Brake Question

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Mar 8, 2006 | 07:38 PM

DirteeDave

Thread Starter

Burning Brakes

Joined: Mar 2004

Posts: 805

Likes: 54

From: Murrieta CA

Brake Question

My car is rolling to a stop very roughly when I apply the brakes. With no brakes, the car rolls fine. When brakes applied it almost feels the front wheels are "out of round". If I ease off the pedal slightly it improves somewhat. I am not talking about hard stops. Just stopping in normal situations. Had the car serviced recently and was told pads still had over 60% life. Could this be a warped rotor issue? I've got about 28K miles on the car. Strictly daily driver, no racing.

Last edited by DirteeDave; Mar 8, 2006 at 07:48 PM.

Mar 8, 2006 | 07:53 PM

tiojames

Team Owner

Joined: May 2005

Posts: 23,682

Likes: 9

From: Flagstaff Az.

rotors

There are many posts here about so-called warped rotors. It seems to be a build up of pad material on the rotors from what some say. This causes the rotors to give the car the uneven motion when just barely appling the brakes. If I remember correctly a cleaning of the rotors by a sequence of braking may cure the problem. I'm sure some one more knowedgable than me will respond.

Mar 8, 2006 | 07:55 PM

1965imp

Racer

Joined: Jan 2006

Posts: 347

Likes: 0

From: Chicago Heights ILLINOIS

Warped rotor--Thats the first thing I thought of when I read your post. You might be able to jack up the front of the car and watch real close as the rotor spins through the pads and caliper Corvettes are famouse for warped rotors

Mar 8, 2006 | 09:27 PM

fixvet

Melting Slicks

Joined: Apr 2002

Posts: 2,631

Likes: 2

From: Clever, MO aka SOMO

Do a few hard stops from about 60mph to clean to pad material build up off your rotors. Always works for me.

Mar 8, 2006 | 10:58 PM

rws.1

Race Director

Joined: Jul 2004

Posts: 16,794

Likes: 62

From: Lake Havasu City, AZ

New pads on my SRX make that sound as do older pads every time I wash the car....

Mar 9, 2006 | 12:31 AM

DirteeDave

Thread Starter

Burning Brakes

Joined: Mar 2004

Posts: 805

Likes: 54

From: Murrieta CA

Thanks guys. I'll give it the hard braking exercise tomorrow morning and see what happens.

Mar 9, 2006 | 06:30 PM

DirteeDave

Thread Starter

Burning Brakes

Joined: Mar 2004

Posts: 805

Likes: 54

From: Murrieta CA

Update:

I did the hard braking on the way to work this morning and I'd say it fixed 90% of the problem. Thanks for the advice guys, I really appreciate it.

Mar 10, 2006 | 01:37 AM

Bill Dearborn

Tech Contributor

Joined: Oct 1999

Posts: 40,995

Likes: 9,759

From: Charlotte, NC (formerly Endicott, NY)

You have to use the brakes hard to keep it from happening. Long highway trips and easy braking get you the thumping pretty quickly.

Although it behooves you to check the rotors for problems when something like this happens. My 99 Tahoe developed the same type of pulsing then thumping and when I finally got the truck on a lift I found I had to replace the right front rotor since it had a very nice round (about 1 1/2 in in diameter and 1/8 in deep) corrosion hole on the backside of the rotor.

Bill