I bought a brand new set of rotors (Centric) and pads for my XJR off of RockAuto.com and put them on a few weeks ago.

Everything is hunky dory until I go down to LA and make heavy use of the radar cruise control. After about a half hour of that the steering wheel starts to shake pretty heavily whenever braking.

I can fix it all up with one really heavy press on the brake pedal. I have to stop with enough force that everyone gets lurched into their seatbelts. Then it is clean and smooth for about another hour or so.

Anyone else have this experience? I have only driven about 1000 miles. Can I swap the pads without resurfacing the rotors? Anyone have pad recommendations?

Thanks,

-Burt

P. S. Here are the pads I got. They are supposed to be ceramic, high performance models.

More Information for POWER STOP 16938

 

Hi Burt,

I made a new thread, no need to be reviving old threads that nobody posted in for 5 years.

Now regarding your problem...

Did you "bed in" your new pads? Have a look here Instructions for bedding in your brakes

The fact that the shaking goes away once you've done a big stop, makes me think that the pads are leaving some residue on the rotors, or there is still some protective coating left on the disc that hasn't been worn away yet.

Depending on the manufacturer, new brake pads sometimes have a layer of material on the surface of the pad, which needs to be worn away. I notice in the link you posted, they say "thermal scorched for fast break in" might have something to do with it.

Likewise, some brake rotors have a galvanised or zinc-plated coating which protects the disc from rusting when it's in storage, this coating needs to be worn away for the brakes to work to their full potential. If the coating hasn't worn away evenly, it could cause that sort of shudder.

Find a quiet street somewhere and try the bedding in steps mentioned in that link.