Some time ago, I replaced the front brake pads. Calipers seemed fine, and they still do now that it's time to replace the front pads again. The pads seem to have worn down evenly, but the problem is, there's a distinct groove, maybe 1/4" wide from start to finish, and 3/32" deep, at about 1/4" from the edge of the rotor, both on the inside and the outside. It almost seems like the pad dimension did not extend far enough to the outside, hence causing less wear on the outer edge of the rotor, but if that was the case, I would have expected a flat progression from inside to outside, with a lip at the edge. This is more like flat wear all the way, but with a dip 1/4" from the edge.

These were genuine Volvo pads from FCP Groton, so I'd be surprised if they weren't the right size. I suppose the rotors could be non-standard, but I'd imagine if they were oversized, they'd be scraping the caliper. One more point. The rear brakes in the car were mostly seized when I checked them after the car sitting for a couple of years; maybe this played into it?

I had someone tell me the groove is no big deal. Now that I'm replacing pads again though, I'm wondering if I can get away with keeping these rotors, or if I should definitely replace them. I need to get maybe 5-10,000 miles out of this car and will then probably retire it. I'm having to safety check the car, so they may not allow me to keep the old rotors anyway.

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David Armstrong - '86 240(350k km?), '93 940T(270k km), '89 240(parts source for others) near Toronto