How can you tell if the rotors are warped or need resurfacing? When I brake at high speeds the steering wheel shakes a lot.

Also how do I know if its not my wheels that need re-balancing. Wouldn't that affect braking also?

Thanks

-Rich

 

You know your tires need rebalancing when your wheels shake at low or high speed.

Your rotors are warped and it might be fixed by resurfacing it depending on the degree of how badly its warped.

When you brake and it shakes its will be mainly the warped rotor causing it. If however your wheels shake at low or high speeds then your tire that needs to be rebalanced will play a factor in the vibration but not as much as the warped rotor.

The thing is NYC gets snow and with snow there is salt. So it is best to rinse off and wash your rotors, suspension and undercarriage of the car if and as often as possible. Salt=rust=increases warping. Before winter comes ain't there something to coat the bottom of the car? Its from the dealer but not sure how well it works.

Chris

 

If its a shimmy only while braking its the rotors, if its a shimmy at certain speeds when you are not braking its a tire out of balance usually. Sounds like you have warped rotors also, and if its not too bad they can just turn/cut/resurface them.

 

I agree, your rotors are warped. Get them resurfaced.

 

Actually warping comes from rapidly cooling off hot rotors, not from salt. Also overtorqueing your rims can warp them too. Dont wash your rotors after spirited driving when they are real hot, you'll cause warping, not prevent it.

Also dealer rust proofing is a joke, they actually plug up factory designed drain holes, and instead of helping they worsen the problem. I wouldnt take it if it was offered for free.

 

Thanks for the info fellas. I'll be heading over to PAA next Tuesday to have them fix it.

Just curious though, how long do these pads last? I've put 20k on the car so far and the pads look damn good. I even took it to Florida and I was expecting to change them after that. I do a lot of city driving so I'm really surprised they are lasting this long. It looks like I have another 10k on them at least.

 

Dont worry about it Rich, if you get the rotors cut at PAA next week, you'll be driving off with some new pads as well. :thumbup:

 

Well you were right, they resurfaced the rotors and put in new front pads. And it was done at no charge too, good will service!!
Car feels normal again!

Although I do want to find out if my wheels need to be re-balanced!!

 

Drive your car at freeway speed, without stepping on the brakes, does your steering wheel shake at certain speed? If not, then you do not have wheel balancing problems.

 

I suffered this problem - Acura has long since ceased to offer a long-term solution - just a shrug and a nod, blaming the brake rotor warping on traffic conditions where I live (outside of Washington DC). However...after some research, I've since learned that the braking habits of the driver have little to do with warping - in fact, the warping is most often caused by improper lug nut tightening - more than 80 foot-pounds when tightening lug nuts, and the rotor is at risk for warping over the next few hard stops.

The dealer acknowledged this, and I had this same problem on my 1993 Integra. And upon deeper reflection, I realized that yes, every time my rotors had warped I had been in for safety inspections (requiring wheel removal), or for new tires/alignments, etc.

Acura could label their systems better to alert mechanics to the spec.

Hope that helps.

JR