Brake Rotors

If your asking how to do this then it would be a good idea to have a shop perform the repair.
Here are a few things to consider before you take the car in.
1. When was the last time the brakes were worked on ? / Date and how many miles ago.
2. What is the condition of the flexible rubber brake hose ? Is it cracked, dryed, hard, chaffed ? If yes to any of these, the hose should be replaced.
What is the condition of the brake caliper ? Does it leak or stick ? Sometimes a caliper can be rebuilt, other times it will need to be replaced.
Most rotors have a measurement number that is cast on the side of the rotor, some do not, this number indicates the rotor minimum thickness.
This measurement is determined by using a tool called a Caliper and is measured in the thousands of an inch.
I do not know how your specific rotor is designed.
Some rotors have an inside and an outside bearing, while others slide over the wheel studs on the end of an axle shaft.
If there are bearings, now is a good time to replace both bearings and the bearing seals.
On a brake caliper there is a bleeder screw, this screw is covered by a rubber cap, the cap helps to prevent the entry of dirt and debris into the bleeder screws opening.
The caliper is attached to the steering knuckle or brake caliper mount arm with bolts.
The movement of the caliper slides on slider pins, slider pin collars and slider pin dust boots, all of these parts should be replaced if worn or damaged.
Also when any repair is done to any part of the brake system, the whole system should be inspected, this would include all brake lines , the master cylinder, abs system, electrical attachments, proportioning valve, etc.
The brake system should also be bled and pressure tested.
These are just of a few things to consider.

 

Steve how do you know they need to be replaced?

I also have a 355 and my rotors have a small lip it doesn't mean they are bad.

 

Hi Steve

Its difficult to tell exactly from the photos for sure but you most probably just need to replace your pads. Even if you don't let your pads wear completely down the rotors do wear and form lip which can still be acceptable as long as the rotor stays above the minimum thickness - you'll have to look that up and measure them with calipers if your worried about it.

348 and 355 brakes are pretty much the same and to remove the pads all you have to do is remove the wheel, clamp and pull back the clip securing them in place and wiggle them out (front have a wear indicator on that needs removing too).

If you buy aftermarket pads they wont come with the wear indicator which youll most probably find needs replacing as they crumble to bits. The good new is though a Maserati one will will and they are only about £8UKPounds so assume about $15?

Here a link to when I did mine on my 348:

http://www.clubscuderia.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?45388-348-DIY-quot-Restoration-quot&p=707126#post707126

BTW If you do need to replace the rotors they are held on by 2 bolts (youll see with the wheel removed) but you need to unbilt the caliper first. Fronts are the more imple to do as the backs also act as the handbrake so if you replace back rotors you should be looking at replacing the rear brake shoes too. Check out my thread as I did pads allround, replaced the shoes (which involved taking rear rotors off) and then adjusted the handbrake -dont listen to folk who say the handbrakes rubbish - theyre jut not adjusted properly!!!

Give it a go if you can and you can always ask for help on here.

Europares website is quite handy for looking up how parts fit together plus yiu should be able to download a workshop manual from the ferrari database site.

http://www.eurospares.co.uk/partTable.asp?M=1&Mo=691&A=1&B=40998&S=

NB. Calipers on 348/355 are static and do not slide on pins - they have pistons on both ides which clamp the pads/rotor.

 

Some notes:

A) if you do not feel any irregularities in using the brakes (smooth progressive and fade free) there is every reason to believe that your rotors (and pads) are just fine. The surfaces I see in the images indicate no particular issue needing a solution.

B) rotors need replacing when they are too thin, are warped, or do not brake smoothly. Sometimes these can be fixed with a lathe of by grinding (except the too thin part). But often this is a waste of time. You really do want the rotors to be thick. Thick enables the rotors to absorb more heat before getting too hot. Thick is good, thin is bad.

C) replacing the rotors requires removing some bolts with prescribed torque. Occasionaly there will be a washer (typically very thin) that has been used to shim the brake caliper to the rotor. The tollerances are on the order of 0.003 inches, so if you do it yourself, you are not allowed to screw up--AT ALL.

I could impart my story about rotors that got too thin, but I will leave that for another day.