My front rotors have grooves going all the way around them. When I run my finger down from the outside to inside of the rotor I can feel all the grooves. It is both sides, and the rear are perfectly fine. It appears like there are small fractures in the rotors also. I had my brakes done 20K miles ago. At that time a shop did it, not myself. I've never seen them do this before. What would cause them to do this? Maybe its time to jump on the brembo group deal?

 

probably a rock or something inbetween the pad and rotor, i had one do that that was imbedded on the side my friend did, he didnt brush it off and just put it on, ended up with one circular groove

 

Probably a cheap Break pads, yours probably makes a lot of noise when you go to a smooth stop.

 

i had to get my fronts replaced because the grooves were so big.. just ****ty brake pads, next time get some OEM's or hawks if ur lookin for performance

 

Did they replace the rotors? Or at least turn them?

It looks like they didn't.

 

I think they turned the rotors and they make no noise when slowing down. The brakes are really squishy compared to the 97 max that is in my family

 

Change your pads, the composition is chewing up your rotors a bit to fast.
You should be using a Ceramic pad and make sure you follow a proper bedding in procedure with new pads. Axxis Metal Masters did the same thing to my rotors. I switched to Ceramic pads and everything is fine since.
That rotor looks like it's got plenty of life in it. Can't see any lips at the edges of the contact surface area. If you don't have any vibrations just throw in a set of nice Ceramic pads and beed them in really good. That will clean up the old surface area of the rotor and hopefully keep it smooth.

 

How can you tell the rotor looks like it has plenty of life? There is no way to determine the thickness. That could also be due to cheap rotors. Id replace the entire set up. Brembos or RTP's and some OEM Pads.

 

I have a similar issue, though I did my brakes only about 5k ago. My grooves are a bit deeper though, although only 1 or 2 grooves. I am using the Ceramic pads from Autozone, the good ones, and they are very quiet. I also replaced the rotors at the same time and did the bedding procedure. I also did my rear brakes in the same fashion at the same time, though they aren't ceramics since I couldn't find them, and they look perfect. I also installed new sliding hardware and anti rattle clips.

 

I've always run semi-metallics on the front and organics on the rear (this must be a Nissan thing-they did the same thing on the 240SX) and I've not had any grooving like in the pics.

 

OEM are ceramics. I'm sure that the original didn't cause this grooving unless there was another problem. The only thing I can think of that is causing mine is that my rear motor mount is shot. Possibly with all of the rocking of the engine when I brake from cruising, the pads are wearing unevenly. Just a thought though.

 

You'd see that in the pads tho. The height of the pad material would be uneven. All rotors aren't made the same. Personally, looks like just a "softer" metal for the rotor. Driving style might have something to do with it as well?? The rears hardly get used for much so that's probably why they look fine...

 

So you think it might just be the rotors? I do know that the pads now have the same shape as the groove, although opposite, which would indicate that it's not a rock or something lodged in there or something like that. The only other option other than the motor mount thing is maybe the Duralast Gold rotors I bought for about $60 weren't good enough. I'd hate to come to that realization since they don't have many miles on them. I already ordered the new motor mount and maybe I'll go and have my rotors turned once more when I get it installed. If that doesn't fix it, I probably will just wait until they rotors are totally shot before I get a new set. It's not like they don't stop the car, they do that wonderfully, they just don't look so pretty.

 

I just remembered, the pads I bought were Bendix CT3 ceramics. I was tired of the cheap crap that I was getting in the past so I went for some pretty expensive ones.

 

Looks like cheap brake components... could be either pads or rotors, hard to say. Same thing happened on a pair of brakes that a relative got done at a shop, and for $600 they told her it's because she got the cheap rotors. Hmm... they charged her 73 a piece before labor but ANYWAYS. My car the hats are so rusted I might even say they're the original rotors but they're perfect (except for rust).

 

First you have to turn the rotors untill they smooth out... After that, if you do a micrometer reading of the rotor, and it is within tolerance of OEM specs.. then put on some GOOD pads, and you're good to go...
Judging by the pictures, the rotor looks pretty bad... but theres no way to tell untill you get an accurate measurement...
*EDIT* Just noticed that you said there were fractures in the rotor.... theres no point to even try and turn them at a point like that....

 

Thanks for the replys. I getting an alignment on Thursday, so I'm going to ask the shop what their opinion is on it. I will probably end up ordering some Brembos and new pads.

 

It depends. The motor mount has nothing to do with it. I DO know that late last year i put new brakes on my wife's BMW (MetalMaster pads AND Brembo blanks) and now they look JUST like yours. I'd narrow it down to component quality, the car and driving style. I'm not slamming Brembos or Metalmasters tho. I used that same combo on my race car when I had it with NO problems whatsoever.

 

You have heat cracks, they will probably need too much taken off in turning to eliminate the cracks look for a set of new rotors and decent quality pads.

 

looks exactly like mine

 

Had same problem. Got the cheap deal at Midas and that was one of the worst decisions ever. There's a reason they have a lifetime warranty. Anyway, I agree with Black Max. Get em turned and if within spec run ceramics.

 

Just got back from my alignment and I had them check the brakes with no intention of letting them work on them. They said front rotors are shot ( that was expected) and rears were fine. My front pads are wearing very unevenly too. The guy pulled back the seal on the brake caliper and there was rust inside there on the piston. This was both front calipers.

So my question now is, is it worth upgrading all my rotors verses just the front two? I'm going to just be order brembo blanks from the group deal. Is it possible to fix my calipers or am I better off just replacing them?

 

Brakes only need to be replaced in pairs. If the rears are good don't bother with them.