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Unusual wear on rotors at 8K miles?????

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Atlanta
#1
First let me say that I'm a motorcycle guy--not a car guy--so maybe this is normal on a "performance" car, but, when I run my finger back and forth across the braking surface (along a line from the center point to the perimeter), I feel waves and undulations. The three other vehicles I own (ford ranger, Xterra, Sonota) are all dead smooth, despite all having well in excess of 100K. My ST just turned over 8K! What's going on here?

I should add that there is no pulsing in the pedal or anything unusual about the operation of the brakes, other than they are a little touchy for my liking.

If this were a bike I would be swapping out the rotors and pads for sure.

Should I be visiting the service center? I assume this would be covered under warranty.
 


TyphoonFiST

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Rich-fizzield
#2
Yes I would bring it in and document it just in case something is having issues. In doing so they can never say why didn't bring it in before? etc etc....its just CYA![raceflag]
 


alexrex20

1000 Post Club
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#3
It's not abnormal or faulty, but you can take it in if you're bored. The stock brakes are aggressive and really eat up the rotor.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 


OP
R
Messages
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33
Location
Atlanta
Thread Starter #4
It's not abnormal or faulty, but you can take it in if you're bored. The stock brakes are aggressive and really eat up the rotor.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
What I don't understand is the non-uniform wear across the rotor. I have several motorcycles that I race, and all of course use aggressive compound pads (and I am also a brake dragger on a bike). Even in these conditions however, the rotor always wears uniformly, or at least a lot more uniformly that what my Fiesta seems to be doing. I will take it in. I am dreading another trip to the dealer service department though. They had it for 3 days just to fix the AC vacuum controlled door thing!
 


Messages
213
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95
Location
Philadelphia
#5
What I don't understand is the non-uniform wear across the rotor. I have several motorcycles that I race, and all of course use aggressive compound pads (and I am also a brake dragger on a bike). Even in these conditions however, the rotor always wears uniformly, or at least a lot more uniformly that what my Fiesta seems to be doing. I will take it in. I am dreading another trip to the dealer service department though. They had it for 3 days just to fix the AC vacuum controlled door thing!
Are you bikes rotors cross drilled? Rotors typically groove due to excessive heat. If your bikes rotors are cross drilled, it will be practically impossible to grove them as they should dissipate heat almost immediately. Is this the rear rotors? Any spirited drives lately?
 


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Location
Arlington, VA
#7
I had some pretty bad grooves on mine after my first track day and they were making a lot of noise. Took off the pads to inspect them and they had frickin craters in them. Still plenty of material left on them, but really uneven. I ditched both the pads and the rotors. The pads are really solid on the street, but not really built for track duty. Not sure if you have used them under similar conditions, but just thought I'd mention it.
 


OP
R
Messages
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33
Location
Atlanta
Thread Starter #8
No, I have not been driving it hard. Once in a while I engage in "spirited" driving, but my need for speed is satisfied by the bikes. All the bikes have slotted rotors, so maybe that is the difference. I'll take the car in to the dealer get the issue "on record". Maybe they will do something for me. I made my dissatisfaction with my previous visit very clear, so maybe they will work a little harder this time (yea, I know, and I might win the lottery...).
 


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Location
Philadelphia
#9
The reason I ask about a spirited drive and the rear rotors is because if the traction control is left on during a spirited drive it will break the inside wheel to encourage rotation. In the process, the car really heats up the rear brakes and this could cause the grooving you've seen. If its rears only that would be my bet.

I accidentely left my ESC on for a lap at the track this past weekend... lets just say my rear brake pads were angry at me afterwords [biggrin][driving]
 


Messages
38
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15
Location
Clearwater
#10
The wear you're seeing is probably normal. The Fiesta ST uses very aggressive pads and soft rotors. On top of that the Traction Control, Stability Control, and Torque Vectoring systems all make heavy use of the brakes.

I replaced my pads & rotors @ 30k miles. Daily driver, never seen track use. The front pad material was almost gone and the rotors had a massive lip and deep grooves. I went with OEM parts and now 10k miles later, same thing - rotors have deep grooves and lips.
 


HBEcoBeaST

Active member
Messages
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Location
Huntington Beach
#11
I religiously put the car in "sport mode" every time I drive (1 click on the esc button)

This will really save your brakes.

With esc on I kill my brakes unbelievably fast.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 




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