If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The brake pads I replaced two months ago have started squeaking slightly at slow speeds (basically stopping from idle over 20 ft). Me, being the worst-case-scenario-thinker that I am, pictured the quarter-inch thick brake pad worn down to the nub due to the scratches I felt on the rotor when I installed them. I bit the bullet and bought a new rotor (which was surprisingly cheap) today and went home to prepare for major surgery (I define anything beyond taking the tires off as major) on my Saturn. At first, I thought they had given me the wrong part since the part had four bolt holes in it and the one pictured in the manual had five. Luckily, it was just a stock picture and the part would fit my car. Getting the caliper off and out of the way was no problem. Luckily, I had a spare bungie cord with which to suspend it from the suspension (Shut up, the manual told me to do it.). I removed and examined the pads before continuing. I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed that the pads were the same thickness and looked practically new. The only difference between them was that the one on damaged side had some slight grooves in it. I felt the back side of the rotor and felt matching, smooth grooves. So, there was damage, but nothing life-threatening and the pad was holding up quite nicely. I continued on to the next step and located the two torque plate bolts that were holding the caliper receiver onto the wheel assembly. Unfortunately, the socket set I had access to seemed to skip over this size of bolt entirely. There was one socket that was one size too small and the next size bigger seemed two sizes too big. I went at it with the small adjustable wrench I have, but it didn't budge. I didn't want to force it too hard for fear of rounding off the nut or knocking the car off the jack. I tried with the massive forceps that were lying around in the garage but they were too oversized and couldn't get a good enough grip to do anything but start to round off the edges (I stopped before that happened.). I'm guessing the squeak could be due to the fact that I didn't use any anti-squeal compound on the pads before installing them. Anyway, I have the rotor and am going to price the procedure the next time I go in for a free oil change. And I'm not going to worry about the occasional squeak.