Warped Rotors
Thread Starter
Evolving Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 206
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From: Concord
Warped Rotors
ok, so my car had the steering wheel wobble after getting the brakes warm one day. i researched all over this site and read all the threads on the stock pads building up on the rotors.
i went with the ferodo's as they seemed to have the fewest complaints of all the aftermarket pads.
i scraped the stock "quiet shims" off of the stock pads with a putty knife (start the edge with a razor) and used disc brake quiet silicone goop instead of the copper grease (didnt know about that stuff till i was wiping it off my hands. i recommend finding more of this grease and using it instead of the silicone, and using 3M weatherstripping adhesive on the shims where you had to scrape them off).
I read on a UK site that if the "wobble" wasn't too bad that the new pads would clean the buildup off. The day after installing the new pads, I spent my lunch hour on a backroad getting the brakes hot and hitting them hard to see if this would happen. It didnt. ( a friend of mine with the exact same scenario tracked his car through 5 thirty-minute sessions and it DID rake the old crap off).
I was frustrated that my brakes still wobbled so I pulled the rotors and had them skimmed the next day.
after driving normally for a few days (to wear down that machined finish) I bedded the pads last night. i got the brakes their hottest (to the point of fade) and then jumped right on the freeway and drove for 15 minutes for a cool down.
the next time i touched the brakes, the pedal almost hit the floor. i suspect that everything expanded a lot from the heat and then cooled way down so i had to pump the brakes up again.
the odd thing was that when the brakes were super hot, they wobbled. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO
pissed! I was literally screaming expletives because ive had such a nightmare with every car i own having warped rotors (must be the driver eh?)
anyway, after they cooled down though, there was no wobble whatsoever. fine with me!
my buddy echoed the same experience.... he said that when he was tracking the car and the brakes got hot, they wobbled kinda bad, but that once they cooled off, no wobble whatsoever.
so, it REALLY IS TRUE that the stock pads just build up on the rotors, and my opinion of the ferodo's is that they dust just like stock, work WAAAY better, handle more heat, and dont build up on the rotors. I bought the DS2500's.
anyway, I highly recommend to anyone who still has stock pads to go order some ferodo's, reuse the stock shims take the time to scrape them off and glue them back on and find and use some copper grease.
i went with the ferodo's as they seemed to have the fewest complaints of all the aftermarket pads.
i scraped the stock "quiet shims" off of the stock pads with a putty knife (start the edge with a razor) and used disc brake quiet silicone goop instead of the copper grease (didnt know about that stuff till i was wiping it off my hands. i recommend finding more of this grease and using it instead of the silicone, and using 3M weatherstripping adhesive on the shims where you had to scrape them off).
I read on a UK site that if the "wobble" wasn't too bad that the new pads would clean the buildup off. The day after installing the new pads, I spent my lunch hour on a backroad getting the brakes hot and hitting them hard to see if this would happen. It didnt. ( a friend of mine with the exact same scenario tracked his car through 5 thirty-minute sessions and it DID rake the old crap off).
I was frustrated that my brakes still wobbled so I pulled the rotors and had them skimmed the next day.
after driving normally for a few days (to wear down that machined finish) I bedded the pads last night. i got the brakes their hottest (to the point of fade) and then jumped right on the freeway and drove for 15 minutes for a cool down.
the next time i touched the brakes, the pedal almost hit the floor. i suspect that everything expanded a lot from the heat and then cooled way down so i had to pump the brakes up again.
the odd thing was that when the brakes were super hot, they wobbled. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO
pissed! I was literally screaming expletives because ive had such a nightmare with every car i own having warped rotors (must be the driver eh?)
anyway, after they cooled down though, there was no wobble whatsoever. fine with me!
my buddy echoed the same experience.... he said that when he was tracking the car and the brakes got hot, they wobbled kinda bad, but that once they cooled off, no wobble whatsoever.
so, it REALLY IS TRUE that the stock pads just build up on the rotors, and my opinion of the ferodo's is that they dust just like stock, work WAAAY better, handle more heat, and dont build up on the rotors. I bought the DS2500's.
anyway, I highly recommend to anyone who still has stock pads to go order some ferodo's, reuse the stock shims take the time to scrape them off and glue them back on and find and use some copper grease.