Rotors warped in WRX? No way!

All: Need some advise. As stated in a earlier post, my 02 WRX is having the

1st gear syncro replaced to *fix* the 1st gear grind. While the car was at the dealer, I asked them to check the front brakes bacause when you slow down (from 50mph) I get a lot of wheel shudder. This indicates to me that the front rotors are warped. They problem I have is the car ONLY has 12,000 miles on it. It seems that a car at this low of milage should NOT have rotor problems. When I asked the dealer, they said they have seen cars with as low as 1,000 miles have warped rotors (hahah, I laughed at this).

My questions to my fellow Subaru owners is, should rotors warping be a problem ONLY after 12,000 miles? I can attest that the car has not been rallied or abused while I owned it (I bought it with 2,000 miles on it). All my past cars have had 35,000 miles until the front pad wore out and even then the rotors were OK.

Plus, My wife has a 04 Forester that now has 20,000 miles on it. Her brakes are smooth as they were the day we drove the car home.

Thanks in advance to any help/advise you all can give me.

Mark

Reply to
Mark
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Reply to
Edward Hayes

Reply to
dundo

Mark,

I've got a 2002 WRX and have had the same problem. In fact, I just turned mine several weeks ago. The car started developing the braking shudder around 12,000 just like yours. Bought the car new, no rallying, auto-crossing, or abuse.

If you turn or replace the rotors yourself you may need a hammer to get the rear rotors off the hub, both of mine were really wedged on.

Mike

Reply to
Mike G.

I haven't had any warping problems (yet ;-), but one face of one rotor (outside, left, front) has some pretty significant grooves showing after ~18K on my '02 rex.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Reply to
S

I haven't had any warping problems (yet ;-), but one face of one rotor (outside, left, front) has some pretty significant grooves showing after ~18K on my '02 rex.

Sigh. Overly enthusiastic usenet tool . . .

Anyway, as I was saying, grooves. I _do_ drive my car pretty hard, but only on one rotor, and only one side?!? I'd bitch to the dealership, but why waste my breath. When the time comes I'll install decent aftermarket rotors and pads and be done with it.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Reply to
S

Reply to
spam

the 2 biggest culpprits are over-torqued lug nuts, & OVERHEATED brakes. given a decent grade nearby, i can take a brand new car, with properly torqued nuts, and warp the rotors in 20 miles. over-

-torqued nuts just increase the problem.

i might ask when you first noted this vibration.

it is not how many miles youve driven, it's how hot you got them. iv'e seen a lot of brakes, & typically the cars that come in with warped rotors, show discoloration from heat as well. what does that tell you? of course, your response will be what a great driver you are & this could never happen to you, & they must be defective, blah blah. or maybe you've been driving the car with warped rotors since you bought it at 2k miles? yeah that's it.

jlmx (don't fry any wooden fish)

Reply to
<jellymax

-- His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

Reply to
bill g

i've said it before but it bears repeating:

TORQUE YOUR OWN LUGNUTS TO 65 FT-LBS (in the case of subies).

that's got to be the single biggest reason for warped rotors in the history of automobiles.

jm2c ken

Reply to
Ken Gilbert

Disclaimer: Just for sake of argument, lest assume that I have NOT abused this car in any way besides normal everyday driving.

Update: Talked to my local dealer (check the zip code in my e-mail address to see who i'm talking about) and came to the conclusion they are useless. They said they turned the rotors "a little" and everything should be ok now. Oh, they also said they did not replace the pads, they were OK. (thought you always replace the pads when you turn the rotors???)

Well, I called Subaru customer-no-service line and was told they do NOT replace rotors when they are within spec. OK, I kind of understand that positon but leads to another problem.

Normally, a set of rotors *should* (under normal conditons) last between 55,000 and 75,000 miles. Usually you turn the rotors when you have new pads installed. So, a set of front pads *should* last about

30 - 35,000 miles. This usually means you turn the rotors once and then on the second front pad replacement, you replace the rotors since not enought surface is left to grind them down again (hence 55 - 75,000 miles).

