Did a trip up to the mountains last year. Lots of really steep roads, and switch backs. Really tested the brakes. When I got back, I thought mine might be warped as well. Took to a mechanic I trust, and he told me to try several hard stops. I found an empty parking lot, and did 10 stops from 45mph down to zero in fairly quick succession. Not slamming on the brakes so they locked up, but hard and even braking. My "warped" feeling went away.

Mine was likely caused by the quick, and hard braking I had to do in the mountains. I plan to do the Powerstop Z36 brakes front and rear on my truck, but I'm going to wait until the brakes wear out. It'll be about time for new rotors by then anyways. Mine were turned once before I bought the truck.

Had mine machined twice. Hard braking did nothing to fix it. First time was at 56k, 2nd time at 73k plus got new pads. Second time was with only my powertrain warranty left and it was still free, but I bought the FMPP package with the truck which I guess covers that. My powertrain ends at 100k and I'll be going in at 99k to complain about it again just to get new rotors, the service advisor told me to do this.

few things.

1) you can indeed warp brake rotors and get then out of square to the hub. it does happen and the cause is people over torquing lug nuts. Now I've not experienced it on a truck per say but that doesn't mean it can't happen. I fixed a guys brakes a few years ago where the tire shop moron put the lugs down at near 400ft lbs some 4 months before the guy brought me the car. shook like mad.

2) pad deposits are the most common issue and remember now that you drive down the road on brake rotors 14 or so inches in diameter - those minor bumps in the rotor surface translate though the suspension pretty easily today. IE they have a significant torque arm.

3) another issue I find is people not taking the time to clean the hubs before putting on brake rotors with new cars - on a front driver there is enough mass that the wobble goes away. On a RWD car/vehicle not so much. you get some rust and crap between the rotor and the wheel hub plane - then you bolt the wheel on and it's crooked by a few thousands of an inch.

finally don't waste money on cross drilled rotors on a modern car. they can lead to other issues and won't help your effectual braking. slotted rotors maybe but that's if you use a really aggressive pad compound. Slots aren't worth much often today either because most good brake pads have a dust evac slot in the pad face. On my sportier cars I like a slotted rotor I wouldn't really recommend that on a truck.

If on the other hand you can get a bigger rotor - IE bigger diameter - I would do that but it will cost alot.

Those are indeed causes for warped rotors. I wonder on the quality of them though. For the 3 reasons above;

1) I bought steel rims with winter tires from the dealership and put them on myself. I always swap my own tires myself and I use a torque wrench.
2) This is possible, but since I like high mileage, I brake lightly and only hit the brakes hard for emergencies, which is rare because I keep my distance.
3) Definitely clean hub faces between tire swaps and grease lightly to prevent the rims from getting stuck on the hub. I also do this to my wife's car because I swap summers and winters myself and don't want to deal with stuck wheels.

Maybe #2 is the culrpit, but having had them machine twice in such a short time has me wondering if I should go aftermarket, or have the dealership replace with OEM next time and do aftermarket if it happens again down the road.

THIS is what most of my braking is... a nice, easy stop. I prefer a smooth drive, at least when I'm in a good mood. Lemme guess, you also do some stop-and-go or city-type driving? My wife is somewhat herky-jerky on the gas and brake pedals, and she never seems to have an issue with brakes. Me, on the other hand, seem to always have vibration in the pedal.

On my 2015, it's the right-front brake that "warps" the most, and I hear a click/tick/metal-on-metal type noise intermittently too, so I suspect a hanging caliper. My servicing dealer turned the rotors once already, and it's gonna need it again before winter. Luckily, I don't drive a lot, so I can space out my dealership visits.

For those with the FMPP, how many free turns/replacements do you get? Nobody's been able to give a straight answer on that one.

-John

I think you are right... I slammed the brakes a few times, and tried a few hard controlled stops so the abs would not kick in. That seemed to help considerably. I will cancel my service appt and save the money/

has it ever been to a tire shop for a rotate and balance?

On the pad deposits thing - so many factors. rotor alloy - how it chemically likes the brake pads. Pad compounds some are sticker than others

do you generate a lot of brake dust? Hard to say on a truck but the variance is high. I do alot of city driving and I always have to make at least one good panic stop a week. However I daily a 4 door family car.

Couple things out of testing that you don't often think about. long slow stops can lead to deposits as bad as hard quick ones. It's that whole rotor and pad chemistry thing but it's also the time. if your pads are softer than the rotors (and they're supposed to be) and you take that long stop you will grind that dirt into the rotor face - eventually it can and will stick. Worse you've taken say one full minute to stop from say 45. Not I don't have the numbers on the temps but let's say at the end of the stop you've touched 800 degrees F. and let's say your pad's breakdown temp is 1100. In theory you shouldn't have an issue - but that pad dust might well get soft. Under the pad - where it's pressed to the rotor - at the stop sign for 3 minutes or more. over time you get a bit of a ridge there, etc etc

There are just pad and rotor combo's that don't work. Example go ask the pontiac GTO guys about EBC red pads on DBA rotors. Deposit central - they just like each other too much. Use any other pad or any other rotor - problem goes away. Brembo and others actually test for this to a certain degree - with their own products.

Another issue the OE rotor might just be soft - I don't know how long people are getting out of them - but they might be soft on purpose. That's a newer design philosophy where the rotor is to wear as much as the pad and the shaving of which increases the effective brake torque. That same stop scenario where the pad sits on the rotor but with a rotor that is softer than the pad - you will press dust into the rotor face. This is a minor issue with Carbon/carbon brakes - and easily fixed buy a hard stop or 3.


When I start to get a little vibration in my family car I don't turn the rotors (takes too much effort) but I will if it's bad - take a palm sander and some 60 grit out to the car - take off the wheel and lightly as in nearly no pressure - sand the faces of the rotor for a short while till i can see uniform scratch marks - on both sides. Then I clean the faces with brake cleaner - and put the wheel back on properly torqued.

Tends to fix the issue for me. my car however is fairly particular since it's 19 inch wheels with 45 series tread and the rotors are over 14 inch diameter. Since I've changed my commute I don't have the issue.

When you stop, leave a bit of room and slowly creep forward so the pad is not locked in one spot on the rotor. Moving a bit lets that spot of the rotor get out from under the pad to cool, and don't hold the pedal down much harder than necessary when stopped. Cant hurt.

Yes I prefer a nice smooth ride. I'm also one to always be very early no matter where I'm going so I'm never in a rush. I'd say my overall mileage is 15-25% city. Of my 23 minute drive to work every day, 20 of those minutes are on the highway doing 60-65 mph (the speed limit here).


The FMPP covers as many turns/replacements/pads as needed while I'm still under warranty. Also covered all services, oil changes, filters (oil and air), inspections etc. I've never paid anything for service since I bought the truck. It's a great package. It also includes tire rotations but I decline them because I rotate them myself keeping track of where each rim goes with the winter/summer wheel swap.

They checked tire balance the first time I brought it in for the vibration and they were good. They also checked the alignment, and then they turned the rotors. Good dealership (Team Ford).


Haven't noticed any dust on the rims, and I usually keep them clean in the summer, so it's something I would probably notice. For the braking, don't necessarily take a minute with the brakes on to come to a stop, I just coast a lot. What I don't do is wait till the last 20 feet and slam the brakes like I see many people do. From 40-45 mph I probably brake for 8-10 seconds and it seems others are like 3-5 seconds.
I dunno, I've just never had rotors turned so often. I think most of my other vehicles have only had it done once, and that was with double or triple the mileage I have now.

Read this.