Suspension, Brakes, Tires & Wheels - Brake rotors warp every 2k miles 1993 Si hatch

So, my Si has 207k miles on it and I have hardly every had to do anything to it. For the last 30k miles or so my rotors have come out of true more quickly than before (4 wheel disc brakes). But at 200k I had the standard tune-up done with timing belt, etc and they said my CV joints were toast (second set) so I had them do that and replace the front rotors (under spec). So then 2000 miles later, low and behold the rotors were warped again so i took it back and they said the back were underspec and the front was overbraking so it caused them to overheat, so i replaced those and turned the front. Now, another 2000 miles go by and the rotors are warped again and my teeth are about to rattle out of my head. Any one know what gives? It seems like as light as this car is i should be able to stop it by dragging my feet flintstone style! Car seems to drive fine just aweful rattling of the steering wheel braking over 40 mph, but it seems better braking at around 70 and under 40.

Thanks, Jed

Welcome to the forum. What brand rotors and pads are you using? And does your car still have the original calipers? You can probably solve your problem just by buying better parts and breaking in the pads properly.

what i would do is...

new pads
rotors front and back

and dont just go flying down the road when you put the brakes on you have to ease into them for like 100 miles without any real hard stops...

Plus the smaller the rotor the fast it will warp compare to bigger rotor. You should get slotted/cross drill rotor. It should help it last a little longer since they help draw heat from them.

Here's some stuff to read:
http://www.dallasimports.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11487

and some more:
http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_brakedisk.shtml

that's pretty good information. the calipers are stock, the rotors and pads are factory spec, nothing aftermarket. They seemed to work great the first 180k miles. Maybe I will get the rotors turned and try it one more time without any crazy stops for awhile but all i do is highway driving with no traffic so I am usually slowing down real slowly off the onramp or whatever.

Getting them turned won't help warpage...

fourty 04,

when i say turned, i mean turned in a laithe, so the rotor should be true again, but less material. when you say it won't help, is this because you did not understand my syntax or is there something else I should know? The stoptech link posted said that there would be some crystalline change in the rotor is this what you are refering to?
jed

I think everyone should read the links I posted above, and I wish I had read them last summer [:@]

be sure that they are torqueing the lug nuts properly... grand ams have problems with the front rotors warping easily and thats one of the things we have to do to help with it.

Getting the rotors turned fixes the problem for 500 miles or less...they warp right back...I don't know why that happens, but you should get new rotors

I'd get new rotors and calipers, you probably have sticky calipers, causing more heat buildup, thus causing the warping.
calipers are cheap, well worth the investment.

Should I even ask if you "ride" the brake?

Turning the rotors is a short fix as stated above...less material = less heat dissapation. More heat = more warp. Do you drive through puddles or a car wash right after coming off the highway? The temp change can sometimes warp the rotors. It is weird though.