SERIOUS NEED SOME HELP WITH THIS ONE....

while driving to and from work today my car starting doing something that got me pretty worried...when I am going 50+ mph and apply the brakes to slow down, I got a lot of vibration in the car. But when I am rolling at low speeds...i.e. 30 or so, the car has no problems.

I am not sure if it is because of the spacers, alignment, warped rotors or my tires... ANYONE GOT ANY IDEAS?

I talked to Rotora and they inform me that it COULD be that I warped the rotors, but the thing is, it has been like this for a few weeks, BUT NOTHING like today...its always been very suddle. I always thought it was the 5mm spacers......

HELP!

 

You have warped rotors. The heat and added friction from applying brakes can easily warp your rotors. You will only get the vibration when applying the brakes because the pads are trying to grip a non smooth surface i.e warped rotors. When released the pads are retracted and are not gripping anything, you will not feel the vibration at any speed. You need to replace your pads and rotors. Don't waste your time getting them resurfaced, it just makes the metal thinner and easier for warping.

 

But if the rotors were warped, would I get the vibration at low speeds?

 

No you shouldn't get vibrations at low speeds. You probably need a wheel balance also.

 

Ditto what Lexozz said. I had the same thing a couple of months ago. It was simply time to replace the rotors and pads. The vibrations are just your car's subtle way of letting you know...but, get it done while it's still subtle.

 

man, this just sucks! I only put about 6k miles on the Rotora BBK and now i need to replace the rotors........

 

I agree that it sounds like warped rotors but on a new BB upgrade from Rotora??? I would go back to Rotora first!! I mean, Rotora brakes are purchased and used by enthusiasts and they are (supposedly) designed for performance. To suffer from warped rotors, this bad, in the first 6 months, is unacceptable in my book!

 

I have an appointment to take my car into Rotora on the 21st. I did complain about it, but was told that this isn't covered by warranty. Which I can understand, but damn....what a waste of money.

I am just thinking of putting my stock brake kit back on....

 

I can see not being covered under warranty, but Dang, these are supposed to be performance brakes!!! Good luck to you, hope they do something to help resolve this!

 

They're probably not warped- there are three things I can think of:

1) Wheel lug nuts are over-torqued. Some shops or owners feel the need to torque the wheel lug nuts to 100 ft/lbs. Toyota/Lexus specifies 76. I have always torqued all my Toyota & Lexus cars this way, and I haven't lost a wheel- Toyota knows what is best for the car. Check this first- you might want to jack the car up, loosen all the lug nuts (one wheel at a time), and retorque them to 76. Over-torquing the lug nuts can do strange things and can cause this type of vibration issue- I have experienced it myself when a shop once over-torqued the nuts.

2) Spacer- are your wheels still hub-centric with the spacers? Do you get a vibration when you're not braking? If a vibration exists during normal driving, the vibration can become more exaggerated under braking.

3) Pad deposition. How were the pads broken-in immediately after the big brake kit was installed? This is CRITICAL with a big brake set-up- any brake system, really.
I don't know if Rotora has white papers on this, but here is an interesting read from StopTech- it basically applies to ANY installation of new pads/rotors.

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/faqs.shtml#25

 

I am running 5mm spacers, and I looked all over the place and couldn't find any true hub-centric spacers.

The vibrations ONLY accure when the brakes are applied.

Rotora informed me no hard braking for about 500 miles and I did as informed.

 

OGS,

Sent you a PM