Can a shop screw up turning front rotors?

[Lee308]

Can a shop screw up turning front rotors? (problem found)

I just replaced my front brake pads on my 2003 Xplor, had the rotors turned and now brake pedal pulsing badly. I did the work. I've done this many times on other vehicles and never had a problem.

Any thoughts before I pull the wheels off again?

Answer....................Yes they can.

To make a long story short, I found one of the rotors had been turned incorrectly thus causing worse brake pedal pulsing than before I started. Orielly's auto parts did this, but they did correct it. After re-turning the rotor, the brakes are smooth as silk. I found which rotor by pulling the tire, and looking from the top, down the backside of the rotor while turning it and could see the small air gap between pad and rotor appear and disappear.

 

[TerryS1980]

If they are pulsing the rotor is probably warped. Was it like this as soon as you drove it away from the shop? I have seen rotors being turned down before, it would be pretty hard to mess it up.

 

[Lee308]

They were pulsing slightly, thats why had the rotors turned. I changed the pad while I was doing it. I did the work.

Its really bad now. I will pull them off tomorrow to see what I can see.

 

[TerryS1980]

You can jack up one tire and rotate it by hand. If it is warped you should be able to hear a hit and miss of the pad rubbing the rotor. You might need to take the tire of to do this.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Does it pull to one side? If so check your ABS sensors.

 

[eboydog]

Might check your bearings too, a bad bearing will create a similer feeling.....

 

[JTX]

Did you take the calipers off of the brake line? Might try bleeding them.

 

[CDW6212R]

If it's 2WD it could have a loose wheel bearing, but the rotor is a good guess.

 

[misconceived]

Surprised the "soft rotor" term hasn't come into play yet...

Do a search and you'll find it. Supposedly you have to change rotors every time you change pads.

 

[Lee308]

edit out, accidental multi post

 

[Lee308]

Soft rotors cause quicker wearing, but not warping. Uneven wear does. Thats why one turns the rotors to make them true. (did a search, did not find much other than newer rotors wear quickly) Knew that. These were within spec of min thickness.

My main question is can a rotor be turned wrong? If it not put on the shaft of the machine at a perfect 90 degree angle, it would not cut correctly. Since I've never turned one, I was wondering if it can be done wrong????

I appreciate all the response's and will report back after I pull the wheels this morning.

 

[Lee308]

edit out,, accidental multi post

 

[CDW6212R]

That is very unlikely, the machinist would have to actually try to do something wrong in mounting it, on purpose. I avoid having rotors turned mainly because the "people" doing the work do not care much about the amount of material that is removed. Rotors in the last 20 years only really have about a tenth of an inch of meat on them. Typically they will cut .020-.030" off at a time, even when just .010 would be more than enough. It bothers me that they charge so much and remove half of the life of the rotor in two passes.

Older cars had rotors that were an 1/8" thicker to start with, there was more life and strength in them to start with. Now it is very often better to just go buy a new rotor and keep the old one just as a spare. Good luck,

 

[Lee308]

problem found

Answer, yes they can, see first post edited.

 

[CDW6212R]

Well good, that is possible and rare, but like I hinted it's not easy to do, the adapters for turning the rotors are basically self-trueing. Regards,