So I searched the forums already and read the few threads on warped rotors and am pretty convinced this is my problem but just wanted to ask all of you to make sure. Sorry for the long post...

My brakes were squeaking real badly for awhile now but I knew the pads weren't in immediate need to be replaced so I didn't do it until today. There was NO shaking at all when braking prior to taking the car into the shop.

Had new Akebono pads put on today for the front (doing rears this weekend). After I drove out from the shop, I noticed the car shook considerably when braking. Called the shop real quick as it was after close already and they said the rotors were probably resurfaced improperly by the new guy and to take it back in tomorrow as it wasn't dangerous as long as I got it fixed soon.

After driving it for a little more, I became more and more uncomfortable with it. The car shook very violently when braking from 40+ mph. I tried applying the brake softer to see if it'd help, which it didn't. The shaking is manageable when hitting the brakes initially but as it slows down closer to a complete stop is when it gets the worst. The car is literally shaking all over. I feel it in the pedal, see the shifter shake, my view in the rear mirror is completely wobbly. I can feel the car shaking side to side. My girlfriend was driving behind me and said she can actually see the car shaking a lot so it didn't just feel like it was.

My questions are:

1) Is this really a problem due to warped rotors? I know they resurfaced my front rotors when they changed my front pads. Did it become warped when they were resurfacing, as the car never shook before going to shop today?

2) Is this dangerous to drive? I was uncomfortable enough to just drive local the whole time rather than go on the freeway. It was the right call based on how badly it shook while on local going mostly 10-20 mph (on purpose...), it was already shaking violently. I decided to drop the car off at my parents' place and take my other car back to my place which is another 20 miles away. Going to drive to their house on Saturday morning and pick up the G to take to the shop to get it fixed. Trying to drive it as little as possible...

3) Will this cause any long-term damage to the car? Drove about 8 miles from the shop to my parents' and going to drive it back to the shop on Saturday so less than 20 miles driving under these circumstances.

4) Last but not least, should I just buy new rotors and have the shop replace my rotors rather than trying to fix it/resurface it? I know my current rotors have been resurfaced once already so technically they should be able to be resurfaced at least once more? Willing to just get new rotors if it's going to for sure fix this problem.

Thanks guys, always appreciate the opinions and help!

 

If your car only shakes when applying the brakes, that is a symptom of warped rotors. It could be the way the newb resurfaced the rotors, or it also could be a symptom of over torqued lug nuts. Most shops use impact wrenches to put your wheels back on which can easily apply too much pressure.

If it were me, I would buy new rotors and insist they use a torque wrench when putting the wheels back on or go to a different shop. You could try to have the shop try to make it right by resurfacing them provided there is enough surface left.

My $ is on over torquing, them if is shakes violently. Good luck.

 

Are these OEM rotors? If so, then yes, these are prone to warpage, which is mostly due to uneven disk brake pad material transfer. Basically when you come to a stop, the brake pads leave a little material fused to the hot rotor, and when you start to move again, this material stays on the rotor. Do enough stops with hot brakes and your foot firmly planted on the brake for a few mins at the end, and you end up with warped rotors. Lug nut torque plays a role here as well, but even properly torqued lugs will still have the issue. I've warped two sets of OEM rotors despite only using a torque wrench to put my lugs on. I'm convinced it's the material the OEM rotors are made from as I had two sets of OEM rotors on my G35 that warped BADLY before one set of pads was done.

My replacement centric rotors have faired much better and I was able to install an additional set of pads with the same rotors with no signs of "warpage".

BTW, the akebono pads are pretty good, but the eat rotors. I've gotten good performance out of them after switching from OEM, but with a little less than half the pad material gone, all 4 of my rotors are well worn, with grooves and rough patches. I'm going to to need to change out all 4 rotors again.

next time i'm going with OEM pads and the Centric rotors.


And yes, I've had my car long enough and driven enough miles to do 4 full brake jobs.

 

HWGA (here we go again)

Yes, your rotors could be warped, grease monkey with an air impact, red hot brakes splashed with cold water etc.

