TomR_here

Last few weekends, I've been wrenching on the Wife's '07, doing front brake repairs. Money been tight, so had to do it in phases. Have had the pulsing pedal since we bought it June '09, but it hasn't been all that bad until recently.

Bought new rotors thru rockauto. $73.00 roughly, delivered to the door, for 2 Raybestos professional grade rotors. Swapped those on the last wekend of August.

Folowing weekend, picked up the new pads from the local parts store. I forget the price, but they were decently priced. Swapped those in, and did the usual stuff when doing a brake job.
Rear brakes are in great condition, and proper adjustment.

Weekend of the 11th, Del and I drove down to Midway, Ky., for her Mom's 80th B'day. No issues out of the brakes or frontend.

Been trying to locate the rattle under there, but no luck so far. Can't seem to find anything way worn/loose, but planning on replacing the swaybar links, as they seem to be the most likely suspect on here.

Last Sunday, I was out in the garage just putzing around, and happened to notice the old rotors. Something didn't look quite right, so I grabbed one up. Ha, it's cracked..... Grabbed the other one, and it has a crack also.
Definetly explains the pulsing of the pedal.

Did notice during the rotor swappage, that the springnuts from the factory were missing. So that leads me to believe the rotors have been replaced before, or atleast removed from the HHR for some reason..
Old rotors don't appear to be worn at all. But the HHR only has 40,000 or so on it, so if those are the 2nd set, they were done before 29,000 when we bought it.

voigtsga

I would just make sure you check your hub bearings also for runout also just to make sure they don't have too much play. If they do, you will end up with the shakes again before long.

I've only had my '07 HHR for about a month, and have a some pulsing which is coming from the front left rotor. I checked my bearings and they are all good. I'm glad you mentioned the Raybestos rotors from Rockauto. RockAuto wants $49 ea plus $17ish for shipping for 2. I got to Googling however and the Advanced Tech rotors can be had on Amazon for only $41.21 shipped ea. I could turn mine for $15 ea, but I must admit that for $83 it is tempting to just go ahead and buy new ones.

a76marine

I took mine to the dealer to check on a pulsation to see if I needed new rotors and he covered a machining of the factory rotors under warranty.

I am sure new rotors will be in the not too distant future for me but was nice to not have a bill this time.

Tony_SS

I would not even have those junk factory rotors turned - not even for free!

The best place for them is in the trash... pay a little extra and buy a quality set of them and new pads. Its well worth it.

nacorona

So can anyone provide any good suggestions for quality rotors? I have a periodic shaking during braking that seems to only happen when the brakes are hot, or trying to stop a car full of people on any kind of downhill, pretty sure it's just the rotors, but I don't want them to lead to bearing failure.

whopper

This is another question that has been beaten to death - give the SEARCH function at the top of the page a try - search for "rotor replacement" - lots of good info there. Also note the search results that mention adjusting the rear brakes which appears important to keep the fronts from being overworked.