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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / August 2007

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Do I need a break job ?

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userjohn - 21 Aug 2007 21:13 GMT
I'm starting to feel, when I apply break, a bit of "wobbling" in the
steering wheel
What does this mean ? need new pads ? bad rotor ?

thanks
N8N - 21 Aug 2007 22:05 GMT
> I'm starting to feel, when I apply break, a bit of "wobbling" in the
> steering wheel
> What does this mean ? need new pads ? bad rotor ?
>
> thanks

warped front rotor(s)

nate
hls - 21 Aug 2007 22:06 GMT
> I'm starting to feel, when I apply break, a bit of "wobbling" in the
> steering wheel
> What does this mean ? need new pads ? bad rotor ?
>
> thanks

Brakes

Wobble like this often means that you have warped or nonparallel rotor
surfaces.

You would need to take a look at the pads on the front and see how much
you have left.  You may need to replace them (or not).

At the same time, you will probably have to have the rotors machined (or
replaced) to bring them back into plane and parallel.  If you dont do this
correctly, you may have to re-do the job in short order.

In short, inspect them and find out what is wrong.  Then fix them properly.
userjohn - 21 Aug 2007 22:59 GMT
"hls"
> Brakes
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> In short, inspect them and find out what is wrong.  Then fix them
> properly.

Thanks yes, "Brake job" ;)
My Acura is 2004 @ 29K miles, so still under warranty,
Do you think warranty is supposed to cover the rotor warpage fix ?

I think I have read on Acura forums before that people have the rotor job
done at dealership
and I *think* I read dealer didn't charge them.....

btw, what the heck exactly does rotor warpage mean ????
hls - 21 Aug 2007 23:38 GMT
"userjohn" <userjohn@mailinator.com> wrote in message

> btw, what the heck exactly does rotor warpage mean ????

Rotors can have at least two distortional problems.

Consider the rotor as a disc which should be constant in thickness
(rotor thickness is constant around the disc) and flat (as in a plane)

Warped rotors can occur because (1) too much heat is applied in braking
and the rotor warps, (2) tightening of the wheel lugs is uneven and the
rotor warps,  (3) improper pad and caliper operation causes uneven wear
etc...

If you have a variation in thickness of the rotor, then you will feel
pulsations
in the brakes when applied.

If you have warpage, there may still be pulsation upon braking, but you will
also see other symptoms.

One way to solve these problems is to have the rotors machined on the car
with good equipment.  A good way to avoid them is  to beat the hell out of
any tire changer who approaches your car with an impact wrench.

No matter WHAT sort of system the impact wrench uses (Torq stix, etc) NEVER
let a greasemonkey tighten your lugs with an impact wrench.

Sometimes you can index a disc to the hub to minimize out of round problems.

You also have to be very careful that your discs and wheel are installed
onto clean
surfaces and that the above mentioned distortions are minimized.

Look at the Babcox site for a good tutorial on brakes.  I dont have the link
anymore,
but maybe someone else here has suffered less under Bill Gates that I have
lately.
Bob M. - 22 Aug 2007 04:08 GMT
> No matter WHAT sort of system the impact wrench uses (Torq stix, etc)
> NEVER
> let a greasemonkey tighten your lugs with an impact wrench.

This is almost certainly the cause, since they never use torque sticks or
whatever the add-ons are to air guns to get proper torque.  However, if the
tires weren't rotated at the dealer, the dealer may well say "tough luck"
and bill the OP for the resurfacing....
Mike Romain - 22 Aug 2007 14:41 GMT
> "hls"
>> Brakes
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> btw, what the heck exactly does rotor warpage mean ????

It normally means the bozos at the last place you had the tires rotated
used an impact hammer to hammer the wheel lug nuts on instead of a
proper torque wrench with the intent of scamming you for a brake job you
shouldn't need.

They (the scammers) will then offer a free 'turn' of the rotors to fix
the supposedly warped rotors, so when you need a 'real' brake job, the
rotors will be no good (too thin) and will be replaced on 'your' dime.

If you catch this early, lots of times loosening off the lug nuts and
retorquing them on will correct it.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile...
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos:  Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)
hls - 22 Aug 2007 19:16 GMT
"userjohn" <userjohn@mailinator.com> wrote in message
> btw, what the heck exactly does rotor warpage mean ????

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf100326.htm

I believe this is the link I referred to earlier.  It will explain
a lot.
 
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