FAQ: Vibration under braking: warped rotors? NO!

[Helo58]

Is there a list of quality performance pads that work with our cars? Seems a lot of online retailers either don't show pads for our cars and some just straight up don't have the Stinger or G70 as a selectable model.

Here is a link to Khartunerz. They have a variety of pads for the Stinger for sale.

Brake Pads

 

[ChaneRZ]

Forward to 5:20 regarding brake pads

 

[Stinger GT SS]

So even if we go with aftermarket superior pads there is still a chance to have this issue in the future? lmfao </3

Changed mine to all dba, rotors & pads in January this year & no more problems.

 

[Helo58]

Just a reminder to all of the "newbies" to this thread, be mindful of what type of brake pad you are buying when getting rid of the OEM pads. I see many running to pads with a high metallic content. These pads feel and perform great, but they have one major disadvantage, corrosive brake dust. This dust is corrosive due to the metallic content, and becomes corrosive when it interacts with moisture (rain, humidity, etc.). It can adversely affect the finish on your wheels and brake calipers. For this reason, wash your wheels and calipers frequently to remove the dust.

 

[Cyrus Duong]

I've not been on the forums in a while but thought I'd drop in and share my wisdom after a track day.
If you are seriously driving this car hard on the track, autocross, etc. As stated before and again. Get pads. At a bare minimum, get front ones.

Here are my pads (US OEM pads) after a track day. Overheated and cracked. It left terrible streaking/uneven deposits in the rotor (no photo for this) after the track day and made the brake pedal mushy with vibration. So I stopped driving the Stinger until I get new front pads in.

I don't have any experience with the pads out there for our car but I went with HAWK HP+ front pads (racing pad) since I plan on going back to the track fairly soon. After which I'll probably get some good hawk street pads or DBA pads for my daily driving. Don't forget to bed the brakes in a safe location.

And please do try to share with those that plan to do heavy/high performance driving with the Stinger so they are prepared and drive safe!

 

[Lindrelt]

+1 on Khartunerz for brake pads... at 400 miles I got the OEM ones off and Hawk HPS on front and rear. Bedding in procedure was easy and they have been quiet, linear and not grabby. Even cold the initial bite feels as good as the stock ceramics. I’ll take some brake dust over rotor problems later on. After 400 miles I hadn’t driven the car much but think the brake feel is better all around.

 

[Brandondrums]

+1 on Khartunerz for brake pads... at 400 miles I got the OEM ones off and Hawk HPS on front and rear. Bedding in procedure was easy and they have been quiet, linear and not grabby. Even cold the initial bite feels as good as the stock ceramics. I’ll take some brake dust over rotor problems later on. After 400 miles I hadn’t driven the car much but think the brake feel is better all around.

Did you have your rotors turned before the install or just change pads and re-bed? Trying to get a sense what people are doing these days. Reading through it seems people have done all combinations but not seeing which route gives the easiest success.

 

[Lindrelt]

Did you have your rotors turned before the install or just change pads and re-bed? Trying to get a sense what people are doing these days. Reading through it seems people have done all combinations but not seeing which route gives the easiest success.

At 1,000 miles now and Hawk HPS are still quiet and performing great! Didn’t touch rotors before pad swap...

 

[MerlintheMad]

Did you have your rotors turned before the install or just change pads and re-bed? Trying to get a sense what people are doing these days. Reading through it seems people have done all combinations but not seeing which route gives the easiest success.

I've read practically every post on every thread about brakes. The simple FIRST test is to rebed the OE pads on the OE rotors. If that solves the pulsating brakes issue then the rotors are fine; you can keep them. If, after some miles (usually several hundred to several thousand) the pulsating brakes return, then some combo of your driving style and your OE pads are not happy. It's time to buy an aftermarket front set of pads. As near as I can tell, any of them work for anybody; there are single exceptions here and there but nothing pointing to one aftermarket pad as superior quality over the others: some pads are more track oriented; and some put out more dust; and some are noisier. Once we decide to ditch the OE pads it is experimental time. There isn't any easy escape from this necessity.

If rebedding the OE pads does not work (the brakes still vibrate or return to pulsating very soon after the rebedding process), then the rotors are also compromised and no amount of replacing pads with anything else is going to solve the pulsating brakes issue. Time for new pads and rotors. (A compromised rotor is either too worn or has cementite areas on it: i.e. the iron got heated up and "heat treated" so that it is harder than the surrounding metal; the harder surface wears down slower than the rest of the rotor, thus causing uneven contact with the pads: and these higher areas also attract pad deposits, making the pulsating even worse.)

 

[Brandondrums]

I've read practically every post on every thread about brakes. The simple FIRST test is to rebed the OE pads on the OE rotors. If that solves the pulsating brakes issue then the rotors are fine; you can keep them. If, after some miles (usually several hundred to several thousand) the pulsating brakes return, then some combo of your driving style and your OE pads are not happy. It's time to buy an aftermarket front set of pads. As near as I can tell, any of them work for anybody; there are single exceptions here and there but nothing pointing to one aftermarket pad as superior quality over the others: some pads are more track oriented; and some put out more dust; and some are noisier. Once we decide to ditch the OE pads it is experimental time. There isn't any easy escape from this necessity.

