Fix brake vibration by braking really hard to remove pad deposits?
 

So I have 17k miles on my car now and started having brake vibrations at highway speeds for the last ~2k miles. I understand that Nissan can replace/machine the rotors under warranty but instead of going through the hassle can I just go to a deserted area and do several 80mph-0 hard brakes? Will that actually remove the brake pad deposits that is causing the vibrations? Thank you

From my understanding that beds the brakes, which actually appys a thin layer of the pad material on the rotors. This gives more bite and reduces the metal on metal noises some bbks can have. Worked perfectly on my brembos on my Sti. You also want to go from 60-10 and then back up to 60-10. DO NOT COME TO A FULL STOP.

i doubt alot of hard stops will repair a vibration. I have never heard of a vibration being caused by brake pad deposits. You might have either warp rotors, out of balance tire, worn/broken steering component, worn/broken suspension or need an alignment. or a combination of any of those. I'm surprised Nissan warrantees brakes past 12k miles. The industry standard used to be 12k miles for brakes.

My guess is your rotors are a little warped which is causing the vibration. In that case you're going to need to have the rotors turned or replaced. The pad bed-in procedure wouldn't do much for you.

so how do you solve this?

will the following solution reduce the vibration after applying the brake?
skim the rotor
replace upgraded pad
brake cable
any other solution

How do the warp a 14" rotor. Chances are that your tire is out of balance or you have deposits on there

I have this same issue, seems like it comes and goes (?)...started noticing after I upgraded to the 19" Rays and added H&R spacers...I know spacers cause vibration at high speed for some but I feel no vibration whatsoever at high speed, only when braking.

It's most likely hot spotting, commonly referred to (incorrectly, technically) as rotor warp. Resurfacing the rotors is definitely the way to go, some people have luck with a re-bed in, but others do not.

thank you
ya a lot of people still are under the belief that rotors warp. i understand that it's simply pad deposits but either way it's fixed the same way. i just don't want to go through the hassle of going to a shop if i can help it.

Check out this article. Using aggressive pads may possibly clean the pad material off of your rotors...but it may not. It's worth a shot though before spending money.

I did it with my race pads and it did work for me, but the carbotechs cost more than new rotors. I ised xp10 and special sandpaper and it toom care of the problem

If it was anything like my situation where it would vibrated above 80+ slight braking, then re-surfacing your rotors will fix the problem. At least it did for me hope this helps.

They do warp. Stick a dial indicator on a rotor and see. If you have enough meat on the rotor, you can cut it. If not, you will have to replace it.

Anything is possible, but hot spots are way more likely.

I have already resurfaced my rotor and still getting the same problem after few thousand km.

Not only that i have replaced it with project mu front pad type ns f210.

Still having problem after long drive when the brake is frequently used.

Anymore solution?....

Buy better pads and bed them in properly

Measure to see how thick your rotors are. Chances are that you got one that is thin. Close to or under the limit.

my z is about 20k plus, so my rotor is not really that thin.

i'll try to resurfaced it again.

someone have given me an advice that i need to replace my pad with high temperature ones.

do i need to replace my project mu with higher temperature rating?

i have the same problem so i ordered stoptech drilled and slotted rotors/hawk hps pads today...tomrrow is the last day to get free shipping so hit up Jomer and FBNISSAN hes a hell of a guy

please update on this after few thousand km.

would be interested if it solve the brake problem.

Chances are it's not related to the temperature threshold of your current pads. Brake pads do come in many "flavors." All are optimized for a particular purpose and environment. Low temperature pads are always used in street vehicles as they offer good braking performance when they are cold. High temperature pads are generally not recommended for street use as you will not have any bite until you get them up to temperature. Meaning on the street, you drive straight through the first stop sign before you actually have any braking capability.

Many people load their street vehicle with high temperature or race pads thinking they are pushing the car hard enough to take advantage of them....I find this highly unlikely. We have done extensive testing over the years and find that most street pads start to show fade or excessive wear in the 600-700 degree (fahrenheit) range. Just to put that into perspective, we took a Nissan GT R out for brake testing last month and performed the following tests: 10 stops from 60-0, 10 stops from 70-0, 10 stops from 80-0, 10 stops from 90-0, 10 stops from 100-0, 10 stops from 110-0. We were testing out some new braking components to see how they performed under these extreme conditions. On the mid-way 70-0 stop, we finally saw a little over 700 F. That means 15 HARD PANIC stops in a row is what it finally took to see that temperature...that is not exactly "real world." In this particular test our goal was to completely fade the braking system during testing of new friction materials which we're looking to bring out later this year. To achieve this goal we were able to cause complete fade after the first 110-0 stop on our "old" brakes test. On the "new" brakes test we actually surpassed the 10 110-0 stops and got through 10 120-0 stops before calling the test complete without actually being able to get the brakes any hotter.

