This thought occurred to me earlier...

what does everyone do with parts that get replaced? Like rotors, pads, etc.

Is there a place where they can be dropped of for recycling, like autozone, pepboys, etc? I don't mean being directly used in the next car, but more broken down into more basic materials for new parts.

I've been thinking about a sort of "DIY" project. It's not really a DIY, just more of doing a bunch of maintenance (and maybe a few mods) at the same time.

-rotate tires
-switch sides for the springs (move left <-> right), since the driver side tends to sag for most people.
-possibly replace the struts/shocks (I'm at 45k miles at the moment)
-replace brake pads and even the rotors.
-maybe, if I feel brave enough, change the brake fluid and the brake lines for some stainless steel, to see if I can feel any difference. I'm coming up on two years of ownership next month, so I have a year left on the "change brake fluid every three years" cycle mentioned in the owner's manual, which is why it isn't a "definite."

As you can see, there's gonna be a lot of bits and pieces being changed out. And I've been wondering what to do with them. Feels, environmentally UNfriendly to just toss them in the garbage. I'd go for a basic recycling setup.

Well, I'm in no rush. I checked my brake pads a few thousand miles ago and looked like it would last a while... so I'm basically waiting for the pads to wear down a bit before doing anything else there. The rotating tires will probably done a few times before everything else... but I'd figure I'd mention it, since I'll be doing it again with everything else also.

 

At work we toss brake pads in tbe garbage, rotors and suspension parts, radiators and such we put in a scrap bin and someone picks them up to recycle. There are scrap yards you can goto and get money for rotors and other metal things.

 

I toss parts or keep them incase the new ones go bad and I need emergency parts for a short time.

 

most junk yards are happy to take scrap metal. I did that when i replaced an old rusted out exhaust on an older car.

Pads and rotors i have tossed in the past, but yards will probably take those too.

brake fluid is tricky. the fluid i have bled off doing caliper changes etc may or may not have accidentally gotten mixed in with my used oil...

I buy most of my oil at walmart and they take used oil back.

 

That's too bad... even if it is occasionally, with millions upon millions of cars on the road, all this stuff is just wasting space in landfills.

Pads and especially rotors should be recyclable. Break em down, grind them up, melt the metallic ones... and reform new parts. Consider how much metal is in a rotor and how little we actually use...

I don't really care about getting any money for this "scrap," but I don't particularly know where the nearest junkyard is.

I think, next time I drop off my aluminium cans for recycle (I have enough partially crushed cans to fill up the Fit), I'll ask if they take rotors and see if they know where others parts might be recycled.

 

You're right, they are recyclable and they do eventually get recycled. But I don't know if there's any way for us to get money for our scrap metal/parts.

The junkyards will eventually recycle that scrap metal for money. When cars are junked. they first strip out whatever can be sold, then the car sits in one of those junkyards where you bring your own tools and pick its parts. Finally, the unwanted leftovers are recycled.

 

So I finally took my Pepsi cans to recycle... 32 lbs worth, so i got $16 (50 cents a lb).

I asked them if they take brake rotors... they do... at 5 cents a lb. Hum, I guess it's better than nothing. I didn't ask about anything else (though I should've).

 

Most metal parts in shops around here get scrapped. My friend works at a garage and piles all the junk rotors up at his house. When he gets a pickup bed full, he drives them to the scrapyard and usually walks away with about $500 give or take

 

I'll "recycle" your 45k mile struts in my storage, i'll pay shipping!

If the parts are still good in some way or form i'll keep them, if I can take them to Pepboys/Autozone and get money for the core charge i'll do that. If neither are possible, i'll throw them in the trash.

I agree there should be more advertised programs in place to recycle junk car parts. I'm suppose the scrapyard would be best like has been said in here already.

 

I sell junk car parts to junk removal companies so that it can be recycled and used again for other purposes.