With 28K km on my '07 sedan (purchased Aug 07), I've recently detected some unusual pulsing when I am braking and I suspect that the rotors are a litle warped.
I have never had this happen on any car I have ever owned. Upon my own inspection, the pads are in very good shape. I don't drive hard or brake hard and I don't drive through deep puddles (which could rapidly cool them causing something like this to happen )
Should they be warrantied or better yet, are they?
I suspect they are not due to being a so called "wear and tear" item.

 

Contrary to popular opinion, rotors don't warp very often.
The problem is most often due to uneven pad deposit on the surface.

One thing you can try is to rebed the pads.
Good info here... Zekhausen
..with links to other tech sources.

 

I will give that a try Ian. It seems like the hardest part of the whole process will be finding a safe road with little traffic and no stops along the way.
Thanks for the direction!

 

It doesn't always work with street pads.
I know guys that have put in aggressive track pads that worked well.

...the problem is getting through the deposits.

 

I'm thinking you were correct Ian.
I havn't performed the 'bed-in' procedure yet but for the past few days I've simply been braking much harder than my usual (first making sure no one is following to close). I have noticed an definate improvement when braking to a slow stop, in that there is not near as much of a pulsing sensation. Now I only really feel the downshift.
My normal driving habits are generally that when I see a stop sign/light way ahead I coast for a long way and let the engine slow the car down which requires less braking in the end. As you well know this is better on fuel economy and brake wear. I do alot of city driving.
I guess I'll have to be a 'little' harder on the brake pedal once in a while.
Thanks again for the good advice.
Cheers
Paul

 

First off let me start by thanking Ian for his excellent advice. (Post#2)

Last night I finally got around to performing the Bed-in procedure for my brakes.

1. The Symptoms - brake judder/shimmy/shake, call it what you will:
I was getting feedback through the steering wheel and suspension when I apply the brakes at certain speeds and pressures. The steering wheel shook ranging from a barely noticeable vibration to a semi-violent shudder. The shaking became increasingly worse the hotter the brakes got and the higher the speed I was stopping from.

2. My Inspection:
Prior to going out to a desolate road somewhere and scaring the poop out of a few cattle, I decided to inspect my brake pads and rotors. One by one I removed each wheel and closely scanned over each rotor and pad. As I would expect, with there only being 29,500km on the car, the rotors where smooth and all 8 pads had a nice even wear with at least 6 to 7mm of pad left.
I did notice some unusual, deposits, discolouring, wavy lines on the rotors, running from the center outward, perpendicular to the rotational direction. (hard for me to explain)

3. The fun part - getting results:
I proceeded to my nearest, deserted , straight, flat road with NO car or pedestrian traffic and followed the procedure outlined in the link Ian had provided to me.
How to Bed-In Brakes. I followed the instructions to the letter and now I am one happy G35 Driver. I have absolutely no judder. Braking is as smooth as the day I drove my car off the lot.

4. Final inspection:
When I got home, after driving around the countryside for about a half an hour, I parked in the garage and then I thought I should take another look at my brakes. The rotors are now shiny (those wavy lines I mentioned are all but gone) but have a bit of a metal blue colouring to them about an inch or so wide around the outer portion of the discs.
I think they where still pretty hot and I wasn't about to touch them to find out. lol

Did I mention how happy I am now?

Here is another excellent article I found on the StopTech website.

Paul

 

good stuff Paul, glad that it worked

I agree, there's a lot of good reading on the Stoptech site.

 

Agreed.
Another thing is to have the rotors re-trued on a lathe by taking off a few mm's of material.
If memory serves, the OE rotors are quite robust, and should be able to 'give up' enough to straighten them out for you.
Just have to make sure they don't take off too much, otherwise they warp and distort all over again only quicker.

Only other advice I could give you is to retorque the lug nuts after every service.
We all know how they're put on sometimes with consequences such as you describe.
A gentle reminder when dropping off the car and notation on the w/order is very helpful.

The icing on the cake for me was a Toyota Camry that I had some service done on at a Nissan dealer nearby: Would you believe over 150lbs. was on them when I got home!!!!! Now I check every time and am happy to do so.

As to warranty. Good luck. You may have a tough time convincing the dealer that being warped or out of true is due to manufacturer's defect or poor service.
My Dad once had to go to Arbitration thru CAMVAP to get compensation from Ford for just this issue.
He did it and won, but it took time

I'd be interested to know what happens, Paul.

Cheers and g/l

Colin.


EDIT:
I've just seen your other posts and see that you succeeded in solving your issue, Paul. Very good, and yes, Ian's link to Bedding the brakes is A-1-- Thanks Ian. It may help me get rid of an annoying squeal I have on my brakes.
Cheers,
Colin.

 

Excellent advice Ian. That's what I love about this thread.

 

Strangley enough, I have to say it was actually kind of fun pushing the brakes to the limit like that. I learned how well this car handles under extreme braking conditions and how quick it stops (well, almost stopped). I was very impressed.
I can only imagine how well your IS-F will handle under these conditions.

 

The experts say that's good to know the car's limits and to go out and do just what you did (carefully of course and in an untravelled area)

I've not tested the limits of the 'F' and probably won't but I do feel confident that it'll handle just about anything that I could throw at it.
There are members in club Lex who do get to the track and have some real 'fun' and learn a lot about the car's capabilities.

I'll let you know if that bedding procedure elimintes that squealing I have.

Cheers,
Colin

 

I wonder where can i do the bed process, i live midtown toronto.

 

The limits of your car are pretty far....

Would love to find an area that would allow that test. Probably a track is the only sensible place.

G/L with bedding to get rid of your squealing.

 

Exactly Deane, my bad....Testing the limits of the car's performance and handling would be dangerous and should be done with supervision and on a track only.
What I should have said was the limits of brakes and know what to expect when braking hard.
Characteristics of a skid, and how to correct it, is another thing we should know too.


You've got a problem finding somewhere safe there in mid-Toronto. You absolutely don't want to go out in those conditons and do this.

I'd suggest waiting until you are way out of town and well away from everyone perhaps on your next trip.

You could talk to a repair shop/brake specialist and ask what they do to get the job done safely. There may be a special place/track for that purpose.
You may also want to consider having a pro do the job for you.

In your situation, that may be the most prudent thing to do.

Colin.

 

Trust me i dont want to do it but soon im going to have to cause this squeeling is crazy. Hopefully once my front rotors are installed it will stop. It does seem kind of dangerous going from 100 to 20 in public roads especially doing it 8 times!