Around September I installed front and rear ATE Premiumone Rotors and pads from Tire Rack and almost instantly there was a SLIGHT vibration when braking, but only at higher speeds. After about 3 months it progressively got worse and now when I brake the steering wheel shakes violently and you can hear the vibration in the cabin of the car. I don't race the car and have not driven it any harder than normal. I know there are abuse scenarios that can cause this, but I am sure that isn't the case. My question to everyone is what else could cause such a bad vibration? I have had my mini at the track with with my old stock brakes that were over 60,000 miles old with no issues, and I used to race my old honda with stock brakes and never had vibration issues. I doubt ATE would cover these under any sort of warranty. What is a guy to do?

 

Is everything tight? The wheels, calipers? Rotors warped? damaged pads?

 

Just swapped out my winter wheels and tires yesterday for my summers and checked everything for tightness. I did notice that it looks as though the pads are constantly touching the rotors and there was a significant amount of dust on the rotor and wheel.

 

Remove the rear tires and move them up front. See if the vibration is still there. This is to eliminate the rims/tires as a source of the issue. It could be the brake rotor install versus the rotors or even the way the tires were put on the car.

 

A Honda with stock brakes that didn't shake? Now thats a good one!
They shake right off the truck in many cases. It is likely your rotors were slightly warped when you installed them or the hub surfaces had corrosion that didn't let the rotor sit flat on the hub.If you pull them off and look at the inside surface where it contacts the hub you will probably fretting marks where the high spots are.The wheel face if uneven can also cause a vibe as can uneven torqueing of the lug bolts.Most of the time brake vibration is caused by the way the car is driven.Charging exit ramps and trailbraking can warp rotors in a heartbeat.What happens is the caliper is rigidly mounted to the steering knuckle and due to play/flex in the wheel bearing the rotor is twisted sideways when braking hard and turning because the caliper is trying to straighten it out.Add the heat generated and the rotors will go out of true in a very short time.Have the rotors trued up by a competent shop and try to contain hard braking to straight lines.

 

This is only during braking, everytime i swap my wheels and tires or do an oil change they get rotated so its not the wheels. At first I thought it was that torque screw that holds the rotor in place because I don't have them in the front anymore as they were stripped and had to be torched out. But from what I have read that wouldn't make a difference.

 

see if you can get someone to turn your rotors... or look for uneven marks on the rotors...

 

With the additional info, looks more and more like the rotors at this point. Could be the install as well as mentioned by wdietz.

Did you change the pad as well?

 

Rotors and pads were replaced on all 4 corners. what about the install could have caused this? The particular rotors that I purchase are slotted and specifically state from the manufacturer that they CANNOT be turned. I have read about a Bedding process could that possibly help my situation?

 

referring to this, maybe? http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp...rakedisk.shtml

personally I don't believe most of it, but... I suppose it's possible your slotted rotors got some gunk build-up of brake dust... more than likely though they are "warped"

 

Did you bed the pads/rotors when you installed them? This process deposits pad material evenly on the new rotor. What is commonly misdiagnosed as a warped rotor is actually uneven pad deposit on the rotor. If you have a track rat friend, install his/her track pads and bed them aggressively. These, more abrasive pads, will clean off uneven pad deposit. Then reinstall your pads (if they are in good shape) and follow the bedding procedure again to transfer you pad material to the rotor. See willwoods site for bedding instructions. Good luck. It probably isn't too bad.
Greg

 

Simultaneous post. Believe it. (or call Myth Busters). I see it all the time.
It doesn't take slotted or cross-drilled rotors to have this problem.