Disk Warping

bluewhale54 · 09-18-03, 01:36 PM

Ladies and Gentlemen I need some HELP and Advise

It seems that every year, winter, I need to replace the front rotors on my 95 LT1. The passenger side rotor is WARPED.

I did this again last winter with NON GM rotors and the rough braking, pulling to the right and excessive pedal pressure went away, until yesterday.

Yesterday, I was taking a "spirited" drive down one of my favorite twisted turney roads trying, successfully, to keep up with a Porche twin turbo. As the spirit moved me and this Porche and I have met many times on this road it caused me to hit the brakes HARD many many times. After about an hour and a half of this "spirited" encounter over a distance of almost a 130 KM (100 miles) I proceeded home. About 30 minutes away from home a farmer pulled onto the highway directly in front of me and I had to hit the brakes HARD. The shaking, pulling and generally rough braking was back.

When I returned home I immediately removed the right front wheel and rotor. Today I dropped the rotor off at my favorite Brake guy and asked him to check it for roundness. The news is it is warped.

HELP! I need to understand why this is happening only to the right front rotor. I am planning to replace the entire braking system with a BAER system this winter but I worry that this will happen again but at a really high cost, as compared to the standard rotors.

Does anybody have any idea why the right front rotor would be so prone to warpage? If you know why and have a fix even better.

Thanks again

WradDad · 09-18-03, 02:41 PM

Gotta be the caliper on that right side. My guess is it's sticking, and not releasing fully.

JT ZR-Won · 09-18-03, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by WradDad
Gotta be the caliper on that right side. My guess is it's sticking, and not releasing fully.

That sounds like a definate possiblity. When you jack the car up, do the front wheels spin freely?

Jay

oldace84 · 09-18-03, 07:52 PM

Just a quick FYI.

For one heck of alot of info, besides parts. Go to www.VBandP.com
Best free catalog available.
Good Luck
tony

bluewhale54 · 09-19-03, 07:47 AM

WradDad

That's what I though last year so I replaced the caliper's, in hind sight I should have upgraded everything to BAER at that point.

JT ZR-Won

The wheels turn easily, there is a little bit of drag but seems about equal on both sides. The last time this happened (last year) I took it into the brake shop and they told checked both rotors and only the right side was warped.

oldace84

Thanks for the link.

Robertwav1 · 09-19-03, 09:45 AM

Thought I might mention this. The caliper was replaced....how about the brake line? Was it checked out? The reason I ask this because a friend of mine had a new caliper installed and it was hanging up...the caliper was new. The shop he took it back to replaced the brake line and it solved the problem. They said it was restricting enough to cause the new caliper to hang.

jsinga · 09-19-03, 11:33 AM

I'd change the brake hose on that right side next. Brother-in-law's 95 Surban had a nagging brake problem he couldn't figure out until somone suggested the hose. It was really bad inside, fluid wouldn't hardly go through it without the power brake pumped up. New hoses made the brakes better than the day he got it.

Js

salto99 · 09-19-03, 09:54 PM

I had a slight pulsing from this bent rotor problem. Tony told me that when you put a tire on you have to use a torque wrench to make sure each bolt is equal, or else you will warp the rotors. Over the years i have been to alot of shops and Tony seems to be the most expert vette mechanic yet.

http://www.tonyscorvetteshop.com/events.htm

jmccloud · 09-20-03, 07:51 PM

The rotor needs to run 'true' and that depends on many factors. The surface of the hub and rotor need to be clean so they mate squarely. The nuts need to be tightened criss-cross and to the specified torque. The brake caliper can hang up but in my experience it's more often a faulty brake hose acting like a check valve. In other words, the hose lets the pressure get to the caliper but doesn't relieve the pressure when you take your foot off of the pedal. I'm talking 7 or 8 cars with bad brake hoses experience. The pad-to-rotor drag that the bad brake hose causes results in overheated brakes and warped rotors.
If you can get a micrometer dial gauge, check the rotor run-out by removing the tire/wheel and replacing at least 3 lug nuts. The run out should read <0.004"according to the book but your brakes will work better if it's <0.002 (measured near the outside of the rotor diameter on the wear surface). Greater values can result from warped rotors, crud in the mating surfaces of the hub and rotor or worn bearings.
Hope this helps.

bluewhale54 · 09-20-03, 10:29 PM

Thanks Guys

I neve thought of the brake line. With the installation of the Bear system I will definetly replace all the lines, at least to the front.

Thanks again