Would a warped rotor cause a vibration felt through the steering wheel at certain speed, say 80 mph?

When I use the brakes hard from lets say 90-60mph the steering wheel shakes very bad. Slowing down casually, I feel like a grab-let go-grab-let go type of feeling through the car.

Only had the rotors (no-names) for less than 1 yr, ~ 8K miles.

Trying to determine if its a bent rim or just a warped rotor or both.

 

warped rotor.
bent wheels won't cause the grab and let go stuff at low speeds, but a warped rotor will.

 

Ditto, I have the exact same thing.

I'm not positive, but I think in this situation its just the rear rotors.

My father got me into the habit of using the parking brake always. Which means sometimes after hard driving your rotors are softer/larger from the heat. When you(me) pull up the parking brake without allowing the rotors to cool completely it can cause the rotors to warp within a short time frame. When I bought my car it was just fine, but after a few months it started doing the high speed vibration when braking thing.

So just take a look at the rears.

 

If it ends up being a warped rotor, try taking it to a mechanic and having it turned. If you just replaced them a year ago, that might be a cheaper option vice replacing the entire rotor.

 

Yeah, I'm also thinking its a warped rotor....well, time for a BBK in the next coming months.

Matt, did you find a supplier for the 2k4 rotors yet?

 

Yeah, like everyone else said it's def warped rotors. I replaced my front rotors and pads about a year ago and now at 82k my rears are starting to go. Luckily rear rotors are only about 65 bucks each and pads are another 25 each side. Good luck.

 

maxse01, if you don't care about name you can do cheaper on the rears

When my fronts went I had the vibrating at high speeds when braking. Feel it right in the steering wheel. I turned the rotors (well, not me), and put new pads on and no problems.

Re: Parking brake, I can see that to some extent you could have heat issues with using it, but it's always a good idea to put the parking brake on with a manual car. I always have and have had no problems. A friend of mine forgot once in his two-week old (actually his dad's) BMW, and we came out of a store to find it wrapped around a tree - totalled. I'd recommend using the parking brake.

 

Must be your crappy rotors.

Can't warp these:

 

Wow, those are amazing. Haven't seen anything that cool for maximas. Looks 100x better than my autozone setup.

 

I've had the same issues for a while. I guess it's time to change some brakes!!!

 

Are you serious, a 7 year old thread?

 

Makes me fell better now. Bought new tires, then steering wheel starts vibrating. Took it back twice to get balanced, still same vibration at 70+. Took it to the shop and they say the rotors are warped and that may be the cause of the vibrations. Thank you to the 8 year old thread!!