If you're not over-tightening the lugs then warpage is due to heat. I don't
know the diameter of the rotors nor the specs for the calipers. You can do
several things to help alleviate the problem. Any prolong application of the
brakes to produce a lot of heat. Since heat is a byproduct of friction which
is what your pads/rotors are using to stop the vehicle. The faster you
remove that heat the better. Here are some suggestions you can try. Some of
them might be EXPENSIVE and extreme though. I don't claim to be an expert.
Just a lot of money wasted buying rotors/brake parts and a few years of
"road racing" track experience. The key word here is heat.
* The more surface area on your rotors the more heat it can accept and
dissipate. That why hi-po cars have large diameter rotors. If you have the
bucks than look into new brakes with bigger rotors. Usually they come as a
system with better calipers. Check out Baer racing. I suspect most of us
won't go this route.
* Get air to the rotor/caliper area. If you don't drive off-road and
in extreme wet weather, remove the rotor shields. Get some ducting to
channel air to the brakes. Those of you that don't utilize the fog light
holes on late model DAKs can use it for source of high pressure air.
* The brand of rotor/pads will make a difference. I don't have any
experience on that since I've yet to change brakes for my DAK.
Hope this helps.
Alan
-----Original Message-----
From: William T. Goldbach [SMTP:goldbach@tellink.net]
Sent: Friday, December 04, 1998 2:35 PM
To: dakota list
Subject: Re: Subject: Re: DML: Brake rotors
>
>It still seems like Chrysler isnt the culprit here for
producing low
quality
>rotors. The ONLY reason you need to turn rotors is if they
are groved from
the
>owner not checking them too often and the metal from the
pads, once the
pads
>are worn down, are digging into the rotors. It's all about
preventative
>maintenance. Like I said before, I still have the factory
rotors on my 93
>Dakota 4x4 with over 97,000 miles on it. I ahve gotten them
turned I
believe 3
>times.....the next time I do a brake job on my 93 I am
going to go ahead
and
>replace them anyways, just due to the fact that if they
were to be turned
>again, they wouldnt not be within acceptable specs. Just my
OPINION!
>
>Remember, dont punish the trigger, punish the finger. This
statement also
>applies to drivers and brake rotors! :)
>Kyle
>
>------------------------------
I must strongly disagree with almost everything you say.
Rotors can be
*warped*. Not *grooved*, or *scored*, but **WARPED**! This
causes a
pulsating pedal, and they do not work well. The rotors that
came off my '97
Dakota with only 15K miles on them looked just fine. But
they were not flat
and parallel as they need to be. So they got turned, to
remove the warpage,
and the brakes are fine now. I can't think of a single thing
I, the driver,
could have done to prevent warpage. The pads looked like
new, and I properly
torqued the lug nuts to 90 ft/lbs every 3K miles, when I
rotated the tires.
Every 3K the brakes were checked as well. They always looked
fine. What
*should* I have been *checking for*, and how *often* would
you suggest this
*check* be made? What is the *preventive maintenance*! I do
not need to
have this problem again, as the next time it happens, the
truck will
probably be out of warranty. So let us all know how to stop
it from
happening. I think it is caused by the use of shit material
in the cast
iron. Chrysler gives the contract to make the rotors (and
everything else)
to the "low bidder". They should spend a few cents more and
put a decent
alloy of cast iron in the rotors, instead of the junk they
are using. -Bill
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