Warped Rotors every 25K miles?

[CometGSR]

Hello! I did some searching and couldn't find my answer..

Have you guys had to replace your rotors often in your 2006-7 Mazda5? I am on my second set and about ready to put on my third in 50K miles! We drive a lot of freeway, but I have never had a car go through rotors like this car does.

Of course, we used DURALAST which I would imagine is a cheaply made rotor.

Any ideas?

 

[CometGSR]

I looked at the thread a few down from this one. I am going to try to sand them or have them turned.

 

[Robotazky]

I looked at the thread a few down from this one. I am going to try to sand them or have them turned.

Never, ever, ever buy Duralast.

 

[thaxman]

Sand them down. Just remove the calipers for access to the backside w/o the dust shield in the way. THEN, roll a bit after hard braking. Bet your problem comes at the end of the freeway off ramp. When you stop, roll fwd som and hold the brakes very loosly. Should be able to prevent the wobble. Oh, and when you get the chance, upgrade the pads.

 

[mpvue]

do some reading on what causes 'warping'. it's not always actually warped, but perhaps glazing or a build up of deposits on one area of the rotor. I'm at 30K on mine and they are fine, but my previous car (saturn VUE) had some issues at around 55K.

 

[grhof265]

I've gone through about three rotors now since 2005. The last one lasted 11 months. And it's always the front. The rear ones although grooved are still fine. I only changed the pads. I don't know what's happening either. What I do notice is that the front tires show significant wear on the outside.

 

[BRIAN_MP5T]

Sounds to me like you make harsh/emergency stops...

 

[thaxman]

Outside wear: 1 (or 2) of 2 things: Alignment or too much turning, not enough straighting. Aggressive (read: fun) turns eat away at the outsides of the front tires, since the shifting mass of the vehicle puts more weight/stress on the outside of the frontmost tire on the outside of the turn. You will notice that the front tires on long-haul trucks are as perfectly flat as the rears. Its b/c all they do is drive long straightaways.

 

[grhof265]

Most of my turnings are done at the supermarket parking lots. Other than that just my regular 10k drive from home to work. No aggressive driving for me. That's just inviting trouble. Oh and btw, there's more wear on the left front tire than on the right. Could an alignment issue contribute to rotor warpage?

 

[mazdadude]

Most of my turnings are done at the supermarket parking lots. Other than that just my regular 10k drive from home to work. No aggressive driving for me. That's just inviting trouble. Oh and btw, there's more wear on the left front tire than on the right. Could an alignment issue contribute to rotor warpage?

Brake rotor issue and alignment issue are unrelated. Common rotor issues are most often caused by incorrect wheel lug nut torque, using foot on brake instead of downshifting during long downhill runs, caliper not retracting properly when you take foot off of brake.

 

[Silentnoise713]

Brake rotor issue and alignment issue are unrelated. Common rotor issues are most often caused by incorrect wheel lug nut torque, using foot on brake instead of downshifting during long downhill runs, caliper not retracting properly when you take foot off of brake.

I learned the hard way not to over tightening the lug nuts and this may lead to highway shakes too. It is easy to just stomp on the lug wrench and eliminate the fear of what if it is not tight enough... Also worthwhile to check the caliper slider pins as Mazdas seem to have a common trend with sticky pins due to drying lube and may need relubing. You can also change and properly bleed your calipers at all corners, farthest from the reservoir first, to see if helps.

 

[BRIAN_MP5T]

80 - 90 MAX

I have WORK Aluminum wheel nuts on my car and they are torqued to 55 Ft/Lb

 

[mpvue]

aluminum wheel nuts... wow.

I can think of about a thousand and twelve better places to save weight than the lug nuts.

 

[GBean]

My mazdas (a 2002 Protege ES and a 2009 5T) both eat rotors. Warping seems to be ok at Mazda engineering?
We dont drive aggressively. The 5 had a brand new pair of brembo front rotors installed last year, and 10K miles later they are warped again. Only 42K miles on the car.
On the protege the problem stopped after I went big and put on 626 brakes (big brake kit from protegegarage.com) with EBC slotted rotors, never warped again in 60K miles.

NOW, I am thinking it may be glazing or buildup on the rotors as the slotted ebc's clena the pads and thus the rotors due to the slots. So I will try buffing the rotors and pads on the 5 and see what happens. Will return here to report in a week or so.

 

[doctorz]

had front rotors turned once around 60K, that's it.

 

[Lee MD]

I've had my front brakes replaced twice under warranty and will be going back again due to vibration when braking from 40mph. My car only has 26K miles of city driving.

 

[lakersfan1]

There's not a problem with the design, its material selection on the part of either the pads or rotors. If the Mazda crap keeps warping, why would you keep getting Mazda replacement parts? I personally believe the rotors are the main culprit. Try some high quality stuff like ebc ultimax rotors with some semimetallic or carbon ceramic pads.

 

[GBean]

I've had my front brakes replaced twice under warranty and will be going back again due to vibration when braking from 40mph. My car only has 26K miles of city driving.

Funny, the dealer told me rotors are no longer covered under teh warranty.


Also, My brembo rotors warped after about 10k miles this time. I dont get it. Maybe it is the OE pads that do the damage.

The slotted EBC rotors on our protege never warped in 80k miles. I'll probably drop the $250 on them next.....

 

[Silentnoise713]

Funny, the dealer told me rotors are no longer covered under teh warranty.


Also, My brembo rotors warped after about 10k miles this time. I dont get it. Maybe it is the OE pads that do the damage.

The slotted EBC rotors on our protege never warped in 80k miles. I'll probably drop the $250 on them next.....

Would these happen to be blanks? They SUCK (had them and they warp and wear away quickly, diff car)! I've heard their premium line lasts and work much better but I would not want to touch them again after that experience. Get what you pay for, so I stick with Napa rotors . If not Brembo blanks, dunno.

 

[OilGuy]

I've got warped rotors at 53k on my 08 5, so I'm doing my research now. Another post had this TSB link from 3/11 - Mazda is admitting there was a disk/rotor manufacturing problem that has now been "fixed". IF you are under warranty, good for you. Bummer for me and others out of warranty.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123808600-New-TSB-for-front-rotors

Is there a short list of rec'd pads and rotors? I'm not looking for high-performance, as I don't push my 5 to that extreme.