How can I confirm for sure my rotors are warped on my own? If they are warped what is the best method for resurfacing them? I do realize that there is a TSB for replacment.

 

mine warped the dealer said its only covered by the 36,000 mile warr. and the way to fix them was to have them recut dont let the dealer do that though they charged me 128 bucks to pull the ft rotors and cut them way over priced!

 

$5 each at O'reiley autoparts to have them resurfaced. Had a few of our cars done there never any problems.

 

Are they warped if you get vibration when braking ? My warr. is up(46000mil) so what should I do ?

 

Check the stickies for the TSB. There is a way to "test" them using the E-Brake. But, if they are warped, you'd definietly know it.

ADMAN

 

IMHO, the only real fix is replacement. It looks statistically not feasible to have them resurfaced if they got warped below 40k miles. Look how many people here got them resurfaced (many on them "on the car", according to TSB) without much luck. It didn't matter that much which way: off/on the car dealer/local garage they got them resurfaced - result was the same, they got their judder back in no time. I think, something is wrong with rotors themself. So, don't waste money/time - got set of new ones, even "genuine Nissan". I'm still "evaluating" my replacement rotors - so far so good, no warpage after 16k km on them. It's already about 4k km above my stock ones. I've actually checked their wobbling by micrometer - they have the same amount as they had new, less than 30um each. It'd cost (it should be free) about the same as their famous "on the car" resurfacing.

My 2c, Mike.

 

What is the e-brake warped rotor test?

 

Also which rotors usually warp? Front, rear or all four? How is it determined which of the 4 rotors are warped?

 

Read the TSB.

 

I had mine re-surface, ground down or whatever...I was getting a lot of vibration when I broke hard, I mean from 60-100 mph and some slip when braking at lower speed, I could tell it would grab, then release, then grab, etc...

my dealer said it wasn't covered under the warranty, but they hooked my up somehow else...whatever.

they said the cause was hard driving and braking or braking really hard when they were wet...

I think the cause was the crappy rotors...

 

the next time I'm in for service and the SM makes something up like that, I'm going to counter it with "wow, really? are you sure the gravitation pull of the moon didn't do it? I did use my brakes during the last full moon. Sure, I see how solar flares and tidal changes could fool my rotors into warping. I will take that under advisement and not use my brakes when its colder than 80F, dew point above 80%, misting, foggy or raining, at night, when 2 or more passengers are in the car, during the entire month of July, or ANYTIME during the winter solstice. Say, you ever thought of joining MENSA?"

 

Honestly i almost believe it is not a rotor problem. i seriously think it is a design problem from nissan. I had this problem at 18,000 miles. So i had them resurfaced, and low and behold, 6,000 later it happened again. So i went the ballsy route and called up stillen. At set of 4 OEM cross-drilled replacement rotors with metal matrix pads were less than the cost from the dealer replacement. They worked great for about 25,000 miles. I'm coming up on 50k now, and they are starting to warp again. STILLEN CROSS DRILLED ROTORS! Why are they warping? I don't drive through lakes after heating them up by panic stopping. Its not like i drive with both feet. Granted i speed around quite a bit, but ****, with the money i spent for the upgraded brakes, you think they wouldn't do that anymore. Which makes me wonder about the design of the brake system.

4 stillen cross drilled rotors and metal matrix pads are around 450. Awesome deal for whole brake system.

 

when your rotors become warped..they will shake under breaking..you'll notice the vibrations coming from the wheels.

 

Well two possible reasons:

Driving your car for a while with some hard braking and/or on a hot day then washing your car and cooling the rotors too quickly.

Over torque of the lugs on your wheels

 

IMHO - no, the reason our stock rotors get "warped" too quikly is some surface problems which is manufacturing flaw. Those two are meaninful for "normal" ones, which get warped after 40-50K. Let's get terms straight first: "warped" rotor by itself doesn't cause brake judder, it is only uneven thickness does. That happens if you drive around with warped rotors for about 5-6k. My point is that judder is caused by uneven brake force which in turn can be caused not only by the shape of the rotor but also uneven friction coefficient for instance. It won't make any difference for you - you'd feel that infamous judder. Only way to distinguish these reasons is to measure rotor warpage. I did it on mine when they got "warped" second time and found that a rotor with >100 um wobbling was causing much less judder (if any) than the judder from the rotor with wobbling <60 um. I also intentionally overtorgued one nut to 100lb/ft without puttin 4 others in place at all and couldn't find any warpage it caused, at least it was less than 30um. I'm still using torgue wrench to provide the same pretension on all nuts to be on the safe side but there's no direct relations.

