I replaced my braked 2 weeks ago, I made sure to grease everything generously but i see that there is about 3/4 of an inch where the pad doesn't make contact with the rotor. I don't remember if my old brakes did that, but is it normal? The pad makes contact with all the surface except that 3/4 inch band highlighted by the orange arrow. Can it cause any problems?

 

Are those the same rotors prior to you changing out the brake pads?

Looks like there is no wear there if so, so normal for that set up.

 

They are not the same kind, these are drilled and slotted because my others warped after 2 years so I bought some better quality rotors and carbon/ceramic pads. But I did compare the size of the old and new rotors and they seemed identical to me.

 

Forgot to mention, same problem on both sides

 

Looks normal to me.

 

The problem seem to be those rotors drill and slot job

 

I though so too. I've been searching around and it seems as quite some people have the same issue. Doesn't seem to affect braking as my brakes are very good when I push them to the max, they dont even smell when i brake hard or produce a lot of dust. So far, very satisfied

Care to explain? I'm not sure i understand what the holes and slots have to do with the pad not using the entire surface.

 

You say issue, but I see no issue. They make contact exactly how they do on my car and exactly how they made contact to the rotors before I changed them ~1 month ago.

 

The brake caliper is not intended to use the entire width of the rotor. What you are showing on your rotor, in terms of part of the rotor not being utilized, is 100% normal. Every car does this.

Also, you should be more concerned with proper contact happening further out on the rotor than closer to the middle (which yours looks ok). The further you move away from the middle, the more stopping power is effectively mustered.

 

I said Issue, not problem haha, I didnt want to say problem until i had a better understanding of the issue. An issue can also be positive, a problem, not so much!

Awesome. That makes a lot of sense. I did realize that these brakes have considerably more stopping power than the older stock ones. Also this was the first time i used carbon/metallic or ceramic i dont remember, and barely any dust, never smell, no noise. I was very cautious with drilles and slotted rotors as on my older car, they were a disaster, they always made noise, like if the pad was grinding on the rotor. It was so annoying i had to redo my brakes after a few months

 

Those slots and drills seem close to the center too me , away from the pad contact area as you can see in your pic

 

I don't mean to be rude or insulting, but the drilling job looks horrid! There's a random hole near the center hub and as well the slots are drilled into the hub! I would think that this type of rotor isn't even properly balanced.

As far as 3/4 pad contact, did you verify the pads were securely installed? Give it a few days and it might correct itself.

 

I don't think it's random his orange arrow is just covering the 3rd hole, so it looks awkward in the photo. Correct me if i'm wrong OP.

 

Yes, I believe you are correct.



Again, there is nothing wrong with his pad or rotor, judging by the pic. Also, I'm pretty sure it's near impossible to install the pads "insecurely". How would the caliper go back in place properly? Your last sentence makes me laugh

 

I will not correct you because you are right. My arrow does cover the hole. Here is the original pic.

 

Never underestimate the will of someone with power tools!

 

seem right to me.

 

Yeah looks normal, the pad doesn't touch the whole rotor surface. As those Brakemotive or another vendor? Just installed basically the same thing a few days ago and I'm happy with it.

 

The rotors are Maxx, the pads are EBC YellowStuff

 

I helped you out by circling them. This photo clearly shows that the rotor was drilled after it was made (making it prone to cracking) and improperly done. You can even see rust starting to form. Furthermore, removal of any material requires balancing of the rotor to prevent vibrations. Any quality rotor will have random (to us, not to the balancing machine) spots of material removed on the rear to balance the rotor. If you don't believe me, google it.

 

I'm pretty sure ALL rotors are drilled after being cast. I've dealt with the company i bought those rotors from many times in the past for myself, family and friends. I bought my first set from them back in 2009 for a 2000 Jetta. I sold my car in 2013 and the rotors have held up fine and were barely used, i could have went another 3-5 years with them i'm pretty sure.

I'm not naive. I know most companies buy chinese blanks and pimp them up themselves, and you might be right, some might be of a lower quality, unbalanced and prone to cracking. But this company seems to be one of those that might just be trustworthy enough. I've already picked up my order from their warehouse in Toronto and saw that they had many CNC machines that perform the slotting and drilling. Then all rotors are sent to be balanced by cutting off very thin layers from the outer edge and inside middle where there is the cavity for the wheel hub. They then heat treat and plate the disks. I saw the process with my own eyes because they were very transparent with me.

As for the cracking, I have not experienced any myself and have not gotten any feedback from the people that I installed the brakes. Only one of my friends experienced warping after 2 years, but to be honest, he has an Infinity G35 and drives it like it's a Ferrari so i'm not even surprised. The company does offer 1 year warranty on any warping, cracking or chipping, but they were nice enough to offer my friend a 30% discount on his order when I told them his rotors were warped.

As for the rust, it's not unusual to see rust on rotors, but in this case, it's not because of a bad drilling job, or sub-par quality, it's simply because the pad dust has settled on the lower half of that hole and because it doesn't come in contact with the rotor, the dust just stays there and rusts. As you can see, all other holes are fine and even the top half of that hole where that pad makes contact is rust free.

The seller has over 20K feedback on ebay and amazon with an average rating or 4.9/5.0. Most of the bad feedback is for shipping errors or client mistakes. Only one buyer in the past year gave a neg feedback because of a warped rotor and he mentioned it was on a corvette. I'll take that with a grain of salt.

 

I see your problem, it's all around the third hole, the drilling job left some residue which caused a wear on the pad so it's not contacting the rotor any more in that spot. Here's 2 things you should do:
First, take the pads out and check for wear on them, sand them even with a sand paper on a flat surface.
second, run a sand paper around the surface of the rotor, and make sure no spots left.
Let us know if that helped