I’m sorry that I have to do this, but I have been seeing this nonsense all over g2ic lately. I dont want to have my/our forums help spread this crap. Its bad enough that Dave Coleman spreads this bs in his “EVO vs STI: Brake BBQ” article in the september 04 issue of SCC. He is a smart guy but I lost a little respect when he said this:
“After a two day-track school that included the simulated red-flagging of a race (we were forced to stop on glowing-hot brakes and sit still while we pretended safety crews were doing something) we did start feeling the classic pedal-pulsing of warped rotors. Suprisingly, a few months later when we again flogged the brakes until they glowed, the rotors seemed to re-set and the pulsing went away.”
Just be cause he is an engineer and writes for a magazine should we believe him? Should you believe your dad or your high school trained mechanic when he says your rotors are “warped”? hell no. We should believe much bigger car nerds that have much more experience. Who? How about Carrol Smith and the folks at Stoptech.
Rotors dont warp. You may argue and say “but ben, you pimp ass mofo, I checked mine on a lathe with my little dial caliper and I see a variation.” And then you probably would misinterpret those ‘findings’ as hard scientific fact that rotors warp. No sir. What you have witnessed is either your inability to chuck a rotor up in a straight fashion, or as Stoptech calls it, TV (Thickness Variation).
So now that youve read all that why did Dave Coleman’s rotors start pulsing? Because he stopped on hot brakes and some pad material bonded to the rotor surface in only 1 place on the face of the rotor.
is this everyones lil pet peeve or something? everyone seems to get angry when you call it warped…i dont get it…deposits or warped it still causes pulsation and you need to get rid of it(for a happy customer)
I guess I could call it a “lil pet peeve” of mine. Ben was the first person that asked me to question the cause, and point me in the right direction some time ago.
I suppose the best moral of the story is not that you refer to it properly, but that everyone hand-out/follow the correct advise on how to avoid it. Turning rotors is not always the answer, and as many members have found… it is most times more effective to ditch them and start from scratch. And if you don’t bed in your brakes properly you will be right back to square #1. History repeats it’s self, and I guess, so do mistakes.
i remember when there was a long ass thread about brakes or something and half of it was you and ben arguing with everybody about brakes warping or not hehe.
well i went to the shop at school after reading that and asked my shop teacher about it and he started laughing when i told him that rotors dont warp. perfect timing because we were on brakes at the time. he still didnt believe me when i tried to explain it to him. too bad i’m not in school anymore or i’d print all that shit and tape it to his white board so he can read it.
deposits or warped it still causes pulsation and you need to get rid of it(for a happy customer)
the pet peeve is that most people who don’t know the real reason behind it see the latter term used and assume that brake rotors can warp, then get pissy when showed they’re wrong. it’s kinda like using the word “Kleenex” to describe any facial tissue. only worse.
or like calling any soda “coke”.
good analogy man! now i know why you brake guys get so frustrated over this. just like i do with soda and coke lol i dont know why i get so mad over that :shrug:
“Warped” has become a common term used in the car industry to simply explain the “pulsing” that most people get in their brake pedal. Call it “lamens” terms. But there are other things that can cause brake problems… such as high speed glazing, cracking, and hot spots.
This may be true, unfortunately 90%+ of the public using the term have no idea that it is not true. Understanding the true cause helps to understand the best prevention. And yes there are other problems that can occur with brakes, but most are avoidable with proper care.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of warped rotors. I’ve always heard it called run out and that site said that was a proper term so I guess that I’m on the right track. Thanks for the info, now if anyone ever says something about warper rotors I can shove some good facts in their face.
People use the term “warping” to decribe something else. In the automotive world lots of terms get thrown around incorrectly and we accept them as a kind of slang almost. I mean how many times have you heard someone talk about the motor in their car? Or swapping motors? You’d better be talking about your power windows, cause last I checked “motors” run on electricity. The engine in your car does not.
Main Entry: 1mo·tor
Pronunciation: 'mO-t&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, from movEre to move
1 : one that imparts motion; specifically : PRIME MOVER
2 : any of various power units that develop energy or impart motion: as a : a small compact engine b : INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE; especially : a gasoline engine c : a rotating machine that transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy
3 : MOTOR VEHICLE; especially : AUTOMOBILE
:owned: Fine my auto shop teacher is a lair. Sorry.
My point, even if poorly illustrated is still true. People do throw around a lot of incorrect terms in the automotive world. It’s better to not let it get to you. Anyways, I didn’t mean any disrespect to anyone.
