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Bad Vibration with Drilled and Slotted Rotors, Need help!

9

92westshady

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Newark, DE
I am currently running SP Performance drilled and slotted rotors with Wagner Therma-Quiet pads on my 2000 Cherokee. They initially offered a noticeable increase in stopping power and they were great for about 5 months but now I have bad intermittent vibration. When they are cool they will stop smooth for the first couple stops of a drive but as soon as they heat up I get horrible vibration that doesn't really effect stopping performance but it is unnerving and very annoying. They have been like this for a couple of motnhs now and I can't take it anymore.

Anyone know what might be causing this vibration?

Has anyone else had this problem with drilled or slotted rotors?

Also, I am going to replace these soon, does anyone have any suggestions of a good brand combination of rotors and pads that provide good stopping power, and low dust that they have had long term success with?

I appreciate any assistance you guys can offer, thanks!
 
As for your problem I can't really give you an answer. Does the vibe go away when you are on the brakes. It could be something else like control arm bushings worn steering parts etc... I've had good luck with powerslot rotors and hawk pads. Brake dust to me isn't much of an issue because I have black wheels so I don't see it much
 
Thats interesting! I just recieved my Cragar "Cryogenic" rotors and Powerstop "Extreme Truck and Tow" metalliic pads.Im still waiting for the PS Metallic shoes to arrive.I'll be doing the front this weekend!
 
krelja said:
Does the vibe go away when you are on the brakes. It could be something else like control arm bushings worn steering parts etc... I've had good luck with powerslot rotors and hawk pads.
Click to expand...

Sorry if my first post wasn't clear, the vibration problem only occurs when I am pressing the brakes, there is no issue when the brakes are off.

To clarify the vibration seems similar to that of braking on a warped rotor, but at a faster rythmn and in my experience a warped rotor always vibrates or causes surging feeling as you slow down cold or warm and mine only vibrate once they heat up and with mine the rythm is consistent fast or slow.
 
Balance your tires! I thought my rotors were warped becasue I would only feel the pulsation when I was getting on the brakes, I bought new tires and the pulsation went away.
 
92westshady said:
Sorry if my first post wasn't clear, the vibration problem only occurs when I am pressing the brakes, there is no issue when the brakes are off.

To clarify the vibration seems similar to that of braking on a warped rotor, but at a faster rythmn and in my experience a warped rotor always vibrates or causes surging feeling as you slow down cold or warm and mine only vibrate once they heat up and with mine the rythm is consistent fast or slow.
Click to expand...

Silly question, do you have anti-lock brakes?

Unless you've done it recently, a good tire balance will do wonders. You could have lost a balancing weight.
 
I don't have anti-lock brakes, though the vibration feels similar to anti-lock brake pulsation.

I did notice the vibration started a short while after installing larger new tires and wheels. I wonder if the tire wear has put them out of balance? It seems strange that the vibration is intermitent depending ont he whether or not the brakes are cold or hot.

I have never heard of a tire balance vibration caused by braking but that might be it.
 
I am gonna have the tires balanced tomorrow morning, free balance and rotation for life with my tire purchase, and if that doesn't fix the problem I will be going back to standard rotors.
 
crazyjim said:
Trash the crossdrilled rotors, they're junk and useless now days.
Click to expand...
So,your actual location is "3rd rock from the sun".Trying to live up to your "handle"?
 
I have the generic cross-drilled and slotted rotors from JC Whintey and they work great and I am on my second set now after about 3 years or so of use from the old ones. The only "problem" I had with the old set that caused me to replace them was they started making this chingling noise that waas its worse in colder weather and surprisingly enough came and went worse with different altitudes (I know weird but it would change and come and go when I would go back home to North Georgia from My college in South Georgia). Anyway I had my local brake/tire/suspension/alignment shop that I always take my Jeep to look at the rotors and they pointed out this line of slightly discolored kinda rainbowed colored metal running down both rotors that,he said,was causing the noise from a change in the metal and theonly thing to do was replace them. So I did and the noise went away. The noise actually startedafter I went off-roading about 2 years ago and then got progressively worse. We were on the highway for a while then slowed got off and almost immediately hit the trail and the was a small puddle at the beginning that we went through. So here is my theory, since these rotors have such extreme cooling properties they can heat up and and then cool real fast add the extra help from the water caused the metal to cool so rapidly that it changed the metal enough to cause the discoloration and noise. Now I didn't really have a bad vibration from it all but when I put on the new rotors I did notice it to smooth out a little but I did a full brake job when I changed the rotors so I just assumed it was that that did it. Now you could have a similar situation with yours but yours just might have warped more than mine did with less noise. But I would try rotating and balancing your tires first to see if that would do it. Also I had a set of old BFG all-terrains that caused me to have ungodly death wobble that freaked out my friends when they would ride with me making them think we were gonna die. It went away finally when I changed to BFG mud-terrains. So the possibility of it being in your tires is very likely. If you have a buddy with the same or close to it tire size on his rig then if your bored one day switch them out and see what happens. If you still get the problem then change out the brakes or look for something else. Good Luck!
 
