I just replaced a rear caliper, surfaced the rotor, changed pads and flushed the brake system. Now I'm wondering if I should have replaced the caliper and/or pads and surfaced the rotor on the other side (driver side), too. The car is a '98 Integra LS 5-speed.
Does anyone have an opinion if any/all that stuff can be done on one side w/o the other. I put brand new pads and rotors on 6 months/10k miles ago.
Thanks
Approximately 12/2/03 14:19, Andy H uttered for posterity:
The best thing of course would be to replace the rotors and pads in pairs so you don't end up with unbalanced braking.
However, if you are a fairly lightfooted driver, the rear brakes on a FWD don't contribute all that much to the total braking effort, so is not as bad as changing only one front. If the brakes do take effect unevenly, they might case a skid or even an endswap under a panic. After the new rotor and pads are bedded in, find a back road and try a few quick stops...which isn't a bad thing to do occasionaly anyway just to check for unbalanced braking, tires, etc.
Brakes are normally replaced in pairs - you get a set of front pads/shoes, you replace both sides. Refinish the rotor/drum on one side, you do them both. Sounds like you one corner of the car a few months apart just so you can do brakes all through the year.
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