Front rotors

Something is wrong. I have my originals that have never been turned in

98,000 miles on my 2000 Forester. Either someone doesn't know how to retorque wheel lugs or the driver is really heating them up by dragging the brakes. I've never had to turn or change a rotor before 100,000 miles except when damaged by hitting a curb very hard.

First, make sure your rear brakes are working, sounds like only the front brakes work and are doing all the stopping. Otherwise your only option would be to get vented rotors that are cross-drilled so the heat disapates quicker. But I have to ask why replace them after only 1 turn? They should be thick enough to have turned four, maybe 5 times...

Agreed. I have 116k and original rotors. The only mistake I made was putting NAPA pads on the rear once. Now there's significant groves on the the rear rotors and they sometimes squeak.

I'll change the rear rotors next time, but the fronts are still servicable.

The 'warped' rotor for many of us is actually a heat spot on the rotor that is altering the structure of the alloy. Likely caused by panic stops that greatly heat the pad/rotor followed by sitting still with the hot pad in one spot preventing cooling in that local area. You could try to train yourself in those panic stop situations to use the handbrake for the last 1 mph and for holding the car until acceleration is requred. There is an article at Stoptech's website (IIRC) about this subject. I suspect a lot of vehicles other than Subaru would be prone to this condition. I also agree that double checking the rears would be a good idea. There are some very exotic and very expensive materials made into rotors and pad nowadays but I doubt you would want to spend thousands per wheel to solve the problem.

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

I've had similar problems with my '97 Legacy Brighton Wagon. Most recently had pads and rotors replace, rotors turned at 7000 mi and now same problem 6000 miles later. I don't believe I make panic stops as described above.

Other than the "feel" of warped rotors, how much decrease in brake effectiveness might there be? It would seem like there must be some if the pad is only partly contacting the rotor.

Jim

That's a very good question. Not sure for most of us that braking effectiveness is reduce a LOT - but no one wnats reduced braking effectiveness, plus it's an annoying problem. here's the article I mentoned;

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

here's an excerpt from the article; >>>>The driver can feel a 0.0004" deposit or TV on the disc. 0.001" is annoying. More than that becomes a real pain. When deposit are present, by having isolated regions that are proud of the surface and running much hotter than their neighbors, cementite inevitably forms and the local wear characteristics change which results in ever increasing TV and roughness.

Other than proper break in, as mentioned above, never leave your foot on the brake pedal after you have used the brakes hard. This is not usually a problem on public roads simply because, under normal conditions, the brakes have time to cool before you bring the car to a stop (unless, like me, you live at the bottom of a long steep hill). In any kind of racing, including autocross and "driving days" it is crucial. Regardless of friction material, clamping the pads to a hot stationary disc will result in material transfer and discernible "brake roughness". What is worse, the pad will leave the telltale imprint or outline on the disc and your sin will be visible to all and sundry.

Something is wrong, but it's not the rotors. I have a '99 OBW with about 118K miles and I'm on my second set of rotors. Five sets in 155K is way beyond normal. It could be a number of things. My first guess is that the lug nuts are being overtightened -- that's a known cause of warped disks in Subarus. There are torque specs in your owner's manual

-- get a torque wrench and check them yourself.

It could be your driving style, but you'd really, really have to get on the brakes heavily and frequently to go through five sets of rotors (you did mean rotors and not pads, right?) in 155K miles. You could survey a couple of dealers in your area and ask what's typical of other Subaru drivers in Miami (if there are any others ;>|).

I bought a used Subaru in March. The rear rotors were bad, so the seller replaced them before I bought the car. A couple of months later, the new rear rotors were shot. My mechanic noticed one of my calipers was sticking. He says he fixed it so it won't stick. I hope so. If not, I'll be buying rotors and calipers.

I believe you but I'm shocked!

91 Liberty (Aus) mnl wgn with 33200Km (20700Ml) - original rotors all round and *no* turning.

99 OBW auto with 145000Km (87000Ml) - original rotors and rear pads and no turning. BTW we drive our cars enthusiatically but sympathetically with a wide range of roads, loads and conditions.

Someone's earlier suggestion to check your rears sounds like a good starting point. Personally I'd also get the whole system flushed, refilled & bled if it hasn't already been done as part of regular servicing. Cheers

Unfortunately, some of these performance pads require extra heat, initially, to get them going. Be careful about ceramic pads: some motorists won't be familiar with the initial lack of brake-power on them after a long drive with no brake use and then sudden braking. It'll be something like:

. Foot down, hard. "Look out for the deer!" . Too little stopping power. . Foot down, harder. . Brakes heat up, begin to provide more stopping power than OEM. . Driver is jacknifed into his steering wheel, and the tires are tortured. Bambi escapes, unharmed.

Granted, that's at the extreme, but if you want pads that resist the heat better than OEM, *and* you can't get illegal materials (like asbestos) you have to accept that they have special requirements that go along with their special abilities.