getting very tired of warping rotors, any suggestions?
 

got the car with 68k 3yrs ago and every few months the rotors are warped and shaking again... I cut the first rotors twice, put cheap new ones on it with ceramic pads and had to cut them once already.. is this common with these bonnies or is it just cheap aftermarket rotors? what type of troubleshooting can i do to eliminate this? the rotors shaking like crazy now when i step on em... getting really old...

has anyone seen this or know the problem? :ack:

I had the roughly the same experience with stock rotors, they just can't handel the stress very well. I have since bought a set of slotted rotors from www.domesticperformance.com and I have had no trouble with them at all. I am using cereamic pads with them and stopping is improved, warpage hasn't happened yet, and brake dust is gone. I would recomend the same setup.

Here is the direct link to the rotors if your interested: http://www.domesticperformance.com/p...roducts_id=108

try some different pads.

the old pads did same to old rotors...

i wonder if something else is causing this like calipers or even rear brakes not contributing to brake load (my rears have never needed replacement at yearly inspection)?

Any time you have strong pads with weak/cheap rotors, you're going to have excessive wear or warpage. If you have ceramic pads, I'd get some lifetime rotors, also made from a stronger material.

(This is turning into a personal crusade of mine...)

Make sure the lug nuts are torqued evenly and properly to the right setting, ideally by hand with a torque wrench. Slamming them on with an impact wrench can encourage warping real quick. Yes, you can use torque sticks on the impact wrench, but it's still possible to goof it up, especially if tightening in a circle instead of a star pattern.

also on the torque stick, if your using a brake pedal jack(ie your car is up on a hoist) the torque stick will not be as accurate, you will still need a torque wrench

what would be the way to judge if your using a tire tool instead of a torque wrench? just tighten till you cant tighten anymore without causing a hernia? or 3 grunts and a "hrrrrrrrrrrruuuuh" ?

That's very easy to answer, hoov. Buy a torque wrench and socket. It's worth it. Even a cheapie $20 model.

Abso-tively. Heck, Christmas is coming: Have somebody _give_ you one. :-)

I have a Sears Craftsman MicroTork 1/2"-drive, one that clicks when the setting is reached, and it's been just fine. In addition, I've found that _some_ rotor warping can be relieved just by loosening the lug nuts and re-torquing them properly by hand with the wrench (and don't forget a drop of oil on the lug nut threads before putting them on, to get an accurate reading). I had a neighbor's '89 LeSabre (or something like that) in for some unrelated work and it had terrible warping on the brakes. Had no funds to re-cut or replace the rotors, but I took a half-hour to just re-torque the lug nuts, and there was a noticeable improvement after that.

I'm not saying it will fix warped rotors altogether once they've gone bad, but it can minimize the problem.