sidespar

I put brand new front OEM rotors and Hawk HPS pads on my car a few months back because the old ones were shaking like crazy and were worn too far to save. I did an ultra-paranoid break-in of 10 60-5 mph stops (so much that they were smoking) in rapid succession and then repeated after letting cool. I figured the pads had to be set after that. Was I wrong? Right afterwards, braking was smooth as could be, but now after a few months, it is not. Why is it now that when I apply the brakes at 60mph, my steering wheel starts vibrating just like before?

repeater

Sounds like you've bedded some excess pad material while the car sat, after the pads got hot. You may need to pull your rotors and have a machine shop turn about .002 off of them and clean up the discrepancies.<ul><li><a href="http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/bedintheory.htm">http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/bedintheory.htm</a</li></ul>

MikTip

OEM? Zimmerman? ATE?

bl98263

If they were smoking, probably you overheated them and they became less resistant, I did that once on by dad's 5k and the rear brakes were dead 6 mths after. the rear of the car was vibrating when pressing the brakes at high speed.

Do what "repeater" told you but you can first verify if the surface of the pads are smooth ot not, same for the rotors to see where the problem is comming from.

Ben's e//S2

"The system should then be allowed to cool, by driving the vehicle at the highest safe speed for the circumstances, without bringing it to a complete stop with the brakes still applied."

Maybe I'm missing something, but this sentence perplexes me.

repeater

After doing a few hard stops, superheating the brakes and breaking them in, drive around at a decent pace and don't bring the vehicle to a complete stop with the brakes applied. Doing that with the brakes still fresh and hot will deposit material in one uneven spot on the rotor. Then, more material will smooth that spot over, creating a high point in the rotor, which causes the pulsation feel. The rotor is actually not warped, but has extra material in one spot. This is why when breaking pads in, it's important to drive steady after your hard brake events for awhile, and allow the brakes to cool before completely stopping.

repeater

.002 can be felt through the pedal. You can't see that or feel it when looking at it.

sidespar

OEM rotors, Audi P/N straight from germany.

sidespar

don't tell me i screwed up the easiest part of the process.

sidespar

due to the fact that the rotors aren't pitted, but rather caked with a deposit?