92westshady said:
I did notice the vibration started a short while after installing larger new tires and wheels.

I have never heard of a tire balance vibration caused by braking but that might be it.
Click to expand...

Have the unit hubs bearings checked for wear. Larger tires are a greater rotating mass and will exaggerate any existing problems.

The braking vibration (a symptom of loose bearings) would probably have occurred with any type of rotor and pads.
 
92westshady said:
Sorry if my first post wasn't clear, the vibration problem only occurs when I am pressing the brakes, there is no issue when the brakes are off.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have warped rotors. Get the rotors turned to put them back to flat. That should solve the problem.
 
So to clarify my larger tires aren't that much larger, just 245/75R16s on Moab wheels. Being that Rubicons come with this size tire I wouldn't expect it to throw things too far off. The ride is super smooth at all speeds only vibrates/pulsates upon braking.

I should reiterate the pulsation only starts after the brakes at hit a few times and have heated up, and it will somtimes stop while braking on a curve, which leads me to believe the problem is exclusively brake related.

I have a rotated the tires but that didn't have any change effect on the vibration.

The wheel bearings could be loose but I doubt it, I don't do barely any off-road driving. Thats not to say wheel bearings can't go bad on road but I would think that less likely. Is there a way to easily inspect/check the wheel bearings? Shake the wheel and tire while off the ground or something?

The rotors may very well be warped, but since they are only 6 months old there is no way I will be paying to have them resurfaced just to have them warp again, they will be replaced if the problem is in fact the rotors.

So my course of action will be...
1. Check caliper pins are lube and calipers slide freely, bleed brakes as well for good measure today.
2. Balance the tires tomorrow. (Crossing my fingers this fixes it.)
3. Check and/or replace the wheel bearings.
4. Replace rotors and pads.

Any other ideas?
 
Ben824 said:
I have the generic cross-drilled and slotted rotors from JC Whintey and they work great and I am on my second set now after about 3 years or so of use from the old ones. The only "problem" I had with the old set that caused me to replace them was they started making this chingling noise that waas its worse in colder weather and surprisingly enough came and went worse with different altitudes (I know weird but it would change and come and go when I would go back home to North Georgia from My college in South Georgia). Anyway I had my local brake/tire/suspension/alignment shop that I always take my Jeep to look at the rotors and they pointed out this line of slightly discolored kinda rainbowed colored metal running down both rotors that,he said,was causing the noise from a change in the metal and theonly thing to do was replace them. So I did and the noise went away. The noise actually startedafter I went off-roading about 2 years ago and then got progressively worse. We were on the highway for a while then slowed got off and almost immediately hit the trail and the was a small puddle at the beginning that we went through. So here is my theory, since these rotors have such extreme cooling properties they can heat up and and then cool real fast add the extra help from the water caused the metal to cool so rapidly that it changed the metal enough to cause the discoloration and noise. Now I didn't really have a bad vibration from it all but when I put on the new rotors I did notice it to smooth out a little but I did a full brake job when I changed the rotors so I just assumed it was that that did it. Now you could have a similar situation with yours but yours just might have warped more than mine did with less noise. But I would try rotating and balancing your tires first to see if that would do it. Also I had a set of old BFG all-terrains that caused me to have ungodly death wobble that freaked out my friends when they would ride with me making them think we were gonna die. It went away finally when I changed to BFG mud-terrains. So the possibility of it being in your tires is very likely. If you have a buddy with the same or close to it tire size on his rig then if your bored one day switch them out and see what happens. If you still get the problem then change out the brakes or look for something else. Good Luck!
Click to expand...

so waht your saying is that if you ever get cross-drilled slotted rotors hot, you should avoid water? sounds tough to do.
 
92westshady said:
Has anyone else had this problem with drilled or slotted rotors?

Also, I am going to replace these soon, does anyone have any suggestions of a good brand combination of rotors and pads that provide good stopping power, and low dust that they have had long term success with?

I appreciate any assistance you guys can offer, thanks!
Click to expand...


I had a conversation with Van @ Vanco PBS just a couple of days ago on this subject. I've been running drilled rotors for a while, but I need to replace mine (changing bolt patterns, not wear) and asked his advice on rotors. He said get the 'premium' OEM replacement from whoever and forget you ever heard of drilled or slotted - its not going to make a difference.

He's been doing higher end disc brake upgrades and conversions for 20+ years, so I'm inclined to run with his advice. Not only does he do sports cars, classics and such, he also offers the better 'big brake' kits for the XJ.
 
92westshady said:
So my course of action will be...
1. Check caliper pins are lube and calipers slide freely, bleed brakes as well for good measure today.
2. Balance the tires tomorrow. (Crossing my fingers this fixes it.)
3. Check and/or replace the wheel bearings.
4. Replace rotors and pads.

Any other ideas?
Click to expand...

Why not measure the rotor for runout before replacing them?
 
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