Car shakes when braking?
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 441
From: Dallas
Car shakes when braking?
I searched on the forms for this particular issue but I don't know if mines just different or not. Everytime I have long trips and brake the car start shaking. Also if I'm doing high speeds and I break the car shakes a bunch I know it's kind of normal for it to shake, but this is figure I would ask the forum.
2012 36k miles
Still have stock brakes
2012 36k miles
Still have stock brakes
Member
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 156
From: Fair Lawn NJ
Replace the rotors. If you turn them you are reducing the amount of material that is there to dissipate heat. By cutting/turning the rotors you will only make the problem return quicker. If you are paying a shop to do the labor you will in effect wasted your money. Put new rotors on dude. Do go cheap either. Maximas are not the lightest car, so if you want a good long lasting rotor you will have to buy something better than the ones in the white box from the parts store. Good luck.
I'm at 90k with the stock brakes, and they are lightly warped, but not enough for me to do anything about.
It isn't normal, but isn't unheard of either.
One thing that can hurt rotors is driving through standing water when they are hot.
It isn't normal, but isn't unheard of either.
One thing that can hurt rotors is driving through standing water when they are hot.
Member
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 252
From: Jacksonville, FL
You don't have to be a aggressive driver. all you have to do is get down on the brakes a couple of times from a high speed they will get really hot and warp. there is several ways this happens. If the rotors are hot and you hit water they can warp, It is really hard some times to pin it down. My 07 I had to have mine turned at around 35000 miles and I am not a aggressive driver but had to make a couple of hard stops.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 441
From: Dallas
You don't have to be a aggressive driver. all you have to do is get down on the brakes a couple of times from a high speed they will get really hot and warp. there is several ways this happens. If the rotors are hot and you hit water they can warp, It is really hard some times to pin it down. My 07 I had to have mine turned at around 35000 miles and I am not a aggressive driver but had to make a couple of hard stops.
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 83
Brakes don't really warp anymore these days. Many think their brakes are warped but what really happens is hot spotting. This happens from not heat cycling your brakes. When you heat cycle your brakes it allows sufficient heat to burn off the build up on your brakes. It doesn't just burn off with daily driving, your rotors have to heat up with your brake pads then with the heat and the braking your heat cycling cleans or levels off peaks that were left behind. Most brake companies try to heat cycle your brake pads for you before they sell them to you, but this is simply them siring your brakes with a flame. Even if they come that way you must heat cycle your brakes when they are new and once a month or more depending on how you use them.
If you think your brakes are starting to shake a bit do a quick heat cycle on them and it should take care of that for you. Warping brakes usually happens with vehicles that produce a high amount of heat enough to make them burn red hot. Towing vehicles, semi trailers and track cars. The new brake vein designs allow a constant flow of air for cooling rarely will you make your brakes so hot that you warp them by passing through a puddle. The way you can tell if you have hot spots is by looking at your rotors and looking for lines on them. Those lines are hotspots forming if left unchecked they can form to one spot of the rotor giving the feeling of warped brakes.
If you think your brakes are starting to shake a bit do a quick heat cycle on them and it should take care of that for you. Warping brakes usually happens with vehicles that produce a high amount of heat enough to make them burn red hot. Towing vehicles, semi trailers and track cars. The new brake vein designs allow a constant flow of air for cooling rarely will you make your brakes so hot that you warp them by passing through a puddle. The way you can tell if you have hot spots is by looking at your rotors and looking for lines on them. Those lines are hotspots forming if left unchecked they can form to one spot of the rotor giving the feeling of warped brakes.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 441
From: Dallas
Brakes don't really warp anymore these days. Many think their brakes are warped but what really happens is hot spotting. This happens from not heat cycling your brakes. When you heat cycle your brakes it allows sufficient heat to burn off the build up on your brakes. It doesn't just burn off with daily driving, your rotors have to heat up with your brake pads then with the heat and the braking your heat cycling cleans or levels off peaks that were left behind. Most brake companies try to heat cycle your brake pads for you before they sell them to you, but this is simply them siring your brakes with a flame. Even if they come that way you must heat cycle your brakes when they are new and once a month or more depending on how you use them.
If you think your brakes are starting to shake a bit do a quick heat cycle on them and it should take care of that for you. Warping brakes usually happens with vehicles that produce a high amount of heat enough to make them burn red hot. Towing vehicles, semi trailers and track cars. The new brake vein designs allow a constant flow of air for cooling rarely will you make your brakes so hot that you warp them by passing through a puddle. The way you can tell if you have hot spots is by looking at your rotors and looking for lines on them. Those lines are hotspots forming if left unchecked they can form to one spot of the rotor giving the feeling of warped brakes.
If you think your brakes are starting to shake a bit do a quick heat cycle on them and it should take care of that for you. Warping brakes usually happens with vehicles that produce a high amount of heat enough to make them burn red hot. Towing vehicles, semi trailers and track cars. The new brake vein designs allow a constant flow of air for cooling rarely will you make your brakes so hot that you warp them by passing through a puddle. The way you can tell if you have hot spots is by looking at your rotors and looking for lines on them. Those lines are hotspots forming if left unchecked they can form to one spot of the rotor giving the feeling of warped brakes.
Btw thank you for sharing your knowledge
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 83
Wow, you do need a heat cycle in the worlds worst way there. It may not resolve your line issues though. Several heat cycles will help your situation out.
Heat cycling makes the resins rise to the surface but by repeating the process over and over again it makes the resins spread for a nice contact surface or "transfer layer" nice blackish blue coating. Anyway, I have never replaced brakes to warping or because of hotspots ever.
Another replacement option is just plain slotted rotors which I do on almost every vehicle. The slots on the rotor act like a wiper for hard spot resins and makes sure that all the transfer material is fresh. I never get cross-drilled though because many modern day companies make them wrong. The array of holes is in the wrong order or just made for looks and that just results in poor heat transfer/cracking.
- The bedding-in process requires lots of accelerating and quick decelerating. Perform this process early in the morning and in a low-traffic area so that you avoid other vehicles.
- From 60 MPH, apply the brakes gently a few times to bring them up to their usual operating temperature. This prepares your pads and rotors for the high heat generated in the next steps.
- Make a near-stop from 60 to about 10 MPH. Press the brakes firmly, but not so hard that the ABS engages or the wheels lock. Once you've slowed down, immediately speed up to 60 MPH and apply the brakes again. Perform this cycle 8-10 times. Do not come to a complete stop! If you hold the brake pedal down while stopped you will leave excessive pad material on the rotors and ruin your braking performance.
- Once you've performed that final near-stop, accelerate and drive a bit more, trying to use the brakes as little as possible so they can cool down. Again, do not come to a complete stop while the brakes are still hot. (Avoid traffic!)
- If you are bedding in performance/racing brakes, you may have to perform extra near-stops from a higher speed
Heat cycling makes the resins rise to the surface but by repeating the process over and over again it makes the resins spread for a nice contact surface or "transfer layer" nice blackish blue coating. Anyway, I have never replaced brakes to warping or because of hotspots ever.
Another replacement option is just plain slotted rotors which I do on almost every vehicle. The slots on the rotor act like a wiper for hard spot resins and makes sure that all the transfer material is fresh. I never get cross-drilled though because many modern day companies make them wrong. The array of holes is in the wrong order or just made for looks and that just results in poor heat transfer/cracking.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 441
From: Dallas
Wow, you do need a heat cycle in the worlds worst way there. It may not resolve your line issues though. Several heat cycles will help your situation out.
[*]The bedding-in process requires lots of accelerating and quick decelerating. Perform this process early in the morning and in a low-traffic area so that you avoid other vehicles.[*]From 60 MPH, apply the brakes gently a few times to bring them up to their usual operating temperature. This prepares your pads and rotors for the high heat generated in the next steps.[*]Make a near-stop from 60 to about 10 MPH. Press the brakes firmly, but not so hard that the ABS engages or the wheels lock. Once you've slowed down, immediately speed up to 60 MPH and apply the brakes again. Perform this cycle 8-10 times. Do not come to a complete stop! If you hold the brake pedal down while stopped you will leave excessive pad material on the rotors and ruin your braking performance.[*]Once you've performed that final near-stop, accelerate and drive a bit more, trying to use the brakes as little as possible so they can cool down. Again, do not come to a complete stop while the brakes are still hot. (Avoid traffic!)[*]If you are bedding in performance/racing brakes, you may have to perform extra near-stops from a higher speed
These instructions are for bedding-in new brake pads but heat cycling is the same thing. Many people don't know what heat cycling or bedding in means. However, believe it or not your brakes release gases when heated when these gases travel through your brake material it transfers the brake resins to the surface of your brake pad. These resins then solidify harder than your brake material making a hot spot.
Heat cycling makes the resins rise to the surface but by repeating the process over and over again it makes the resins spread for a nice contact surface or "transfer layer" nice blackish blue coating. Anyway, I have never replaced brakes to warping or because of hotspots ever.
Another replacement option is just plain slotted rotors which I do on almost every vehicle. The slots on the rotor act like a wiper for hard spot resins and makes sure that all the transfer material is fresh. I never get cross-drilled though because many modern day companies make them wrong. The array of holes is in the wrong order or just made for looks and that just results in poor heat transfer/cracking.
