Hey guys.

A quick question for anyone whom might know.

So two weeks ago I put new Stoptech rotors and pads, front and back, on my 2007 G35 Journey.

The install was pretty easy and the brakes have been great. Albeit the new pads are probably 2x dustier than OEM, they stop great and are nice and quiet.

Anyways, so I installed them, performed the StopTech recommended bed-in procedure and everything has been swell.

I have about 400 miles on the new setup and just the other day after I get home from a 20 mile drive and park and get out of my car I notice that all 4 rotors have a brake-pad mark on them. The fronts are subtle, but the backs are very obvious.

This hasn't affected performance, it doesn't shake or pulsate or anything, and a quick drive around the block removed the marks from the front rotors, however, the backs still have them.

After a 20 mile drive to work this morning the back rotors still have these marks on them.

Is this a problem? Is there a way to remove these marks (brake cleaner/sandpaper/etc...) or am I looking at a bigger issue and need to send them back?

I am awaiting a response from StopTech but was curious if anyone has experienced this before.

Thanks.

_Michael

 

You likely left ebrake on? They will go away with time.

 

Hey Urban.

The e-brake is a drum style setup inside the hub so I don't think that would have an impact on the brake pads themselves being up against the rotor. It was also on the front rotors as well which I do not believe have an e-brake style setup.

Someone mentioned to me that those marks can harden and become "calcified" as he mentioned it which has me wondering if I should attempt to remove them with some brake cleaner/sandpaper action.

Odd that they appeared several weeks after I changed the whole setup. Still no word from StopTech yet.

_Michael

 

That's called "pad imprinting" and can occur when brakes are not bedded in properly by not allowing enough cool down at the end of the process. It can also be caused by running pads with too low of a heat tolerance for the type of driving you are doing (although I don't think that is the case here).


Read this.

http://stoptech.com/technical-suppor...nd-other-myths

About halfway down it talked about pad imprinting and some causes. Basically it occurs when you get the brakes nice and toasty and then allow the pad to sit for a period of time on the rotor with some light pressure.

You definitely want to avoid this as this is what creates a pulsing brake pedal and can possibly lead to Cementite in the rotor which makes it worthless. Redo the bedding in process, but make sure you do a nice long cool down run after your hard stops.


PS: This is how "warped rotors" begins

 

Hey Mustang, you are pretty much dead on, except in my case the long sitting portion after the bed-in was not the cause.

I spoke with Pat from Stoptech and he said the same thing you pointed out. However for me, I did the bed in procedure to the point where I could smell my brakes and drove for easily 20 minutes straight afterwards to let it cool down. I hit the back streets and only stopped at a stop sign for a brief moment (if at all). When I parked, I put my hand near the rotors and of course they were hot but nothing that a trip to my local gym wouldn't do as well.

The only thing I can think of is over the weekend I went to Bodega Bay and my car was stationary for two days. I was right by the ocean so maybe the salty air had an affect on it, but this was after there was about 400 miles already on the new pads and rotors.

Pat recommend I repeat the bed-in procedure which did not clear this up. The fronts are perfect, but I just can't get enough pressure on the rears. I even did a few 25mph reverse stops to force the weight to the back but to no avail.

What I ended up doing was taking 2,500 grit sandpaper and some brake cleaner and giving the marks a good once over.

After that I went on a 30 mile drive and did some hard stops and the issue has all but cleared up. Now that I have another couple hundred miles, the rear rotors barely show any sign of the mark. I was concerned with, as you said, the cementite, so I remedied it as quickly as I could.

In all honesty, I will never buy Stoptech pads again. Between this extremely rare pad imprint (no friends have ever had this in their lifetime of changing brake pads and rotors) and the ridiculous amount of brake dust, I will likely go OEM. I love the rotors, but the pads were not worth it. They stop great, sure, but so did OEM but they dust less and likely would never have done this pad imprint.

Anyways, that is my input on Stoptech. Thanks for the info Mustang you were pretty much dead on.

_Michael