Hi folks,

Whenever I'm home, I help my dad take care of his DB9. This time around, the "Rear Brake Pad Low" indicator came on the dash. He only has about 22k miles on the car, so is that normal? He does not drive the car hard at all, but he does DD it. So we went to the Bellevue, WA dealer and they said that the pads + rotors had to be replaced, because the rotors only have a 2mm tolerance (he showed me the "official" books).

This yields to an $1100 job just for rear brakes.

My question: is it really necessary to replace the rear rotors after 1 set of pads and 22k miles?

I'm concerned that the dealer is trying to take advantage of him. When I asked him why, he said that when others have just replaced pads, they get a vibration that does not go away - does anyone have experience with that?

I'm not sure what's different about these than the rear disc brakes on my M3, but a) I haven't replaced the rotors in 60k miles with about 30 track days (maybe I should lol) and b) whenever I replace pads, I don't get vibration after a proper bedding.

So it comes to this:

Should he do as AM recommends and do the full rear brake job, or should he insist they only do pads?

... unfortunately I'm heading back down to CA tomorrow so buying aftermarket pads and installing them myself is not an option.

Thanks in advance!!

 

Unless there was something seriously amiss with the rotors, I would NEVER replace them with only 22K miles. Do the pads, and ONLY if there results some kind of vibration issue, replace the discs.

C'mon! There is NOTHING special about these AM beake systems, and anybody who tells you any different is dealing a load of rubbish.

 

rear pads usually last 20k due to traction control working on the rear brakes, the front pads last about 30k, the rotors usually last at least two pad changes if not three or four, there are cut outs on the disc that show the minimum tolerances, with this in mind there is no necessity to replace the rotors (discs) every pad replacement, the only time that i would advise differently is where the car is used for regular track days,