[*]The bedding-in process requires lots of accelerating and quick decelerating. Perform this process early in the morning and in a low-traffic area so that you avoid other vehicles.[*]From 60 MPH, apply the brakes gently a few times to bring them up to their usual operating temperature. This prepares your pads and rotors for the high heat generated in the next steps.[*]Make a near-stop from 60 to about 10 MPH. Press the brakes firmly, but not so hard that the ABS engages or the wheels lock. Once you've slowed down, immediately speed up to 60 MPH and apply the brakes again. Perform this cycle 8-10 times. Do not come to a complete stop! If you hold the brake pedal down while stopped you will leave excessive pad material on the rotors and ruin your braking performance.[*]Once you've performed that final near-stop, accelerate and drive a bit more, trying to use the brakes as little as possible so they can cool down. Again, do not come to a complete stop while the brakes are still hot. (Avoid traffic!)[*]If you are bedding in performance/racing brakes, you may have to perform extra near-stops from a higher speed
These instructions are for bedding-in new brake pads but heat cycling is the same thing. Many people don't know what heat cycling or bedding in means. However, believe it or not your brakes release gases when heated when these gases travel through your brake material it transfers the brake resins to the surface of your brake pad. These resins then solidify harder than your brake material making a hot spot.
Heat cycling makes the resins rise to the surface but by repeating the process over and over again it makes the resins spread for a nice contact surface or "transfer layer" nice blackish blue coating. Anyway, I have never replaced brakes to warping or because of hotspots ever.
Another replacement option is just plain slotted rotors which I do on almost every vehicle. The slots on the rotor act like a wiper for hard spot resins and makes sure that all the transfer material is fresh. I never get cross-drilled though because many modern day companies make them wrong. The array of holes is in the wrong order or just made for looks and that just results in poor heat transfer/cracking.
BY THE WAY...Disclaimer: do this on a closed track! Lol
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 83
Wow! Lots of the same responses. It surprises me that more people don't know about heat cycling and bedding in their brakes.
Yes if your brakes are doing a vibration thing do an aggressive heat cycle. Most manufactures suggest heat cycling at least 200 times with thermocouples connected to the actual brake pad to get a proper brake in. This however isn't possible nor is it reasonable. So the process I laid out before is a good generalized way to heat cycle your brakes and brake them in. Sometimes giving them a light sanding with an orbital does the trick but not suggested as the dust can be a health issue.
The way that I bedded in my brakes is I did hard braking from 60mph down but never stopped until my brakes faded. Once they started fading I could start to smell a clutch/brake burning smell once I hit this point I knew my brakes were good to go. Then on my cool down I did light braking but never stopping.
So after my bedding in I went right into a cool down which is a casual ride around town and did very light braking. You never just want to stop after the initial heat cycle burn because a quick cool down can make heat spots. You want to ride them lightly during a cool down and let the veins in the rotors draw in the air to spread the cool down evenly. You don't want the heat to stew by stopping, the heat will be concentrated by where your brakes make contact with the rotors mostly.
Anyway, I have never had bad brakes ever but I have always been taught since day one you bed-in your brakes and heat cycle to maintain your system.
Oh and word for the wise, ceramic brakes will glaze if you heat cycle them wrong. I personally like semi-metallic brakes the best, they do produce more dust but I have never had problems with warping or hotspotting. Again, this is all in my opinion and personal experience.
Once you all are done cycling your brakes tell me how it went, or take some pictures and post results. Good Luck
Yes if your brakes are doing a vibration thing do an aggressive heat cycle. Most manufactures suggest heat cycling at least 200 times with thermocouples connected to the actual brake pad to get a proper brake in. This however isn't possible nor is it reasonable. So the process I laid out before is a good generalized way to heat cycle your brakes and brake them in. Sometimes giving them a light sanding with an orbital does the trick but not suggested as the dust can be a health issue.
The way that I bedded in my brakes is I did hard braking from 60mph down but never stopped until my brakes faded. Once they started fading I could start to smell a clutch/brake burning smell once I hit this point I knew my brakes were good to go. Then on my cool down I did light braking but never stopping.
So after my bedding in I went right into a cool down which is a casual ride around town and did very light braking. You never just want to stop after the initial heat cycle burn because a quick cool down can make heat spots. You want to ride them lightly during a cool down and let the veins in the rotors draw in the air to spread the cool down evenly. You don't want the heat to stew by stopping, the heat will be concentrated by where your brakes make contact with the rotors mostly.
Anyway, I have never had bad brakes ever but I have always been taught since day one you bed-in your brakes and heat cycle to maintain your system.
Oh and word for the wise, ceramic brakes will glaze if you heat cycle them wrong. I personally like semi-metallic brakes the best, they do produce more dust but I have never had problems with warping or hotspotting. Again, this is all in my opinion and personal experience.
Once you all are done cycling your brakes tell me how it went, or take some pictures and post results. Good Luck
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