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Warped rear rotors

4K views 51 replies 21 participants last post by  JRL 
#1 ·
Took the R in for the 15000 mile svce and a few warranty items, among one of the complaints I have a shudder/vibration when braking from 70-80 I asked them to advise, they found my rear rotors are warped and causing the shudder/judder or whatever it was I was feeling. However service director said they have been over heated/abused to create the warping, and as it is out of the 12000 mile wareable item limit Volvo will deny it. This is I feel is a BS answer as to get the rears to warp the fronts would have to show signs of abuse too which the do not. The car has Never been tracked or to the drag strip. I asked for a "good will" warranty claim Volvo to cover a portion and me the rest but still denied. I am so tired of having to fight to have things taken care of.
Your thoughts?
Jonathan
 
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#3 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (JonnyEnglish)

BS.
I've had rear rotors replaced as late as 45K (warranty)
Rear rotors on Volvo AWD cars all WARP for some reason and it IS a warranty item. Your dealer should be replaceing them. How many miles again on your car?
Over 25K it's usually a good will but they SHOULD do it
 
#4 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (JonnyEnglish)

Really depends on your relationship with the dealer and its service department. Not sure of your situation but you would probably have a better case for a goodwill claim if you were a longtime customer, both sales and service. Some will cover it and some won't in my experience with my old T5. With that car, my rear rotors warped before the fronts and I just replaced them all myself- pretty easy job.
 
#5 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (JonnyEnglish)

jonny - find a dealer with a sympathetic (and knowledgeable) service manager (if it's the dealer you bought the car at so much better) or one that wants your business. I am currently having my front rotors replaced (again my car has not been abused, tracked, etc...) and I have 15,000 miles on my R. The service manager has been fantastic to work with (Doug @ Mitchell Volvo in Simsbury, CT for those interested) and I should have more to report after I pick up the car tomorrow. If the owner of the dealership is around it doesn't hurt to try that route or even the sales manager if you (or someone you know) will be in the market for a vehicle in the near future. Obvious stuff but i've been to 4 volvo dealerships in the area over the years b/c i want to make sure that i go with guys who know what they're doing and are receptive to "enthusiasts" (what else do you call people that spend hundreds of waking hours posting and replying to threads on 4C, TME Springs, exhausts, ECUs, etc...). Oh yeah and I'm no expert but very surprising that your rear rotors warped first. A local brake guy I know says that he sees alot of volvos for warped rotor issues (not just Rs either) - he thought it had to do with the material of the OEM pads and that Volvo should wise up and do something about the problem. Lotta ppl on this forum more knowledgeable than i am so i'll leave it at that
-thes
 
#6 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (Thesaurrex)

My 2002 Acura TL-S had issues with warping brake rotors. Someone suggested that when coming to a stop from high speed, resting the hot brake pad on the rotor caused uneven cooling on the rotors. So what I would do was sit at the light with my foot off the brake pedal. If at a hill that wouldn't really work, unless you use your parking brake. After that, I never had to bring it in again for warped rotors. Maybe it was because I was more aware, but nonetheless.
 
#7 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (Wayne T5)

Wayne T5 said:
Really depends on your relationship with the dealer and its service department.

Well, for me the realtionship would depend on how the service department treats me and as I am the customer, I would expect to be treated fairly. Sounds to me like they are trying to get out of replacing them.
 
#8 ·
My car had 14,888 mile on it when I dropped it off 2 days ago. It is the same dealer where I wrote the check for $40K for the R and the only dealer I have been to for svc. Just not sure if I want them to have my business any more... My question is how do I prove there has been problems in the past with rear rotors and they have been replaced on cars with way more miles on than mine. Oh yeah $502 installed rotors and pads... http://********************/smile/emthdown.gif
 
#11 ·
Re: (JonnyEnglish)

In that case I would definitely take it up with your salesman and the sales manager. Talk about your great relationship so far, new cars you will be buying, your family all talking about the new S80s they will buy, etc. and see if that holds any sway.
 
#12 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (steamboatsig)

Quote, originally posted by steamboatsig »
My 2002 Acura TL-S had issues with warping brake rotors. Someone suggested that when coming to a stop from high speed, resting the hot brake pad on the rotor caused uneven cooling on the rotors. So what I would do was sit at the light with my foot off the brake pedal. If at a hill that wouldn't really work, unless you use your parking brake. After that, I never had to bring it in again for warped rotors. Maybe it was because I was more aware, but nonetheless.

this is so true, and it makes a lot of sense. if you come from a high speed to a stop, think about how hot those rotors are. if you are stopped for any amount of time while the pad is pressed into the rotor, that portion of the rotor will cool extremely slow, while the opposite side of the rotor 180 degrees away is cooling the fastest. i've had this happen so much on my '96 saab.

i am going to go out on a limb here and say that its virtually impossible to warp your REAR rotors by hard driving by 14k miles. fight for your right man!
 
