Warped Rotors?

[Skillet]

When I picked up the Chinook in March it had a pulsing effect that I could feel in the brake pedal when I was braking and under 30mph. That lasted until a week or so ago when it has just vanished. I'm wondering why and is it a bad sign?

[Blue~Go]

I'm no expert, but from reading I have done it seems as though often times what people think are "warped" rotors, are actually bits of material that transfer from the pad to the rotor. These cause the rotor to be uneven and feel like what you think of as warped rotors. One way to transfer material (which you don't want to do) is to come to a hard stop and then keep your foot on the brake (so the rotor sits in the same place as it was at the end of the hard stop).

I didn't know about this until a couple of years ago, but apparently "bedding" the brakes can help to prevent this. I had "warped" a set of rotors on my previous Ford van (but given what I was doing just before it happened, I can see where it might have been the pad-material transfer).

On my Chinook, when I got the new front end (which included new rotors and brake pads), I did the full brake bedding procedure. Of course it's a bit like deer whistles, in that I know my rotors haven't "warped" but who knows what they would be doing if I had not bedded them.

After reading a few different sources on this, plus web talking to folks I trust, it seems believable to me. If you are interested you can Google and find many pages describing it. I read a few and then with that combined info did the brake bedding procedure (basically you go fast, then stop really hard but don't actually completely stop; do it a few times to get the brakes really hot; then without ever stopping do a long "cool down" drive). I found a long/straight/lonely road in Nevada to do it on; seems folks in cities oftentimes know of a handy place, but it might be a challenge.

Here is one article - this one is aimed to racing rigs, but gives the principles.

http://stoptech.com/technical-support/t ... ther-myths

PS: I suppose pulsing could also be due to some ABS malfunction, but then I'd think you'd get the ABS light on. I suppose you could have "inadvertently" somehow slightly done the rebedding procedure and "cured" the deposits? I'm not sure on that one.

[Skillet]

Definitely no ABS issues, so I bet I've done/been doing the bedding procedure and not realized it. It's nice the pulsing is gone, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't about to become a big problem. Thanks!

[Blue~Go]

Definitely no ABS issues, so I bet I've done/been doing the bedding procedure and not realized it. It's nice the pulsing is gone, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't about to become a big problem. Thanks!

So that was you flying down those straight-aways and then slamming on the brakes

[Skillet]

Yeah, my dogs love sliding from the back to the front over and over!

[Blue~Go]

Hang ten!