anyways I was real lazy about 6 months ago and never changed my brakes. Well the old brakes wore down and warped the rotors. At first I tried to resurface them but after about 6 thousand miles it was warped again. I finally got around to replacing the rotors and I should replace the brakes so they both meet flush but the brakes are only 6 months so I didn't bother. Anyways my steering wheel vibrates alittle when I brake now because my tires wore uneven from the warped rotors. I hoping the new rotors wear the brakes and tires even through time, but this is likely wishful thinking?
warped rotors, if you replace them, do you also need to replace the brakes?
- Thread starter holden j caufield
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Zenmervolt
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- Oct 22, 2000
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Warped rotors tend to rub on one brake pad more than the other, so even though your pads are relatively new, they might have uneven wear. I'd say to do a visual inspection of the pads and see if one is more worn than they other. Uneven tire wear is usually a result of poor alignment and not from warped rotors, so you might want to check that too. Also, a rotor should never warp in only 6,000 miles. Unless you are driving really really hard and using your brakes a lot the warping may actually be caused by over-tightening of the lug nuts. It's not an exceptionally uncommon occurance for a shop (or an owner with a pneumatic wrench) to over-torque the lug nuts and distort the brake rotor as a result.
ZV
ZV
They are vibrating from warped rotors !
Impossable.Rotors have no effect on wheel balance or wear patterns.
There could be several reasons for warped rotors,as follows ;
(1)Hard excessive braking without cool down.
(2)Hard braking then parking vehicle. (Warps where pads rest against rotor).
(3)Rear brakes are not doing thier job.
(4)Dragging caliper
(5)Worn front wheel bearing
(6)Rotors too thin from previous cutting
(7)Overtightening/incorrect tightening sequence of the lug nuts
When replacing rotors,you must ALWAYS replace the pads at the same time.
I just changed my rotors/pad for the first time a couple weeks ago, its alot easier then i thought it would be. I would put on new pads.
Um, I might be wrong here, but why would the pads be resting on the rotors when you park? Cause if they did that, we wouldn't need parking brakes. edit: And car brake systems, when not powered, don't clamp. Semi truck brake systems clamp when not under power (safety in case they fail), but not cars.
I would say in most circumstances it's just the braking. A lot of people brake late without thinking about it and warp discs right and left and can't figure out why, but it's cause they wait too long to hit the brakes and then they have to hit them harder than most people. Also, certain brands are worse than others. Honda brakes are notorious for warping if you even look at them funny.
Brake pads are not incontact with pressure when parked.
They are extremely close, .001 -.010 That's one thousand to ten thousands of an inch.
This creates a spot that does not cool as quickly (Compared to the rest of the uncovered rotor),thereby causing warpage.
I did a front brake job about 20k miles ago. I used premium OEM pads, and turned the rotors. They probably had been turned once before I got the car, and this time they turned right at the lower limit.
Well they warped again.......probably from being too thin (I don't drive hard).
This time I had to buy new rotors. However I reused the old pads because they had at least 50% left. I cleaned up the pads on a piece of sandpaper, laying it on a flat surface. As far as I'm concerned there's no reason to use new pads in a job like this....provided the pads look good, and have life left in them. Since I'm doing the job myself, the labor involved doesn't count.
If you get a job like this done at a dealer, he'll want to replace the pads also. But it's not really necessary.
Another thing....warped rotors can cause steering wheel vibration....usually noticeable at high speeds, even without braking. It's sort of like having a front wheel out of balance. Anyone who says otherwise, just hasn't seen the effect yet.
Well they warped again.......probably from being too thin (I don't drive hard).
This time I had to buy new rotors. However I reused the old pads because they had at least 50% left. I cleaned up the pads on a piece of sandpaper, laying it on a flat surface. As far as I'm concerned there's no reason to use new pads in a job like this....provided the pads look good, and have life left in them. Since I'm doing the job myself, the labor involved doesn't count.
If you get a job like this done at a dealer, he'll want to replace the pads also. But it's not really necessary.
Another thing....warped rotors can cause steering wheel vibration....usually noticeable at high speeds, even without braking. It's sort of like having a front wheel out of balance. Anyone who says otherwise, just hasn't seen the effect yet.
I guess you have more experiance than I do,I have only been a Pro tech for twenty two years.
Can you please explain to me why a warped rotor would cause steering wheel shake without stepping on the brakes ?
Guess you got me beat, Rog... In my previous career, I was an automotive technician for only 11 years.
"I guess you have more experiance than I do,I have only been a Pro tech for twenty two years.
Can you please explain to me why a warped rotor would cause steering wheel shake without stepping on the brakes ? "
No sense arguing who has more experience, but I've got you beat by quite a bit.....You know I've wondered about your question also. Not every car with warped rotors will shake the steering wheel, but some do. It might be a combination of wheel diameter, rotor diameter, amount of warpage, maybe even tire brand and amount of tire wear. Think about it...you've got a rotor warped in one place, maybe as much as .010 thou. or more. This throws the rotor out of balance....much like having a slightly bent wheel, which you certainly will notice at high speeds.