Mike.

 

I am not too knowledgeable about these things, but could someone explain: if you overtorque (overtighten) your wheel lug nuts, how's that going to affect the wear of your rotors and make them warped?

My car's front rotors were resurfaced at 11K mi and then replaced under the wtty at 12k mi. Now at 20K knock on wood, they are serving me well. Because w/my past experiences with Pep Boyz, Salvo, and similar brake parts' reliability...I had in mind that if my brakes will go bad after wtty expires, I'd get aftermarket ones (Stillen, etc). But since someone here had bad exp. w/those..OEM is the way to go?

 

Well, I am very aware of the problem with washing the car when the rotos are hot. My car has never seen a quarter car wash or a drive through one. Its a pain in the *** in the winter time, but hey to save some deep swirl marks its worth it. But back to brakes, I owned a 94 firebird with quite a few performance modifications runnin 12.67@107mph. I used this car at the track quite a bit, and I was the road racer too. I can't tell you how many times I tromped on the brakes at over 100mph. I rarely get on the brakes that hard in the nissan. Nissan tourque specs for the wheels are 70ft.lbs. Kind of low woulnd't you say? Over tourquing can cause warping in some situations, but not for mine. Anyway, ***** to nissan. Everything else on the car works great,just those damn rotors.

 

It seems strange to me nobody here is mentioning cryo treated rotors. I've used them on my club racing Zcar for two seasons now and they hold up well compared to non treated. I use treated Brembo rotors from Carbotech. I can last a season with these rotors, and that was never possible before. Cryo treating is a process of heating and supercooling the rotors to stabilize the grain structure of the metal, to make it stronger and less prone to wearing or warping. I'm just waiting for my stock pads to go south and I'll be calling up Carbotech. I believe there's a few places around that will treat whatever you send them, but you would want to check them out first because I've heard it can be a tricky process to do it correctly.
Cryo treating is one of the major reasons that you don't see tranny or rear end failures hardly at all anymore in Nascar, all their stuff is cryo treated!

 

Hmm but how much does it cost, the cryo treatment? If we're talking about about street use, not NASCAR?

 

It's not as bad as you think. I don't have the bill handy but I seem to remember the 9.5" solid z rotors were about $80 ea. I think a vented Max Brembo rotor would be a little higher.You can call Carbotech at 954.493.9669. I think they're located in Georgia.

 

Just for a kick in the nutz....I had my brakes resurfaced at 26K and they've been ok until a few days ago when they started to shake again ever so slightly...seems to be getting a little worse as the days go by...I have 35,942 miles on my car when I pulled into work this morning. I have an 80 mile ride home tonight.

Do the math


So I guess I'm pretty much %^&ked

Think the dealer is just gonna say "Sorry" your bumming. I had to point out the TSB to him the first time when he wanted to charge me for the resurface.

I"m probably going to dump the car anyways...I don't want to keep racking up the miles(170 or so a day)on the Max and have it worth nada in a year or so.

Grrr even if I get new rotors they'll be shot in less than a year given the miles I do.

Damn it..I was just sort of starting to accept the flaws in the car...(rattles, loose seat, bumper scratches)

Oh well...probably going to buy a 95-98 Max with high miles and drive it into the ground...

 

I have a 2001 SE with 15k on it and I am starting to feel that tell tale shake of the steering wheel when I'm braking hard - not panic braking, but braking when hitting an off ramp or approaching a toll booth. The TSB clearly indicates 2000 model year, has anyone had any experience with 01 maximas. Is it possible to demand new rotors first or do you have to just accept that the dealer will turn them once or twice before replacing them...

 

I think they are the exact same rotors on a 2k1. Make them replace them directly.

 

I had a Ford Contour which had a really bad problem with warped rotors. Car would vibrate badly under braking as well as just driving down the road. Dealer kept giving me the same line of crap about "Its the way you drive it".

Did a little research on my own and finally tracked it down to a seized emergency brake cable. Had the E-brake fixed and 95% of the vibration went away.

I don't know if Max's are susceptible to the same problem, but you might want to check if your e-brake is sticking. Typically, if you pull up on the e-brake and you only get 2 or 3 clicks, the e-brake cable is seized.

