Why Aftermarket rotors suck in a Max

Considering all the warping problems with a Max, I decided not to bother turning rotors with 50K miles on them.

Neither have I. THen again, I never did Max brakes before and problems with run out (warped rotors) have to be the number one complaint.

Like I said, I was worried when I saw that. But, I never had problems before. Even the US made rotors were bad.

Bob

Brembos rotors are probably the best you can get for the max, and I'd say better than OEM which are know to have problems with warping.

They are $44 each at tirerack.com

I'm kind of surprised that you don't have enough thickness remaining to have the original rotors turned. You must drive a lot. My rotors usually give me two cuts which would be good for about 70,000+ miles. I've never had after-market rotors give the problems you've described and I've bought rotors for 4 different cars from Pep Boys, AutoZone & WesternAuto. AFA the parts coming from China, why are you surprised??!! Chris

Yeah... if I'd thought ahead I would have ordered them. I know the reputation. It's my wife's car and last I drove it, it was "start thinking about the brakes" time. Last week I drove it again and I realized that we'd advanced to ASAP priority. So, it was strictly local stores for me so that I could get it back on the road quickly. Sad but true.

Bob

Interesting. My stock rotors were still very good at 50K miles in terms of pulsing. Perhaps you have something there.

As I've thought back on this, and after talking with a mechanical engineer about tolerances, I'm starting to believe that it was not just the initial runout on the rotors. I think the cheaper rotors were warping considerably more with the heat of highway braking and that was the issue. In other words, the Nissan steel (iron?) and manufacturing process is of higher quality, so the OEM rotors warp less after heating.

Bob

That's inches vs. mm. .0025" is .0635mm - which is just under the Max's .007 spec. Still good, and, according to my experience, better than the other after market rotors. Who knows what happens when they heat up.

Bob

So is 50K about what you get? I'm noticing a bit of a shimmy on downhill braking say from 80+ exiting the freeway to a gradual stop.

On my '87 hardbody I never did the rotors in 11 years. On my Jimmy I did the rotors at around 120K miles.

I think most folks around here do them a lot sooner. It sounds like they are starting to warp on you. If you still have plenty of pad left, you might be OK. Mine were done.

Don't feel to bad. On my friends Taurus, he had to do them every 20K. Then they came out with an improved rotor, I think he gets 35K now.

Bob

A lot depends on the usage, and generally cars with auto transmissions tend to require more brake replacement attention. My 96 SE 5 speed is at 105K miles and I just bought replacement front rotors for the first time because of the way it reacted to high speed braking when the car was loaded during a long road trip.

Many people skip turning rotors because afterwards, the theory is that the rotors have less mass, aren't as able to handle heat as well, and are more likely to warp under less strenuous conditions.

One way rotors go out is by the tire/wheel places who insist on torqueing lug nuts on with air tools to WAY over 100 ft-lbs. Another cause that I believe happens without people even realizing what's going on is that taking a car through a car wash with hot rotors cools them off too fast.

And FYI, here's a link that proposes that warped rotors are a myth: