Well if I don't have the darndest luck with brakes. I have noticed when stopping at freeway speeds or so a pulsation in the steering wheel that is progressively getting worse. While braking to a stop slowly I feel a go/let go/go kind of action with the brakes. My hunch is warped rotors.

Hard to believe after only 16K of mostly freeway miles. I never washed the car after driving it and I don't ride the brakes. Got a call in to bring it in. Anyone else have experience with warped rotors before?

 

Did you have your original rotors turned? Did you change to ceramic pads on turned rotors? Either of these could get your rotors warped very easily.

Also, brake pulsation during braking could be caused by cheap pads that have left unconsistent layers of material on the rotor, which causes the pulsing during braking.

As for me, I had the same problem. My issue is that I had my cheap OEM rotors turned and I added ceramic pads, which made the issue worse on already thin rotors.

I had to buy new rotors ($55 each), which fixed the problem.

 

Unfortuneately, the quality of the mtel is poor compared to years ago. You're not alone with warped rotors. It also depends on how you drive and stop. We get alot of complaints here at the dealership, not just the F-150 models. We have a customer with a 01 F-150 and we can't use factory rotors as he will warp them within 500 miles. We buy aftermarket power slotted rotors and they seem to do the trick. He waits until the last minute to put his foot on the brakes.

Barry

03 F-150 reg cab 4x4

( Ford parts man )

 

Nothing has been done to the pads or brakes. OEM. Man, if these things are going to warp every 16K I don't know what I would do.

 

Simple, use non-OEM rotors. They are the same price or sometimes even cheaper than dealer priced OEMs.

Pepboys in my area is really good at pricing and installation. I have good quality rotors designed to work with ceramic pads, and they were only about $50 each.

 

I went ahead and purchased a set of Power Slot Cryo rotors specifically for this reason. They are very good rotors. Check out the link:

http://www.powerslot.com/pages/power_slot_cryo.html

 

Improper torque and sequence is the #1 reason for warped rotors. Anyway we get brand new hyundai's with 8 miles with wraped rotors. LOL Don't you just love Korean garbage.

 

Thats what I did. I have over 30K on my non-OEM rotors and have had zero problems. I got mine from Advance Auto Parts online for around $35 each for the front and $45 each for the rear. They may not be the best, but they do the job.

I believe it was metioned earlier in this post, but proper torqueing of the lug nuts is important as well.

 

I was thinking about the over tightening aspect. I think the pattern of tightening is more important than the pressure. Think about it, when is the last time you saw anyone tighten lugs with a torque wrench. Would 80% of us all have warped rotors? Dealers don't even use torque wrenches most of the time. Just my thoughts.

 

to add, its also important to season new rotors by breaking them in to avoid rotor warping. Bear racing has a good article on how to do this.

 

Is it normally the front which causes the steering wobble when braking at high speeds? because mine tends to do it sometimes worse then others. I was looking into new rotors as well.

 

Yes, normally the front. You feel it through the steering wheel.

 

Interesting. I'm at 50k+ on my OEM rotors and they still feel fine. I've only changed the pads so far.

 

For me, I can tell if it's coming from the front or rear... If it's coming from the front, I can feel the pulsation throught the brake pedal... If it's the rear's, then I don't feel it throught the pedal, but I feel the entire truck pulsating. Just recently that happened. I replaced the rear rotors, and sure enough it fixed it.

 

I had a front bearing go out almost a year ago. You could feel it and hear it, especially when on a curve. the dealer want $500 to replace the left on. I told them it was the right, they said no, the left. So I bought a front rotor and bearing, replaced teh left one. It was the right one. Repalce it too, and all is good. They would have charged me about $900 for both sides. I did them ***** for $325.