zuni

Saga started about 6 months ago on my 2011 LT. I had the warped rotor steering wheel wiggle and figured I had let the rear drums go too long without adjustment. Had the rotors turned and front and rear brakes serviced.
Two or three weeks later the wiggle returned. Took it back to the shop and they said the rotors were bad. Replaced.
Few weeks later problem returns and now it is the drivers side caliper that is sticking. Replaced.
Few more weeks go by and the problem returns. Shop says front bearings have some play. Replaced both front hubs.
Gave up and took it to the stealer. Technician says calipers and rotors are bad. I said they were just replaced. He hesitated, looked at the car and back at me and said he was pretty sure that was the problem. Told he to take it down and give it back.
Took it to another branch of the shop I was using and explained the situation to the manager. He felt that the problem would be solved by turning the rotors on the vehicle to match them to the hubs. The drivers side was pretty bad but the passenger side only needed a light skim to true it up. He did the work for free and said he thought that would take care of it but to come back if there was further issues.
Thanks for sticking this far! My question is what could be causing the warping on mainly the drivers side? Not much left. The dealer and everyone else says the ball joints, tire rod ends, swaybar links, and struts are all fine.
Suggestions and thoughts greatly appreciated!

firemangeorge

LawDog 88. Since you deleted your 1st post, I did the same to my response.

As far as "what you've heard"....No.
Don't you think the mechanical engineers/designers would have addressed that many,many years ago. I'm pretty sure they design and make the brake system to exert equal pressure to each side.

Yeah, I know ESC and ABS have added a new twists to the old hydraulic system, but the basics are still the same.

firemangeorge

zuni. Sounds like they've replaced or checked everything. Hoping they didn't miss something that actually is bad.

One question. Does the car pull to the left when braking ? If so, you could have an obstruction going to the right side front brakes. It would cause the left side to have to brake harder and heat up more.

I would try checking with a thermal heat gun. After some braking test runs, check the temperature of the front rotors and compare. If the drivers side is a lot hotter, that could be the reason it keeps warping.

LawDog88

I've always heard that the side the Master Cylinder is on has an easier time of moving the brake fluid for stopping. Sorry for being misinformed.

SS fan

My Panel did this. My mechanic said he has never seen rotors worn that way. Installed new rotors and pads...working normal......for now.

zuni

Thanks for the suggestion. I've got a handheld temp gun and will take a look. On a flat even surface I have hit the brakes with my hands lightly on the wheel and it stops straight with no pulling to the left or right. I may replace the brake lines to the calipers just in case the passenger side is getting weak but I still think I would find it pulling to one side if that was the case.

voigtsga

Sounds to me like the hub bearings probably had some play in them to begin with, which may be what caused your repeated rotor problems. The lateral runout is supposed to be checked whenever brake work is done, but that doesn't mean it got done, or its possible that the hub bearings started getting play in them after you replaced the rotors. A sticking caliper would definitely cause problems also. One side worse than the other would point to worse heating up on that side for whatever reason. Another question is whether or not your brake fluid has ever been bled clean. The service manual recommends this every 30k, but most people never do it which can cause premature death of calipers and wheel cylinders if junk is in the fluid.