We all know how lame the front rotors are, but I didnt realize they were this pathetic. Mine were dealer installed, 6k miles ago, then just replaced again under warranty because of severe warping. I know re torquing is important, but does anything else cause this?
The rims are factory chrome 16"

 

Did anybody think to adjust at least inspect the rears? Since we all know that's the leading cause of warped rotors.

 

Thanks Don,

I never knew that. I just did all four wheels on my HHR and it should last a loooong time. The bear was that parking break cable. It did NOT want to cooperate on either side.

 

You must not read this forum much. I can't think of a 2 week period that someone didn't bring it up. One of the top 10 topics.


Did reinvent the vicegrip trick?

 

Those rear brake shoes must be adjusted every oil change , it's not a hard job.
Those deteriorating LCA rear bushings can also cause brake judder.

 

[QUOTE=Oldblue;799541]Those rear brake shoes must be adjusted every oil change , it's not a hard job.[QUOTE]

If I didn't know better I'd say this is beginning to sound like tryin' to maintain an ol' air-cooled V-dub!

But as I recall you had to adjust all four wheels back then...

And if you ever had to slam on the 'brakes' and one of those old rubber lines ballooned out you didn't know which ditch you might end up in.

 

Not trying to start an argument but rotors rarely, if ever, warp.

Typically what you see is uneven wear and pad transference. Both of these are usually caused by hard stops and high temperatures. After hard(panic) or prolonged(traffic) braking you need to drive for at least 5 minutes to let them cool. A car used for commuting in city traffic will rarely get 5 minutes of cool down time so rotors will need to be changed more often. Driven rural, 2-3 pad changes and rotors may still be true as measured by a dual indicator. My HHR that is driven hard gets rotors every 20k. My Suburban is at 100k on the original pads and rotors. My old road race truck got new rotors every 2-3 track days and more often when the temps were low as they would crack from the extreme temperature changes. My new 16" rotors on my pro-touring car are $400 each so I'll be cooling those down on track days very carefully.

 

My driving conditions with these new rotors did not involve either hard stops or prolonged braking in traffic. Def something else involved. Gonna check and adjust rear brakes, but the front rotors on the hhr are def susceptible to warping, a constant source of aggravation to me, other than that, I have absolutely no real complaints about this vehicle. I either just got lucky (it was previously taken from dealer inventory, new, by a dealership and was looked after very well), or it a pretty well built vehicle.

 

I swapped in larger SS non Brembo rotors, no more judder, even if I forget to adjust the rear shoes

 

These, and possibly wheel bearings.