I'm not sure if that means it's not the rotors. Think of what you're doing when you use the brakes. You're heating a chunk of metal and then letting it cool. Over and over and over. Any imperfection in the metallurgy will result in warping. There is something to be said for the quality of OEM suppliers versus aftermarket. If turning your rotors (do not change pads) resolves the issue you know thermal cycling is the problem. I have a shop here that turns rotors for $20 each. It's the cheapest way to diagnose your issue that I'm aware of. Beyond that you're talking about material deposition from the pads and you'll need to change to a higher quality pad. But having the rotors turned is step 1 of both of those fixes.

 

Very frustrating. Sorry to hear. I was in the same boat, and guess I will be again, once I start driving it again. Hopefully, mine will be remedied once I replace bushings, hubs, etc. Otherwise, I'll swap out the rotors. Fingers crossed and good luck.

 

Years ago I had a 2001 Mazda Millenia S which had these symptoms and eventually I tracked it down to run out of the front hub on the passenger side. I had clipped a curb on the passenger side earlier. The hub run out was relatively small ,about 0.006in.

 

Thanks SixRotors. Thats what I'm hoping is the issue too. I've had a few major pothole issues over the years and thinking one of them may have harmed a hub (I tore 2 inches of wheel metal one time - it was quite a bump!)

mlrtime99 - the reason I say not the rotors is it happened to a set of OEM rotors and pads first. Then to a new set of R1Concepts rotors with née EBC pads. Then to the replacement set of R1Concepts. So I've had exactly the same issue on three different sets of rotors. So yes - turning them will temporarily fix it by evening out the rotors. But it will come back...

Getting the hub faces carefully measured to see if that identifies the issue.

 

https://ebcbrakes.com/articles/pro-cut-lathe/

CORRECTING ROTOR DISTORTION, ROTOR MISALIGNMENT AND CURE BRAKE VIBRATION

There are two main reasons for brake vibration. The first is steering geometry issues and the second is installation or hub run-out issues.

GEOMETRY ISSUES – One in seven cars suffers geometry problems during its life that can affect steering and cause brake vibration. These are NOT a product quality issue!!!!!!.These can happen by simply nudging a kerb or by driving over a pothole. EBC is not alone in recognising this problem but is the only brake supplier on the planet prepared to offer diagnosis and a SOLUTION.

INSTALLATION OR HUB RUN-OUT ISSUES – These cause what is known as DTV. The videos below show how to correct for brake vibration caused by DTV (Disc thickness variation). DTV develops in a car after 3000-4000 miles caused by runout built in to the car or due to incorrect alignment of the rotors at install. This is quite a common fault on modern cars and many cars require this at every rotor change. Drivers also confuse hub distortion with a rotor quality issue but in 99% of cases the DTV is a car problem, not a rotor quality problem. You can replace the rotors as many times as you like trying to solve vibration and the problem will only go away for a few thousand miles and then return. This means you have purchased new rotors in good faith but the problem IS NOT SOLVED AND WILL NOT GO AWAY PERMANENTLY until you perform this procedure. After this skimming of the rotor surface you will have smooth brakes , more effective brakes and ZERO vibration. It is even a very worthwhile practice when fitting new rotors to have all four rotors skimmed into perfect alignment on your car with this inexpensive procedure.

Rotor distortion due to DTV is very common, in fact ONE IN SEVEN CARS has a steering geometry problem either when it is built NEW or after nudging a kerb or hitting a large pothole (very common after road surface damage after winter snowy periods). Uneducated people still say “My rotors are warped”. Well the engineering facts are ROTORS DO NOT WARP, they are made of cast iron, they are very tough and can be run to red heat and cooled time after time and they will not distort, we do this day in day out on our dynos in the EBC lab. Thats why the whole world still uses cast iron as a vehicle brake rotor material, there has never been anything to beat it and probably never will be.
Pro Cut machines WORK ON BOTH PLAIN ROTORS AND EVEN BETTER ON SLOTTED AND DRILLED ROTORS OF ALL TYPES
READ THIS TEXT ON PAGE 8 OF THIS LINK TO SHOW PROOF THAT

 

I think this a play on words----- "rotor distortion due to disc thickness variation" may the be correct technical description of the condition producing the vibration you feel in the car and/or pulsation of the brake pedal. When you place the rotor in a brake lathe and turn it what you see is run out on on one side of the rotor and you remove the variation as you machine it to a flat surface. It is also true that when you you reverse the rotor in the brake lathe there may or may not be a distortion on that surface so it is NOT the whole rotor which has bent or become warped. However to in effect it looks like it is warped.