For the last couple of months I've been getting a vibration whenever I applied the brakes. The vibration was more severe at higher speeds, and had been getting progressively worse as time went by. So I upped and purchased the replacements offered by EverthingG35 (I think). The rotors and pads arrived last Thursday so I planned on installing them last weekend.

On Thursday night I discovered a screw in one of my rear tires so I visited the local tire shop on Friday and had the tire repaired. I also took the opportunity to perform a 4wheel rotate and balance. Not only has the ride gotten smoother with the balanced wheels, the brake shudder has disappeared as well.

For the last 12 years I've always either replaced or turned rotors when experiencing vibration under braking. The assumption has always been warped rotors. Every service shop, every dealer, every mechanic, every service tech has stated in the past that vibration while braking indicates warped rotors. Now I know differently, but....

What was it that actually caused the vibration???

 

When you notice warped rotors is when you apply the brakes hard from a
speed around 60 mph. It will almost jerk the wheel from you hands........
I had this issue with my '92 300ZXTT and Nissan service turned them in
front with the car in the air.........not an unusual problem back then.
One of the causes is using an impact wrench installing your wheels. They
over tighten the lugs thus warping the disc.......Always request they use
a torq-wrench to install you wheels.......it just a job done correctly!!

 

I'm trying to figure it out too. I rotated my tires and the car shakes when I hit the brakes over 60, rotated them back - problem went away, thinking I screwed something up I re-rotated them - vibration's back.

I am just going to live with it until I have to replace the tires, I am assuming that one of them is bad despite having lots of tread left.

 

the imbalanced tires caused the vibration..

Could you feel the vibration in your seat or on the steering wheel?

If it was on the steering wheel, it's your front wheels that are out of balance,

Vibration in the seat? Rear tires out of balance. Girls are constantly going to tire shops to have their rear seats put OUT of balance for this very reason. jk

but really, it's not normal that an unbalanced tire will only cause vibration under braking. But you had a one-in-a-million cases.....and it's a good thing you got it fixed without throwing out the rotors you have now.

 

i have warped rotors, they say i brake too hard. So i had to get new ones.

 

Bingo! This is the reason I always hand tight the lugs and torque it afterwards. Simple attention to detail can make a big difference.

 

Is it possible to loosen and re-torque the nuts and have the disc return to it's normal shape?