Warped Brakes

[MOSHO92]

I dont drive too agressivly, but my rotors seem to warp within six months. I have a 92'MTX so i believe they are 11" disks. In order to fix this money hole do i need to simply give in and buy a set of bigger brakes with new hubs and calipers or is there some producer of better disks and pads that could prolong my brake life at all? Thanks for the advice in advance.

 

[smcallis]

Not unless you want to spend the $. Get the Amico rotors for autozone for $17-20. They will NOT warp.

Use the search function and you'll get buttloads of similar questions and testimonials.

 

[twr]

FYI - After a bout of aggressive driving, drive your car midly for 10-15 mins - give everything a chance to cool down. If you don't rotors will warp, esp. if the brakes are very hot. The reason - the rotors will cool down unevenly under the pads. The other thing to make sure of is that your lug nuts are torqued evenly - you would think this could effect it, but it does.

 

[SHOZ123]

Anytime someone else tightens my lug nuts I always will check them myself when I get home. Most times they are way too tight. 100 ft/lbs isn't that tight with the leverage you can get on lug nuts.

 

[SHOtimer]

I have the same problem with my 95 ATX, had new brakes put on 3 months ago and I am starting to have warped rotors again. What exactly is a '96 brake upgrade, and will that possible cure this problem we are having?
Doug

 

[sdpatt]

One of the simple preventative measures to prevent warped brake rotors is to use correct torque on the lug nuts. The specified range is 85-105 lb-ft which is far below the values used by most ham-****** shop jocks. Your 1992 SHO will use the same front rotors as my 1991 and they are the AIMCO 5254C (if I remember correctly) for about $18 from AutoZone. Always check the lug nut torque after having been cranked on with an air gun.

 

[shojuan]

SHOZ123:
Anytime someone else tightens my lug nuts I always will check them myself when I get home. Most times they are way too tight. 100 ft/lbs isn't that tight with the leverage you can get on lug nuts.

Ha! Whenever I know somebody else will be tightening my lug nuts I always take my torque wrench and a breaker bar with me and keep 'em locked in the trunk. When they're done I loosen the nuts and torque them properly. I try to do this out of sight of the mechanic. The guy has probably had a bad enough week already without seeing some a-hole customer redoing his "work".

Rick

 

[MOSHO92]

Wow, thanks everone. I thought new rotors cost at least 65 bucks each, ill definitly try out the aimco ones. Also thanks for the tip on the lugs, i never knew that and im sure that helped out more people than myself.

 

[sdpatt]

I run the heck out of those "cheap" AIMCO rotors and have very little problem with warpage.

 

[MOSHO92]

Are there any pads that will work particularily well with the small rotors. I want pads with grip, no fade, and ones that dont warp the rotors, i also want them cheap, .......ha ha ha ha.

 

[RStalveyARFF]

I used to work at NTB, and take it from me, they torque the **** out of the nuts! They use the impact wrench with no torque stick. Then after that, they take the torque wrench, and even after it clicks, they continue to put torque on it!!! I'm getting snow tires mounted soon, and I'm going to see if the manager will let me do them myself.

 

[shojuan]

MOSHO92:
Are there any pads that will work particularily well with the small rotors. I want pads with grip, no fade, and ones that dont warp the rotors, i also want them cheap, .......ha ha ha ha.

I like my Hawk HPS pads (about $50 from tirerack). A lot of people here like the performance friction carbon metallic pads which are about $10 cheaper from autozone and have a lifetime warranty. The hawk is probably the better pad though.

The best pad would be Carbotech F compound if you could still find them. At least $100. These are the same compound as Hawk HPS but Hawk stopped supplying Carbotech because they didn't want the competition. At over twice the price carbotech is a specialty item that doesn't compete in the same market as Hawk IMHO. The difference for your extra dollars was that Carbotech rivits the compound to the plate in addition to bonding. Then they cryo-treat the pad. The cryo treatment improves upon the already good hawk compound. So if you can find them and are willing to spend the big bucks for them, they're the best.

I like my Hawk HPS pads on my 10" rotors (89 MTX). I'm going to use them until I can afford 12.2" Wilwood brakes. They won't fade in normal street driving. On one of my favorite back roads with about 2 dozen curves in about 7 minutes of driving I used much more braking than necessary for *very* spirited driving to see how much they could take. By the end I was just starting to get heavy fade. I was really pounding on them much to my wife's distress. Yes, I can imagine better brakes (the Wilwoods!) but these are much better than the stock pads I had before. No warpage yet. I'm happy with them. I can live with them. I'll be even happier when I get Wilwoods.

Rick

 

[sdpatt]

Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads, P/N 4214S, about $30 from AutoZone with a lifetime replacement warranty. I'm on my 6th set.

 

[PROPHET]

Ive had the same problem.

 

[artsho]

The assembly as a whole should operate smoothly...the rotor and caliper should be in perfect operating condition...The slide pins on the rear of SHO's are a problem...they bind causeing added heat...bad for brakes...keep an eye on them and ALWAYS replace the spring nuts when installing new rotors...VERT IMPORTANT !!! you know the ones I'm talking about...they're usually pryed off with a screwdriver ... the rotors should not be held on by the wheels squint eek! squint

 

[shojuan]

artsho:
The assembly as a whole should operate smoothly...the rotor and caliper should be in perfect operating condition...The slide pins on the rear of SHO's are a problem...they bind causeing added heat...bad for brakes...keep an eye on them and ALWAYS replace the spring nuts when installing new rotors...VERT IMPORTANT !!! you know the ones I'm talking about...they're usually pryed off with a screwdriver ... the rotors should not be held on by the wheels squint eek! squint </strong>

Only the rears have the spring nuts. Two per side I believe.

Rick

 

[DoC-JoneS]

Anyone have any experience using Powerslot rotors? I'd like to get some decent replacements for my warped stock rotors. I'd like the 12.5 Baer kit but i'm a little low on funds...

 

[RI-SHO]

Is that right that the '92 SHO has 11" brakes or is it the same as '93 with the tiny ass 10.2" front brakes? Its sad that my friends 3000lbs(500lbs light than the SHO) Maxima has larger 11"-11.5" brakes, gotta love Ford .

 

[rangerj]

MoSHO92,

Take a look at the way your disk brake pads are worn. If the inside pad is worn at an angle, or worn more than the outside pad, this could indicate a piston hanging up in the caliper.

It could also indicate that the caliper is not moving freely on the slide pins, or the mounting brackets.

Either way the excess pressure on the pads against the disk will generate heat.

Clean and lubricate the pins and the mounting surfaces. The mounting surfaces should have just a film of lubricant on them. You do not want grease getting on the disks or pads.

IMHO putting Bear brake products on a street car is like putting a drag chute on a bicycle. rangerj

 

[NWGRN94MTX]

rangerj:
MoSHO92,

IMHO putting Bear brake products on a street car is like putting a drag chute on a bicycle. rangerj

You obvisously only drag. You must have never boiled your fluid on a open track or on a mountain run. Remember, not all things in life are not a straight line. tool

One guy here that is damn skippie that I'm Baer equipped.

I have Powerslots on the rear of my 94 with Performance Friction CM Pads, no issues yet. I would take the advise of other people on this thread. I've seen some real crappy rotors being peddaled out there.

<small>[ November 03, 2002, 10:57 PM: Message edited by: NWGRN94MTX ]</small>