Is it common for new brake rotors to warp?

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grampi

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I just replaced the front brake rotors on my Corolla about a month ago. When I first replaced them my brakes operated nice and smoothly, but just within the last couple of weeks I've noticed a wobble in the front end when I apply the brakes. I know at least one of the new rotors has warped. I'm just going to have them turned. Is it common for this to happen?
 
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I'd return them. It's not common, but certainly not unheard of, especially if its some crummy house brand like the "Wearever" rotors from Advanced Auto.
 
Originally Posted By: grampi
Is it common for this to happen?

It's common if they were not installed properly, like if the hubs weren't cleaned well, or if the lugnuts/bolts were torqued unevenly.
 
I had Chinese junk rotors fail in less than 20,000 miles on my old Merc GM. Went to Wagner and had no problems.
 
It is not common on Toyota's but is getting more common on them each passing year. When their casting where made in Japan they typicaly lasted the 300,000 miles or more. SInce they started out sourcing just like GM,Ford and the rest the quality has droped. It was common to get 17 years from Toyota rotors and you could turn them 5-6 times and stillhave plenty of meat left. On my 2003 Camry in 80,000 miles my rotor's are toast and I had to turn them at around 60,000 and their wasnot enough meat left to ever consider tuirning them again! In fact I should break down and get a new pair! So far though their Truck rotors and drums seem to be doing much better then their car rotor's.

What I need to do if find a good normal brand or rotor's. I am not looking for high performance rotors just plain Jane quality OEM style ones I donot want or need power slot, cross drilled etc......
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Iron is iron.

May want to check this link

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_brakedisk.shtml

Rotors are very rarely warped.


+1 to this article. Unless somehow stated on the box not to do one, I always bed in a new set of brakes on vehicles. I'm not a fan of the wearever stuff, but I only can make recomnendations when I do brakes for people, and they sometimes buy whatever they want to buy. I just put a set of WE rotors and cermanic pads on a 06 mailbu. Guess I'll see how they hold up. Friend got 62K out of the stock rotors and pads
 
Originally Posted By: Steve S
Did you measure the runout?


They were brand new rotors. I didn't know was supposed to measure anything.
 
Originally Posted By: mstrjon32
I'd return them. It's not common, but certainly not unheard of, especially if its some crummy house brand like the "Wearever" rotors from Advanced Auto.


That may be what I have. I got these from AA.
 
Originally Posted By: mstrjon32
I'd return them. It's not common, but certainly not unheard of, especially if its some crummy house brand like the "Wearever" rotors from Advanced Auto.


house brands are made by the major brake manufacturers (bendix, raybestos, etc..) They are just rebranded for the stores.
 
Could have been a hunk of stuff got in between the rotor and the hub...?

But yeah, what feels like a warp is usually just a bad pattern of brake material transfered. Usually a re-bedding in fixes it.
 
Originally Posted By: froggy81500
Originally Posted By: mstrjon32
I'd return them. It's not common, but certainly not unheard of, especially if its some crummy house brand like the "Wearever" rotors from Advanced Auto.


house brands are made by the major brake manufacturers (bendix, raybestos, etc..) They are just rebranded for the stores.


Search for Wearever on Google and tell me about all the positive comments you find...pay a few dollars more and get the name brand stuff, taken your time installing it, check your braking system, bed them in properly, and you'll be riding on nice smooth brakes for some time to come.
 
Originally Posted By: swalve
Could have been a hunk of stuff got in between the rotor and the hub...?

But yeah, what feels like a warp is usually just a bad pattern of brake material transfered. Usually a re-bedding in fixes it.


That's what I'm thinking too. After reading that article I doubt it's warped. How do you re-bed?
 
How long will it take for the stuff to just wear off through usage? Where did everyone go?
 
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IIRC, you re-bed by doing 5-10 hard stops from about 50 mph down to 20 mph. Not lock-the-wheels hard, but pretty hard. You want to get the brakes nice and hot. After that, drive around for 10 minutes trying not to use the brakes much to let them cool off.
 
Re-bedding will fix the slight pulsation most of the times. I find that I get the pulsation, although it's very small and only noticeble when slowing down from 120 kph, below that speed the brakes are smooth, after prolonged city and commute usage. The pulsation goes away after a long highway trip or if I re-bed the brakes.
 
I tried re-bedding, but the shaking is still there, just not quite as bad. I did about 5 or 6 hard stops from 50-60 MPH. The brakes got extremely hot. I could smell them and they faded. I guess I'll have to remove the rotors and have them turned a bit to get rid of the uneven surface.
 
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