First, I just want to say I'm not even 100% sure warped rotors are my problem. The brakes and steering wheel shake while braking from about 45mph down to zero with it being by far the most noticeable at 40mph. At higher speeds I don't notice anything (everything is smooth) which seems unusual.

Also, at lower speeds I can hear a rubbing of some kind on my front driver's side wheel once per revolution of the wheel. I assume this would be the rotor rubbing on the pad, but I suppose it could be something else. When I'm on the brakes at low speed I also can occasionally hear a grinding noise, but I think that could be because I have ceramic pads (hawk HP+).

When I swap rotors, the shaking comes back within a week or so. I use a torque wrench to fasten my lug nuts to 70 lb*ft each so that shouldn't be the issue.

I did have a bad ball joint and wheel bearing in that corner, but they're both replaced now.

Thanks for any insight!

 

It could be any of a lot of things.

It's possible that you are building up uneven deposits of brake pad material on the surface of the rotor. This commonly happens in tracked cars (or cars that are otherwise driven HARD) and can be avoided by "bedding" the pads and rotors any time you change either. To read about this phenomenon, and how to prevent it, see the Stoptech White Papers:
The "Warped" Brake Disc and Other Myths of the Braking System
Pad and Rotor Bed-In Theory, Definitions and Procedures

You also ought to examine the suspension and brakes closely. It's possible the sliding pins on the calipers are sticking, so that the brakes are building up unusual amounts of heat, or there may be something out of whack in the suspension causing parts to rub, etc.

 

I had the same problem. after replacing the axle and the calipers a couple of times and continuing to warp my right front rotor, I realized my rear brakes had little assist. the fronts were doing all the work. So i got a infrared thermometer and started to check brake temps. I swapped out the master cylinder and noticed that the rear brakes were now asisting the front. my front temps went down and my rear temps went up. now no more issues. good luck, i hope this helps.

 

i had a warp problem before also.i checked everything and all i could think of was warped rotors. i changed rotors like 2 times in a short period of time.so the third time i just got brembo rotors and my problem is gone. im not to sure what caused it but that seemed to help my sistuation

 

Switching to brembos: Yeah I've been thinking of going back to Brembos. The last two changes I just used cheap autozone rotors. If I remember correctly I didn't have a problem last time I used Brembos.

Brake temps & master cylinder: That's definitely possible. I'll check my master cylinder and use a thermocouple I have at work to check my temps. I'll post my temps hopefully later today

Bed-in procedure: I bed in my pads and rotors every time according to the pad manufacturer's specs so that shouldn't be an issue. I did a few autocrosses this summer, but the problem started showing up before so hard driving shouldn't be the issue.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

 

did you check your bearings?

 

Yeah I just replaced the driver's side (problem side) wheel bearing a month ago and the passenger side was replaced a year and a half ago so those should be fine.

 

when was the last time your wheels were balanced? are all the weights still fastened in place?

also, carefully check all mounting surfaces when you change your brakes. sometimes debris can get in between the hub and the rotor, or the on the mounting surface of the wheel and cause them to rotate slightly out of balance. Use steel wool or a wire brush attached to a drill to clean off all the surfaces before you reinstall the parts.