As some members have pointed out you probably don't have warped rotors, you probably have an uneven pad transfer. The most common cause of this is when the driver gets the brakes nice and hot and comes to a stop light and just sits there with their foot on the brakes. Think of what happens when you put a fresh piece of chicken on the grill. If you let it sit there for more than a few seconds, the meat of the chicken gets stuck to the grill. Well, that's essentially the same thing. The surface of the pad literally cooks into the rotor. I may have pictures of this as I have seen rotors come back from customers with the imprint of the pad on the friction surface of the rotor. This transfer of material creates a rise in that area of the rotor. Once you've done this, you will experience a pulsation from here on out...you need to cut the rotor and get back to fresh material. With that being said, just because you can't see the pad outline in the rotor doesn't mean you haven't created an uneven pad transfer area in the rotor friction surface. This can be created in the same manner, spirited canyon run leading to a traffic light etc. And not actually leave any mark. If you ever watch or participate in a rally race you watch the drivers come smoking out of the stage and the good drivers don't come to a complete stop...they roll back and forth at the timing station so they don't have this problem.

Another problem may be your the material of your Project Mu pads. Sometimes using two unlike pad compounds can create a mis-match on the friction surface. If you did not clean up or re-surface the rotor before installing your new pads, the different compounds from the old to the new pad may not be playing nicely together and are not allowing a fresh transfer layer to be applied. The only way to resolve this issue is by cleaning the pad surface either on a brake lathe, or with some cleaner pads...Someone mentioned earlier using a special type of sand paper, this is basically an abbrasion material designed to scuff up the surface of the rotor to remove the old pad material from your friction surface.

We carry some street pads that are capable of going up to 1,300 degrees (F) although for guys going even hard than that we have different compounds all the way up to full endurance pads, depending on what the customer is looking for.

Sorry for the long explanation...I hope the information was helpful.

:iagree: Finally a common sense explanation. I couldn't have said that better. Rep points to you! There seems to be a lack of understanding about just how important rotor surface finish is to proper performance of a braking system. I've read a lot of brake problem posts and have recommended refinishing rotors with lots of people commenting that I'm out of my mind. Being in the business of repairing cars and selling parts for over 25 years, I've seen my fair share of brake "issues".

A properly completed brake job with quality parts (and as mentioned above... the correct pads for the driving conditions) will almost always result in a properly performing brake system.

It's not rocket science ... but many people think it is.

Kyle, Thank you. That filled in a few blank areas of my knowledge. :tup:

I'd also like to add that hot spotting is also usually a "domino effect" type of problem. When a hot spot is formed, that part of the rotor is now thicker. As the rotor rotates, the brake pad will ever so lightly skim the thicker section, thus unevenly heating the rotor with a bias at the hot spot. Of course, you can see why this will lead to very uneven rotor surface after a while of driving.

Also, some awesome info on brakes and related components can be found here on Stoptech's website: Technical White Papers

bump (to rid us of spammers)

i try to resurface it again and do something with my project mu pad.

hopefully the 2nd time might help to resolve the problem.

i dont like resurfacing just because your making the rotor skinnier and skinnier...i feel its not safe after a while

:facepalm:

super helpful post...extremely necessary...how about u explain why im wrong so i could know and not be a **** about it?

Come on "dude". If you would only read the whole thread.

forget it..

well i went to a deserted road..did pulls from 40-120 then hard brake down to 30..around 3 times..let the car cool off (shut down and didnt pull the ebrake up) and on the ride home my brakes were perfect..no more steering wheel shake or anything...but new brakes are on the way regardless

Nice man. This method also worked on the squeaky *** Brembo brakes on my Sti. No more squeak and I notice the breaks bite a bit harder.

What you did is known as "burnishing". A really good mechanic burnishes pads to rotors after a brake job is done (before the vehicle is given back to the customer).

Warped rotors, Remove your wheels and use a dial indicator, max run out is 0.01-0.04
most cars are around there.

Just an update. The shaking is coming back lol. It worked for a little bit at least haha. New brakes being installed soon

how about if we replace the oem rotors and pads with stoptech rotor and pads?

will this resolve the problem?

I installed stoptech rotors and Hps pads. But car is in the shop. Should fix problem because it's a whole new set up. Hit up jomer at fbnissan he has killer prices.

did u get the 1 or 2 piece rotors? drilled/slotted?

^^ this. i've been thinking of stoptech and Z1's. but def slotted and drilled

Drilled and slotted. 1 piece. I'm not looking to spend to much lol. And I got a hell of a price that I couldn't pass up :)