i have been chasing a rather odd issue with my 08 3 hatch recently, i put duralast gold rotors and duralast max pads on the front and about 750 miles later i started getting a shimmy in the steering wheel at about 60-68ish mph thought wheel balace so got wheels balanced and went through a whole new set of wheels and tires a few months ago to no avail. jacked the car up and put sharpie on the rotor and noticed at a certain spot it would rub the sharpie off but not anywhere else on the rotor, so i figured rotor had warped, got new rotors (same kind warrantied) and the gold pads (autozone oe type or mid level) problem went away for about 500 miles now its back again. so doing further research i see the autozone rotors are measured at 25mm thick and 300mm diameter for the front and some other after markets say 24.8 or 24.9mm thick and some say 299.8mm diameter which i know a few tenths of a millimeter doesnt sound like alot but i think my brakes are rubbing and causing the issue some of the after markets (with similar part #s to autozone, so chinese no name) say the same 25mm thick and 300mm diameter, which maybe rounding which should not be done in bakes. since i work at autozone i went and got pads from the dealer(cheap looking over priced crap but made to mazdas thickness and other size standards, it says the ingredients on the back $60 for pads made of literal dirt) and measured overall thickness of the pads of both mazda and duralast pads on the shelf similar to ones on my car, all 3 brands at autozone the inner pad (one that clips in caliper piston) measured very similar to mazda pads however, the cheapo duralast basic exterior pads measured very close to mazda pads at about 17.4 ish mm in the middle near the slot but the golds and max pads measured 18.3 and 18.2 respectively at the same spot i think these measurements add up to enough extra material to cause a slight rub and create my issue. .1-.2mm thicker rotor with a 1 mm thicker outer pad is quite a bit considering how close pads sit to rotors to begin with, i know my caliper pistons work fine and are not stuck, the slides are also very well lubed, i learned that lesson early in my car working on days. this is the first car i have ever encountered a recurring brake rotor warp issue.
weird thing is the brake pedal feels fine with no pulsation upon application and the car drives perfect other than the shimmy at speed i have looked and had the suspension looked at by professionals and not me or the shops could see any issues with a suspension component causing my issue, plus i am confident its the brakes as when i changed them last time it went away for 500ish miles. and its not a very big or hard shimmy and if the road is slightly rough you would never notice it, but on newly repaved parts of the freeways and a new highway near me i can go drive where i know the road should be smooth but it feels like the road is a rumble strip, car makes no odd noises. if i jack up just one front wheel at a time the both spin fairly free and have no lateral play (i cannot move the wheel back and forth indicating failed hub bearing) however they do both make a scratch, or low pitched wreech or a slight dragging noise(hard to describe) that is very quiet and same pitch on both wheels when i spin them and only in one spot of the rotation on both sides , i think thats the rotor rubbing the too thick pads, however it keeps spinning even when noise is heard.
any ideas? i feel i am on the right path but i am looking for any advice if anyone else has experienced this issue. i am going to try a different brand(powerstop) of pads and rotors from rock auto as i had those on my last car and they were fantastic.
weird thing is the brake pedal feels fine with no pulsation upon application and the car drives perfect other than the shimmy at speed i have looked and had the suspension looked at by professionals and not me or the shops could see any issues with a suspension component causing my issue, plus i am confident its the brakes as when i changed them last time it went away for 500ish miles. and its not a very big or hard shimmy and if the road is slightly rough you would never notice it, but on newly repaved parts of the freeways and a new highway near me i can go drive where i know the road should be smooth but it feels like the road is a rumble strip, car makes no odd noises. if i jack up just one front wheel at a time the both spin fairly free and have no lateral play (i cannot move the wheel back and forth indicating failed hub bearing) however they do both make a scratch, or low pitched wreech or a slight dragging noise(hard to describe) that is very quiet and same pitch on both wheels when i spin them and only in one spot of the rotation on both sides , i think thats the rotor rubbing the too thick pads, however it keeps spinning even when noise is heard.
any ideas? i feel i am on the right path but i am looking for any advice if anyone else has experienced this issue. i am going to try a different brand(powerstop) of pads and rotors from rock auto as i had those on my last car and they were fantastic.
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