56,000 miles, probably original brakes. Don't know for sure since i just bought it.

Everyday driving seems to be fine. I might feel a slight pulsing vibration.

On the highway with hard braking, I'll occasionally feel the vibration.

Can I get away with just changing the pads?

Will delaying the brake job (I still have some pad life) make the vibration any worse, thus causing further warping of the rotors?

 

I just did a brake service for my car at 66000 kms (40000miles). I had to change all my rotor and brake pad due to my rotors are all warped... I felt exactly the same thing like that before servicing.

 

1) remove rotors
2) machine rotors
3) ???
4) profit!

No, you probably don't need new rotors. You need to have the ones you've got machined a little. Put them back on and have fun. As far as pads, if you are having someone else do this work for you it might be cost effective to have the pads changed at the same time. If you are going the DIY route and not paying for labor (other than having the rotors turned) then you might be able to use the same pads for a while longer if there is enough friction material left. Anything less than 3 or 4 mm and you should probably go ahead and change them out.

 

Machining rotors would certainly be my first choice. Even if I were just changing pads, I'd like to machine the rotors just to remove some of the vibration. The problem is that I'll be paying a shop to do this and need to find one that is willing to machine them. These days most say that the rotors are too thin and there is no room left to machine them.

 

I'm quite certain there's more than 4mm of pad. I'll hazard a guess at 1/3 pad still remaining.

So question is...if I keep going on these pads before taking it to a shop, will the rotors get worse?

 

FWIW, as much as i like the DD ability of the OEM pads, they transfer deposits unevenly on the rotors. This is what most folks typically comment about when they feel the vibrations.

Rotors, especially daily driven, don't warp all too often in normal circumstances. The vibrations are from uneven pad deposits. If you resurface the rotors, try swapping for better pads.

 

Drive that sucker until it makes a grinding noise... THEN you'll need to replace the pads/rotors. Maybe the calipers too, if you go too far.

Pay me now, or pay me later... your choice.

If you do not have the sport brakes, and the car was driven hard before you got it, at 56k it may need new rotors.

I just got new sport rotors here: Brake Rotors Brake Discs Drilled Slotted Rotors
Select which model you have and choose a set of rotors. Pads are free with some choices and so is shipping.
(apologies for the initial sarcasm... couldn't help myself)

 

If they only have 56K miles and have never been turned before I seriously doubt that there is enough rotor wear from the OEM pads to make them too thin to turn at least once.

I can't say for certain. My wife's sedan had the same issue. Then it seemed to get somewhat better on it's own for a while. Now it seems to be vibrating more than before under firm braking from highway speeds. So I can't say for sure that it has caused more damage on the rotor but common sense says it can't be helping the situation.

I'm going to take them to a machine shop and have them take a few thousands off to get a clean smooth surface and put some new pads on regardless of the amount of remaining pad (low 40K miles I think) and be done with it. A set of pads costs about $100 so If I throw away a third of that I'm wasting $33 but possibly saving the cost of a pair of rotors and having peace of mind for another couple of years or another 40K miles or so. Or at least that's my reasoning on it.

 

Wow, those rotors are extremely cheap. Are they of good quality?

 

I've only had them on for two days, but so far so good. They are almost exactly the same sizes/dimensions of the stock rotors, only a tiny bit lighter. Same stout feel, though.