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The other day I was on the freeway doing an easy 70mph when I suddenly heard a horrible squeal. After limping my 77 home I discovered that the inner surface of the front right brake rotor was scarred really bad. There was no damage to the other side.
The rotors and pads have less than 5,000 miles on them. The caliper was leaking at one point but now appeared dry. As soon as I got home I took the temperature of the rotors, calipers and lug nuts (initially suspecting a wheel bearing) and all of them were within 10 degrees of the other wheels on the car.
I have ordered a new set of rotors, pads and a new caliper from Zip Corvette but I would like to know what caused this issue before it happens again. I am completely baffled as to why this happened.
Any ideas?
I agree that it looks like that, but wouldn't I have felt some pulsing at the pedal while braking before this happened?
If that's indeed the cause I would actually be relieved because I could just throw new parts at it and be done. Thanks for the input.
I agree that it looks like that, but wouldn't I have felt some pulsing at the pedal while braking before this happened?
I don't think so. The pistons would be operating in a push/pull configuration with the fluid in the caliper moving the pistons back and forth. I doubt it would get back to the pedal. That kind runout is how air gets into the system and your pedal get a little soft over time.
Since you have the rotor, and if you have or can borrow a dial indicator, you can check the runout on that rotor.
Is there any scoring on the dust shield for that wheel. I don't remember exactly what's there and don't have a picture. Since this is the inside of the rotor it is more likely that something got kicked up from the road and stuck up in there somehow.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
Who made your rotors and do you like their performance. I ran my car on a track last spring and I want to upgrade the rotors. I have ceramic pads I'm going to try this spring....eventually.
I agree on the foreign material getting stuck in there. Its about the only way it could have done that. And a slightly warped rotor as well
Who made your rotors and do you like their performance. I ran my car on a track last spring and I want to upgrade the rotors. I have ceramic pads I'm going to try this spring....eventually.
I agree on the foreign material getting stuck in there. Its about the only way it could have done that. And a slightly warped rotor as well
They're the Power Stop rotors that Zip Corvette sells for $300 a set (I originally bought them for $550). They seem to work very well and I never had issues other than this. I bought Hawk HP Plus pads to go with the new set on the front. They're zinc coated, and in combination with the drilled and slotted aspect, I'm fairly certain they can't be turned.
The common belief here seems to be that debris got stuck in the pad and that pretty much jives with what I suspected but I wanted to check with the community before trashing the new set. You know, avoiding the Einstein saying of doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.
Thank you everyone for your insight!
You know, that rotor don't look all that bad. The pads look good. I'd try smoothing the rotor out a little with emery cloth and see how it brakes. The pad may smooth it out further. What have you got to loose?
I found the problem! Turns out the bolt on the back side wasn't tight or even locked into place and backed out enough to hit my rotor. Cheap bolt=expensive fix.
Last edited by OrangeWhite77; Apr 13, 2020 at 07:20 PM.
Pretty sure op stated the stakes were not utilized..my question is still how does it gouge the rotor unevenly?
I still don't have a solid answer for this other than my rotors must have been slightly out of true.
Interesting note: I pulled the rotor off the driver's side to check that bolt (the bolt was tight but of course those tabs weren't bent either, quick fix) but that rotor was also scored on the inside. The pads looked good though and I never noticed noise coming from that side. My daughter and I stared at that side for about 30 minutes looking for other damage and were never able to find out what caused the damage on the driver's side. I have to assume it was debris caught in the slots at some point.
I went ahead and installed my new front rotors and pads and my new caliper on the passenger side. I'll keep a close eye on these rotors for any signs of premature wear before they get destroyed. I'll be interested to know if anyone else runs into this type of issue. If I ever nail down the cause for sure then I'll repost it here.
There's two tabs on the shield that are supposed to be bent out to hold that bolt head.
You can bet your passenger side bolt head that I Loctited that bolt and used the locking tab. I also took the rotor off the driver's side to bend that tab too. Lesson learned...
Brake rotor issues