If you get somebody complaining about steering wheel shake, you should check the tires,wheels, and the balance first, next the suspension parts for wear. If everything checks ok....check the rotors for run-out. Anything over .003 thou. is suspect. Some cars, such as Z cars, will shake the steering wheel with a rotor run-out of .001 thou. (I'm not making any of this up...it's in the factory manuals)
Can you please explain to me why a warped rotor would cause steering wheel shake without stepping on the brakes ? "
No sense arguing who has more experience, but I've got you beat by quite a bit.....You know I've wondered about your question also. Not every car with warped rotors will shake the steering wheel, but some do. It might be a combination of wheel diameter, rotor diameter, amount of warpage, maybe even tire brand and amount of tire wear. Think about it...you've got a rotor warped in one place, maybe as much as .010 thou. or more. This throws the rotor out of balance....much like having a slightly bent wheel, which you certainly will notice at high speeds.
If you get somebody complaining about steering wheel shake, you should check the tires,wheels, and the balance first, next the suspension parts for wear. If everything checks ok....check the rotors for run-out. Anything over .003 thou. is suspect. Some cars, such as Z cars, will shake the steering wheel with a rotor run-out of .001 thou. (I'm not making any of this up...it's in the factory manuals)
Bluefront
I have one thing to say to you.
Prove it
Think about what you just said,a .010 warped rotor will cause a wheel unbalance.
You are not shifting weight across the axis of the wheel,you are shifting it laterally.
I could see that this would cause a unbalance in the extreme 1/4 inch.
It is never going to cause an imbalnce even at .020.
Dirt and road debris collect on the inside of every rim,how come that does not throw out wheel balance ?
You are thinking about wheel bearing clearnces,not rotor runout.
I have worked on every type of vehicle,from Rolls Royces to Yugo's,from 15,000 lb trucks to 1,200 lb cars,literly thousands of vehicles in my lifetime and I have never seen nor heard of such a claim as yours.
I have been to the following schools ;
Toyota Tech
GM tech
Honda motor sports
Saab developement
A.S.E school for modern technology (Automotive Service Excellence)
These are the courses I have papers in ;
Engine/engine rebuilding
Brake and suspension
Electrical/basic
Electrical/advanced
Computer control
ABS
Manual transmission
Automatic Transmission
Overdrive Transmission
NVH (Noise Vibration Harshness)
Fuel injection
Carburation
Basic ignition
Advanced ignition
Computer diagnostics
Glass replacement
Air bag diagnostics/R&R
Now,I am not saying that it is impossible,I am saying that it is highly,highly unlikely that your statement is correct.
(It might apply to F1 cars traveling at 200 mph +)
I have one thing to say to you.
Prove it
Think about what you just said,a .010 warped rotor will cause a wheel unbalance.
You are not shifting weight across the axis of the wheel,you are shifting it laterally.
I could see that this would cause a unbalance in the extreme 1/4 inch.
It is never going to cause an imbalnce even at .020.
Dirt and road debris collect on the inside of every rim,how come that does not throw out wheel balance ?
You are thinking about wheel bearing clearnces,not rotor runout.
I have worked on every type of vehicle,from Rolls Royces to Yugo's,from 15,000 lb trucks to 1,200 lb cars,literly thousands of vehicles in my lifetime and I have never seen nor heard of such a claim as yours.
I have been to the following schools ;
Toyota Tech
GM tech
Honda motor sports
Saab developement
A.S.E school for modern technology (Automotive Service Excellence)
These are the courses I have papers in ;
Engine/engine rebuilding
Brake and suspension
Electrical/basic
Electrical/advanced
Computer control
ABS
Manual transmission
Automatic Transmission
Overdrive Transmission
NVH (Noise Vibration Harshness)
Fuel injection
Carburation
Basic ignition
Advanced ignition
Computer diagnostics
Glass replacement
Air bag diagnostics/R&R
Now,I am not saying that it is impossible,I am saying that it is highly,highly unlikely that your statement is correct.
(It might apply to F1 cars traveling at 200 mph +)
Jeez Roger, I'm not trying to beat you at anything.....nor am I going to list any of my schooling, or whatever. But I will say this: I've driven cars at high speeds, 85mph+, found slight steering wheel shake. Also brake pedal vibration on heavy braking. Turning the rotors cured both problems....now you figure out what was wrong and what cured the problem.....
Actually, the brake pads are always in contact with the rotor. when you park in an automatic, in mine at least, the wheels get locked in opposite directions. if you lift up the front end and turn one wheel, the wheel on the other side will also turn, but in the opposite direction. in a manual however, you don't have that, you need the parking brake to squeeze the brake pads onto the rotor to immobilize the wheels from spinning.
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