As for steering wheel vibration, I used to think my 2K Max had warped rotors because I could feel vibration in the steering wheel. I took me a while to realize that I could only feel this along a particular stretch of road on my commute. Turns out what I thought was steering wheel vibration is actually the fabled "road-feel" the magazines are always blathering about.

 

Hey JNM

Auto or manual? How much you lookin' to get??

 

By the way, I think this is the correct link to Carbotech...

http://www.carbotecheng.com/main.htm

 

most of them are aware that if you tighten just about any import rotors with more than 100-120 ft-lbs, there's a high likelihood they will warp quickly. A torque wench is $10. And dont trust that they did them correctly just because they told you they did.. I have gone back after Nissan and two tire places.. all were way over 100ft-lbs because of their air tools (and I made sure to ask them about the torque setting). By all accounts I should have warped rotors.. I've braked hard in 10 degree weather, 120 degree weather, hard braking in driving rain, have 25K+ miles and one of the first 5th gens on this board. no warpage.

Only difference? I didnt trust the shops and have hand torqued the lugs myself everytime to 90ft-lbs. But I can't say thats the only cause, as a sticky hand brake and the calipers sticking (something the max is prone to do) will cause it more quickly then lugs.

Who knows.. just glad I dont have it.. *yet*

 

I concur with Foglght on the rotors. I also had the TSB completed around 20,000 miles and I'm almost at 26,000 now. The familiar brake judder is back. It is extremely noticeable when braking down from 60mph or greater. Perhaps this is something else to take up with Nissan Consumer satisfaction.

 

14k here, no warped rotors.

 

Well after posting my comments above I sat and thought a bit...I said screw it, I'm calling the dealer...what have I got to lose?

I got the SM on the horn and told him about the vibrations coming back..I asked him if I could bring my car in after 36k because my commute will bust me over the limit. He called me an SOB for not calling him sooner (true, he called me a SOB) I took that as a good sign

He said not to woryy..then he hemmed and hawed...he then asked me if I could bring it in right away...I was there in 5 minutes.

So the resurfaced my rotors with 40 miles left on my warranty...I know they'll warp again but I bought myself some time.

1 problem I noticed driving home...The judder is gone but now it feels like my tires are not balanced when I'm doing 60-80 mph...It's not horrible but I can tell the will vibes a bit more than before I had the rotors cut (2nd time)

What could be causing this? Anything they did to the rotors? I'm due for an oil change(actually 5K over) and I'll have them rotate and balance the tires. I'm just a bit concerned as the tires were balanced before and now they seem not to be

Hmmmm

 

Out of round crappy Potenzas. Thats whats wrong with mine so I put the 2 defective ones on the rear, and goods on the front... But now I think my front ones are starting to go bad too.. POS!!

 

I have Toyo's

I bought a base SE with the 16" rims.

I don't think anything happened to the tires....just wondering if resurfacing the rotors can cause vibes that are usually associated with wheels being unbalanced.

 

You have 36K on Toyo 16"s? Mine are 3/4 gone at 11K! I guess it's time to review the 'ol driving style! I thought restraint was only burning rubber at every other light! Oh well-

 

I have an out of round stock Toyo. moved it to the back early on until I buy a new set. I didnt rotate because I didnt want the out of round on the front, further contributing to their untimely demise.

 

I got my car in May . I noticed the warping in August. I didn't want to accept it. This nearly new car had fukked up brakes. Fukkit!!! I'm getting the an aftermarket setup. Will probably make the switch next month.

 

What about warping on 2K1 models? The TSB pertains to 2K Maximas. Anyone had any luck getting a dealer to do the TSB on a 2K1?
I have about 10k mi. on my 2K1 and damned if I haven't started feeling a slight bit of vibration already.

JimC

 

I felt brake judder a couple thousand miles ago. My car now has 14500 miles. I can feel it at slow speeds, but it's almost violent when slowing from highway speeds. I haven't been to a dealer yet.

Warranty coverage of Brake Rotor TSB?

 

i called Nissan and *****ed!! everytime i was in for service at the dealer i stated my brakes vibrate, maybe 10 times to the dealer for various problems, sometimes they did something sometimes NTF. at 38k 2nd set of rotors. the rear ones are still vibrating . would you buy a Z from this crappy company? great cars , no decent help w/problems...