If rebedding the OE pads does not work (the brakes still vibrate or return to pulsating very soon after the rebedding process), then the rotors are also compromised and no amount of replacing pads with anything else is going to solve the pulsating brakes issue. Time for new pads and rotors. (A compromised rotor is either too worn or has cementite areas on it: i.e. the iron got heated up and "heat treated" so that it is harder than the surrounding metal; the harder surface wears down slower than the rest of the rotor, thus causing uneven contact with the pads: and these higher areas also attract pad deposits, making the pulsating even worse.)

Mostly true from my experience coming from other performance cars. But if its all pad deposit issues a resurface will fix a rotor. Its actually extremely rare to actually warp a rotor in any car, nearly all rotor issues are from uneven surface material.

Anyway I just replaced my front brake pads with Hawk HPS 5.0 and the problem was immediately solved. And I mean immediately. Driving to the remote road I used to re-bed the stock brakes to bed in the new hawk pads was perfectly smooth and after bedding remains perfectly smooth and also after the 200 mile round trip I took today. The faintest of pulsing can be felt braking from 80mph or more and im 99% sure its just the stock pads on the back.

Its like the pad material of the oem pad is held together with tar, the color of my front rotors before and after the new pads is night and day. Before it was dark with splotches and streaks. Now it looks like every other rotor I've seen, shiny metal with some lines in it from normal braking. I didn't have the rotors resurfaced just as an experiment and im glad I didn't. The rotors didn't apparently have any mechanical surface unevenness, just the smear of whatever brake goo from the old pads made the grip of the pads uneven like sliding your hand across a counter top where your kid spilled some juice that had dried lol.

The new pads just took off that gooey glaze and its fixed.

Everyone, save yourself time and fuss with the dealer and just replace the pads.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Before it was dark with splotches and streaks. Now it looks like every other rotor I've seen, shiny metal with some lines in it from normal braking.

Like this? Front and rear, flash and no flash.

 

[Brandondrums]

Hard to tell

Like this? Front and rear, flash and no flash.
View attachment 50016View attachment 50017View attachment 50018View attachment 50019

Its hard to tell is that with stock pads or new ones? Looks way better than mine did lol. Here's a look at my rears which still have stock pads.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Hard to tell

Its hard to tell is that with stock pads or new ones? Looks way better than mine did lol. Here's a look at my rears which still have stock pads.

OE pads, at c. 36.5K miles. Never a wiggle out of them, always smooth. Your rear disc looks okay. If you're not feeling any shudder through the back/bottom of your seat then you don't have a rear pads deposit issue.

 

[NS_Stinger]

Fronts still feel great with no vibration, finally started feeling it on the back brakes today :facepalm:

 

[MerlintheMad]

Fronts still feel great with no vibration, finally started feeling it on the back brakes today :facepalm:

You're getting a vibrating butt? Almost nobody gets a vibrating butt.

 

[HDTurbo]

not without paying in the end...

 

[Brandondrums]

You're getting a vibrating butt? Almost nobody gets a vibrating butt.

For me that's a multi-cause issue, happens more after Chili.

So after a hard drive I got a much better shot of the rotors to compare how they look with OEM pads vs. Hawk HPS 5.0. Major difference in how clear the rotor looks. The OEM pads just deposit tons of stuff. You can feel that difference too - as I mentioned in recent posts I didn't have the front rotors resurfaced, just replaced the pads and it fixed all the pulsing issues coming from the front. After a heavy rain and time sitting though I get some from the rears. But perhaps my vibrating butt is difficult to diagnose.

 

[MerlintheMad]

For me that's a multi-cause issue, happens more after Chili.

So after a hard drive I got a much better shot of the rotors to compare how they look with OEM pads vs. Hawk HPS 5.0. Major difference in how clear the rotor looks. The OEM pads just deposit tons of stuff. You can feel that difference too - as I mentioned in recent posts I didn't have the front rotors resurfaced, just replaced the pads and it fixed all the pulsing issues coming from the front. After a heavy rain and time sitting though I get some from the rears. But perhaps my vibrating butt is difficult to diagnose.

That's quite a graphic difference alright. Aftermarket pads will fix the rear pulsating discs too. And I am sure the discs will come back just as clean.

 

[Brews]

How does IS350 braking compare to the Stinger?

I had a 2016 IS350 F Sport and I would say it had significantly better brake feel and performance than the Stinger. I felt much more confident with the Lexus than with the Stinger, particularly when braking from high speeds. I haven’t had the brake shudder issue yet (I’m on the stock pads for now), but I’m considering new pads already just to get the performance level where it should be for a car like this.

 

[ryan1stinger]

I have to admit that I haven’t ready every post, but has anyone reached out to Brembo regarding this issue and what did they say?