You could also have brake pad material imbedded in the rotors. It happens when you make a "panic" stop and you don't take your foot off the brake. The over heated rotors melt the pad compound into the pores of the rotor metal and every time the pad swipes that area, more friction is created and you get what seems like a warped rotor. Sometimes it can be fixed with sand paper or you may need to machine them, if it's bad enough.

See this: The "Warped" Brake Disc and Other Myths of the Braking System

 

Chances are 99% the cause of the shaking is warped rotors. Like Tex posted this is caused by a with an impact gun over tightening your lugs, little else! If you don't have many miles on those rotors than can be trued/turned other wise they need replacing. Any time you have a wheel removed make damn sure it's installed using a torque wrench set to 80#...Gary

 

Thanks guys, that's what I was thinking too from what I've read.

And to Mustang, yes, these are OEM rotors which I've heard are prone to warping as well.

Hopefully this wouldn't cause long-term damage to the car, given how little I am driving it under these circumstances, correct?

Since they only worked on the front, I was thinking of just replacing the rotors with these:
and having them change the pads on the rears without resurfacing the rear rotors.

What do you guys think?

 

One of the other issues with rotor warping is in the manufacturing, they're removed to quickly and not allowed to cool for a specific amount of time. Buying quality rotors and using a torque wrench to install them will eliminate this shaking issue ever happening again. Unless you're on a very tight budget spend the $$ for quality rotors from out Marketplace or if what you drive has more than two doors it doesn't matter!
Gary

 

Did you read Mustangs post? I don't know why we bother. CENTRIC MAKES THE BEST AFTERMARKET REPLACEMENT ROTORS FOR THE VALUE. The link you sent is from ... Centric.

 

Yeah I know, lol, that's why I posted that Centric one. I was asking moreso to see if you guys thought a different Centric rotor was better, like slotted, or hi-carbon or something.

Guess I should've been more clear and not try to get too fancy...my bad.

 

I had shaking brakes like you as well, just not as violent as you're describing, and more so at highway speed under heavier braking. I called around the local shops for quotes on resurfacing, and also on replacement, and found that if I brought in my own rotors (I used the centrics that you linked to) the price difference wasn't much between those options. In the end I just did it myself and saved the ~$120 in labor. The new rotors solved the shaking problem. It's a pretty simply job as long as you watch a few video tutorials beforehand or have someone more experienced show you the first time.

I wouldn't bother resurfacing again, as it seems like some inexperienced grease monkey already tried to do it once. The thinner your rotors are, the more prone they are to "warping," and the OEM rotors weren't great to begin with anyway. Pad deposit is another factor as Texasscout alluded to, and this can be easily prevented on any vehicle by slightly altering your driving habits. After any period of heavy braking (eg. going from 70 mph to 0 on a freeway offramp), just don't keep your foot mashed on the brake pedal while the car is stopped. Best to let brakes cool as you're slowly creeping forward.

 

Basic centric rotors here. Just the plain jane solid rotors that had the black painted hats.


I will be going with another set of them, along with OEM pads. The Akebono's really tore these rotors up after I swapped to them. The performance gain over OEM was not noticeable to me on my daily commute to/from work therefore OEM pads suit me just fine.

The OEM pads are fine for a daily driver type of car. Don't get hung up on the "OEM sucks, aftermarket better" mentality as sometimes it's not 100% accurate. The OEM 05-06 (except 05x) pads have great cold bite (important on a street car that doesn't get the brakes hot enough), are low dusting, and quiet and will suit the needs of 95% of the G35 population. The OEM rotors on the other hand suck giant, sweaty donkey *****.

 

I wish my garage was bigger so I could do some work in there...

But yeah, I wouldn't even want to imagine what mine would've been like on the freeway. It was already out of control on local roads going under 20 mph.

Sounds like I should've stuck with OEM pads. Oh well, next change then. Going to run the Akebonos and the Centric Premiums for now. Hopefully everything works out when I take it back to the shop on Saturday.

Thanks for all your help, guys!