what kind of car is it?


year/make/model

a set of rotors is probably pretty cheap and if youre already in there its piece of mind

2011 f150 rotors are 100 bucks each

100 bucks?

my local autozone has some for less than 50 bucks each lol