I remember that when i bought my mintex pads from mike sheilds at SPD that he recomended that when I upgraded my rotors I get, and i believe this is what he said, "cryogenically treated rotors" I could be mistaken, as it was a while ago, but I think these are supposed to withstand the tempatures and abuse of high performance pads and heavy braking much better than normal rotors. It would be worth droping him a line if your having repeated problems with subaru rotors, the only other thing i can think of is that people have mentioned that improperly torquing your hubs can lead to warping...

Of course...we just need to figure out how to convert the porsche ceramic rotors to fit on a subee...

Micum

97 Legacy GT

mmmmmm ceramic rotors

 

You are right about the cryo rotors. I'm not a metalurgist, but some how freezing them down way past sub-zero temps does something to molecular structure in the metal...I think aligns things or something like that. I have heard good things about these rotors. However at the time I didn't have the money to spend on them.

Acttulaly, I belive that at least some GM (much older) cars with rear disks had a real "pull up on the lever and pull the cable" parking breaks on the rear disks.

 

I had a 87 Firebird Formula that had rear disks. I had to replace a siezed rear caliper at about 75k. According to my mechanic (not a dealer, a real trusted mechanic) the cable from the e brake mechanically operates the calipers. The calipers tended to die early because the cable enry point was not sealed well.

 

Of course, this is old memory talking here, I may not be remembering the details correctly. But I do remember the e brake cable (splitting) and going into both calipers.

Now that you mention it I just sold my 94 Formula with disks all around. It too had a pull up brake, never really looked at how it actuated the brakes.

I am pretty sure my rotors are warped.

 

Would a warped rotor cause a squeaking/whiny noise at low speeds and turning? I only hear it at low speeds due to wind noise and it sounds like a part on the rotor is rubbing against something on every revolution and gets really close at a certain point. Very annoying and embarrasing to have a whiny squeaky car.

 

I don't think it is a bent dust shield, this noise comes and goes apparently at random. When it is wet out I rarely hear it if that helps.

is it an intermittant noise? If it is intermittant like it hits at a certain spot every rotation of the rotor...that's probably a good indication that the rotors are not true.

This thread rocks. Gonna archive it. Going once, going twice...

 

Josh: excellent writing, can't say much more than that.

I am sure no one could say more than that, I have a big screen and still had to scroll lots of times. And what's funnier I still didn't read all of it.

 

Nice post.

 

I love my slotted rotors.

 

I try not to drive through puddles after hard braking, that is probably the single most cause of rotor warpage.

 

Dan