I feel that since so few miles is on the car, the rotors should have been replaced (call it a defect?). Subaru calims that since they are now in spec, keep driving. However now if normal wear and tear happens, I'll have to replace the rotors at the first front break pad service, around 36,000 - 40,000 miles, which is outside the warantee. So, looks like I'll be stuck with the bill for new rotors.

Subaru no-service did say typically the WRX is driven aggressively by it's owners and this is how *I* did it to my car. I told Subaru that since this is billed a *performance* car, aggressive driving is implyed. I then asked "Are you telling me the brakes are sub-standard for this car?". "No" was the answer. So, I assume they are speaking out of both sides of their mouth.

Final note: I'm sure some Subaru/WRX owners will say they have never had a problem with the brakes so *I* must be the cause of this problem. Well, let's assume that *your* experiences and *my* experences are different. The point of my posting,is this anyway for a car company to treat a customer? Clearly a WRX is a performance car. Meaning it should have performance parts. If one of the parts is not up to par, then it's a design problem, not a driver issue when it "breaks".

Come on Subaru... don't play us for a fool.

Reply to
Mark

Bill: Well, it wasn't easy. ;-) I found on my car the first gear problem was easily reproduced when 1) The transmission is warmed up to normal temp (About 10 miles of driving) 2) Gearning down from 3rd -> 2nd, clutch out then in 2nd -> 1st, clutch out grind!!! 3) reverse then into 1st. 4) with car in neutral (clutch out) pop clutch in and then (within a second) go into 1st gear GRIND!!

I made an appointment and took the car in and have them drive it as soon as I arrived. They found the problem once I told them these 4 steps. They then called Subaru and was told to replace the 1st gear syncro. After 4 days in the shop, it's ready and I'll pick it up after work. I'll report back tomorrow if this fixes the issue.

My suggestion to you is find a easy way to reproduce the problem and then ride along with the mechanic and show him what to look for.

As for the dipsh*ts, I totally agree with you. (Getting of subject, might be better to open a new post...)

I'm also a pilot and have worked around airplanes for MANY years. Recently I've been a mataince office for several planes. My job is to keep them airworthy and in good shape. In the course of this job, I've became friends with a local A&P mechanic. Let me tell you these guys are the best. When I reported a problem, they used that word auto mechanics never heard of "DIAGNOSE"! Aircraft mechinics ass is on the line if they don't fix a problem correctly. On the other hand, I would guess 95% of todays auto mechanics are useless mind numb robots. I'm sure this will envoke a flame war, and I know there are some great auto mechanics but they are few and far between. If someone dosen't do their job, then I'll stick to their ass till they do it correctly. I guess this is why I'm so insistant on getting this fixed properly.

I used to own a Dodge and a local small dealership had one of the best service shops I've ever seen. These guys uses the brain God gave them and FIX the issue. Too bad they don't work on Subaru's.....

Reply to
Mark

I did read this the other day. In some aspects I think it's accurate. I think when I use the term *Warp* I mean a physical warpage of the metal rotor. If the metal rotor was physicially warped, you could lay it down on a flat table and see edges not in contact when the table. I would image that if a disk was physicially warped, it would damnaged the calipers by shaking them. This vibration would lead to shaking/pulsating in the stearing wheel.

With this said, how could such a thick metal disk get warped this easily? You would think the tolorances would be enough to componsate for the heat build up even during the most agressive braking.

Reply to
Mark

I agree. I got the car back this evening and checked the torque. It took everything to break the lugnuts off the car. It's amazing how little pressure it takes (70 Ft. Lbs) to properly tighten them.

The brakes now feel a little soft. But since the rotors were just turned (they did NOT replace the pads), i'm going to wait a little bit to see if it improves.

Thanks for the tip.

Reply to
Mark

Warped discs are a myth-- an unscientific attempt explain an event. My WRX developed a brake pulsation at 16k-- put on new pads went through a proper break-in and voila no more pulsation. If you do not believe

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Steve

Reply to
SuperPoo

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