#13 ·
Re: (steamboatsig)

Quote, originally posted by steamboatsig »
You can make JRL sign an affidavit.
...But that's really bull S**T.
At 14K there should be no question, they should replace them without any "mouth" from them
You bought the car from them? Go have a talk with the owner I wouldn't take that crap one bit
 
#14 ·
Re: (JRL)

for whatever reason, the rear rotors seem to be warp-prone. If you drive spiritedly (not wild) such that DSTC is using the rear brakes (via ABS circuits) a lot, that can heat them up. It is not uncommon, and others have had warranty replacements. Ask the SM if he was aware that DSTC uses the rear brakes a lot, when his jaw drops, ask him to pay
 
#16 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (JonnyEnglish)

I wonder just how does the dealer think the brakes can be "abused", by using them? Are the almighty Brembo's, a selling point of the "R" not up to the task? I think not, there is no way you abused the brakes, and I highly suspect that they are not "warped" either.

This myth about "warped" rotors has been around much too long, especially for the large cast iron rotors on the R. Virtually impossible to warp. Are the pad surfaces uneven on the rotor, no doubt they are. That is a result of uneven pad deposition on the rotor surface, not warped. Just because a dial indicator shows variation, it does not mean the rotor is warped. It means the surface is uneven by what ever means, most likely uneven pad deposits. Sure this can be caused by overheating or improper pad bedding, or just a poor pad compound. Remember how Volvo is trying to keep noise down, dusting down, low temp performance up, and high temp performance up, well you can't have it all. They have made some compromises.

There is no case for improper pad bedding since Volvo provides no break in procedure for brakes. His insistence on abuse, and then to say the rotors are warped show a lack of understanding of braking fundamentals so I doubt you can convince a person like this that is indoctrinated with myth. As you stated, the fronts do 70% of the braking, and they would most likely show the abuse first, unless your bias is way off, which you would detect.

Read the link below from Stop Tech, and you get an idea of what I am talking about. As is suggested there it may be possible to just replace your pads, properly bed them, and then move on. Like you, I have little patience with poor service, and lack of knowledge and I would just cut my losses and take care of it myself.

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_i...shtml
 
#17 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (rogersampson)

I know what you're saying. I have the same issues on my Camry fronts running Berembo disks and EBC Green pads (Kevlar) and the pads are *very* hard on the rotors. The plus is excellent braking power and NO dust.

So every 4-5 months the brakes feel and sound like the rotors are warped. Do I change the rotors or pads every few months? Hell no! I just get my power buffer out, put some 100 grit sand paper on and go to the rotors until all the shiny and slightly grooved stuff is gone. It takes two to three sand paper pads per rotor because the steel on the Brembos is good. Then I drive again with like new brakes and excellent bite.
 
#19 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (rogersampson)

I was going to post this article but you beat me to it.

I had the rear rotor issue on my '99 T5- it is fairly common with the previous gen S70 and V70.
 
#21 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (Dyno)

Quote, originally posted by Dyno »

What was the root cause -- pad deposits or warping?

I honestly don't know if it was a pad deposit issue or actual warping due to heat. I could not tell on visual inspection so just replaced them. There were various theories abounding on these threads that Volvo purposely changed the brake bias on the S70 and V70 to place more reliance on the rear rotors after issues with the 850, but that is only hearsay. Never had another problem once I replaced them.

This was several years ago and we all thought it odd that the rears would cause problems while the fronts were fine.
 
#22 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (Dyno)

Clearly a rotor could be manufactured "warped" which you would detect right away, or some odd metalurgical issue. I just have not seen it.

I have owned various automobiles with ATE (Teves), Girling, Brembo, et al, and I don't recall having a warped rotor, even on the older systems with solid, non ventilated, rotors.

Now if we are talking motorcycle disc brakes, with steel rotors, yes I have seen it and certainly felt it.
 
#24 ·
Re: Warped rear rotors (rogersampson)

I was never aware of an rotor warping on 850's especially not the rear. In my opinion something is going on for a rotor to have run out at 14000 miles

I always expect caliper dragging but not with these new brembos so I do not know what it is

It is not abuse though from what the owner has said
 
#25 ·
Re: (JonnyEnglish)

Like Jim said, you can warp the rears rather easily if you are doing any "spirited" driving. I've done it twice and both times it was caused by the DSTC setting being left in nomal. Now when on the track I run in the reduced mode or shut it off and have never "warped" a rear rotor since. Cornering hard and accelerating and the DSTC will apply the rear brakes to stabilze the car.

Now are they warped or is it deposits of brake material is a differant story. The experts say you don't warp the rotors, you deposit brake material on the rotor which makes it feel like its warped. Jeff Hoover sent me this web site that spells it out, very informative.. http://www.zeckhausen.com/technical.htm Reading articles at this site I see you can put "track pads" on your car and they will clean off your rotors because of their extreme abrasiveness and eliminate that warped rotor(shuddering) feeling.
I installed track pads on my R tonight getting ready for Watkins Glen this weekend, bedded them in according to the above instructions, rotors are nice and clean. I have a set of rotors I took off a few months ago because of the "warped" rotor feeling and I plan on attempting to clean them with the track pads to see if I can get some track miles out of them......
 
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