i just wrote out a BOOK on this and when i hit submit it logged me out! So here is my quick version

i replaced my front brakes a few months ago, i bought cheap pads, a week went by and they were fine until someone almost hit me and i had to slam on the brakes and yank on the wheel. a few days after that i got a grinding pulsating sound from my front brakes, i thought it was the cheap pads so i took them back and got new ones, and at the same time put my rotors on a lathe (i did feel minor pulsating which is why i did). it eliminated the grinding, but replaced it with a poping noise.. i would hear this popping noise if i was traveling at slow speeds and applied the brake, befor i would come to a complete stop it would pop. when accelerating, i could take my foot off the brake, and as soon as i hit the gas i would hear a pop or if i just let it roll, within a foot or two it would pop.

i took my brakes all apart again and realized i had the clips in backwords so the outer pads werent locked into them, i turned them around and put the pads back in the same way as i took them out and locked the pad tab into the clip.

i thought i fixed everything cuz it was all good.. but now( after 3 weeks of it being fine) im getting a warped rotor feel again and pulsating in the pedal.. arrrggh!

its not consistant though, sometimes it feels alot worse than other times, and it doesnt make a difference of going up or down a hill,hard on the brake or gentle.. sometimes its bad and sometimes its not.

i notice it more when im just starting to push on the brake, but still there when i push hard. its kinda an odd feeling. i have had warped rotors befor, but this almost feels like when i brake my front wheel is shaking back and forth really fast.

i have had it in the air and grabbed both my front wheels and pulled on them and there is no movement so im sure my tie rods are fine. my wheel bearings are good.. i have checked my control arms to see if i possibly bent something in that near collision i was in.. and nothing.. im kinda at a loss here.

what else would give the symptoms of a warped rotor feeling? im going to throw them on the lathe again tomorrow and see if it changes, and if it does im going to replace my rotors, but is there anything else i should check while im at it?

 

lets assume it's your brakes ok?

I would grease the brake piston and the brake pad backing plate where they have contact.
I would buy some decent pads and rotors set up like blank brembo rotors and hawk pads for example, and then do the "brakes bed-in' on my new set up by following this instruction.....http://zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

I would NOT cheap out on my brakes tho coz at the end of the day, it stops the car!

 

If you replaced cheap pads with a new set of cheap pads, you could have a spot of pad material transferred to the rotor. There are many threads on this. So, probably need to look into a good pad. I found a set of Hawk HPS pads for $55 shipped off eBay.

 

I replaced the cheap pads with better pads is what i intended to say,sorry. I took them back originally thinking the grinding was cuz they were cheap and bought good ones, it was an extra 60 bucks. But the original rotors were not replaced and only cut. And I did do the brake bed-in both times and put the anti seize brake quieter on the backing plate, clips and pins.