brake pads

[adr5]

Late I have noticed that my 2007 Sport model makes some strange noises when applying the brakes from high speed. Low speed stops are fine. My car currently has just under 20k miles on it. This weekend I'm going to pull the wheels to see if maybe the pads are wearing thin and need to be replaced. If they do need replacing, can anyone recommend pads to use? TIA.

[midnightMDX]

Maybe the rotors are warped. Does it also pulsate with high speed braking?

[adr5]

I don't believe they are warped. I've had warped rotors in other cars and they felt different. The pulse rate with other warped rotors is much lower. The feel I get is more of scraping sensation. It's hard to describe. Hopefully when I pull the wheels I can get a better idea of what the problem is.

[Will4271]

How many miles you have on the vehicle?

Are the brake pads due?

[Fernando]

On my last car high speed grind when brakes were applied was due to warn out rear pads.

[rdm190]

Just a little info on "warped" rotors from my BMW racing background.

When you have wheel shake and attribute it to "rotor warp" you are most likely experiencing uneven pad deposits on the rotor surfaces. This comes from rapid heat build up and pad material being deposited on the rotor surfaces. Many times this can be resolved with a hard brake application from a relatively high speed or a simple sanding of the rotor surface.

I have Stoptechs on my 4000lbs M5 and I can turn the rotors glow red on the track, but have never had a rotor "warp". I am not saying its impossible, but it is improbable. I could probally spray them with cold water and warp them

Always try to clear the surface of your rotor before you jump to a "warped" rotor situation. This is just my experience and I hope I can help some people from throwing away rotors

[adr5]

Originally Posted by rdm190

Just a little info on "warped" rotors from my BMW racing background.

When you have wheel shake and attribute it to "rotor warp" you are most likely experiencing uneven pad deposits on the rotor surfaces. This comes from rapid heat build up and pad material being deposited on the rotor surfaces. Many times this can be resolved with a hard brake application from a relatively high speed or a simple sanding of the rotor surface.

I have Stoptechs on my 4000lbs M5 and I can turn the rotors glow red on the track, but have never had a rotor "warp". I am not saying its impossible, but it is improbable. I could probally spray them with cold water and warp them

Always try to clear the surface of your rotor before you jump to a "warped" rotor situation. This is just my experience and I hope I can help some people from throwing away rotors

Thanks for your input. I rotated my tires today and did a visual inspection of the pads and rotors. The front pads looked to be at 50%, or better, of wear. The rears were a bit harder to asses. They looked thinner than the fronts, but I could still see plenty of pad there. I'm going to check the initial pad thickness in the FSM and compare that to what I have left.

Can you tell me more about cleaning deposits on the rotor? If I try the hard brake application, what would be a high speed? How hard is hard? Should I be triggering the ABS when I do that? If I go with sanding, what grit should I use? How would I actually do this? Spin the rotor and hold the pad against the rotor? Do I need to do circles or can I just sand back and forth? TIA.

[rdm190]

Originally Posted by adr5

Thanks for your input. I rotated my tires today and did a visual inspection of the pads and rotors. The front pads looked to be at 50%, or better, of wear. The rears were a bit harder to asses. They looked thinner than the fronts, but I could still see plenty of pad there. I'm going to check the initial pad thickness in the FSM and compare that to what I have left.

Can you tell me more about cleaning deposits on the rotor? If I try the hard brake application, what would be a high speed? How hard is hard? Should I be triggering the ABS when I do that? If I go with sanding, what grit should I use? How would I actually do this? Spin the rotor and hold the pad against the rotor? Do I need to do circles or can I just sand back and forth? TIA.

You don't need to lock up the ABS, sometimes just a nice hard stop from a hiway speed, say 80mph, will create enough heat and you can clear the deposits. What normally causes the deposits are over heated rotors and a stoplight. When you stop at a light with your foot on the brake, with a red hot rotor, this causes material to transfer.

This is an excellent article from Stoptech. I am in not way associated with them, I just have the utmost trust in their knowledge of braking technology. While the braking system on our MDX is in no way race car caliber, we still have a fairly heavy SUV with enough HP to require a demanding braking system. Check this link out:

StopTech : Balanced Brake Upgrades

Remember warping is still possible but is normally do to some other type of error, like some bonehead impacting your wheels lugs on to 200 ft/lbs.

Let me know if I can help any further!

-Ryan

[adr5]

Originally Posted by rdm190

You don't need to lock up the ABS, sometimes just a nice hard stop from a hiway speed, say 80mph, will create enough heat and you can clear the deposits. What normally causes the deposits are over heated rotors and a stoplight. When you stop at a light with your foot on the brake, with a red hot rotor, this causes material to transfer.
This is an excellent article from Stoptech. I am in not way associated with them, I just have the utmost trust in their knowledge of braking technology. While the braking system on our MDX is in no way race car caliber, we still have a fairly heavy SUV with enough HP to require a demanding braking system. Check this link out:
StopTech : Balanced Brake Upgrades
Remember warping is still possible but is normally do to some other type of error, like some bonehead impacting your wheels lugs on to 200 ft/lbs.
Let me know if I can help any further!
-Ryan

I knew that, I just forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder. I'll check out the link and follow the recommendations. The more I think about it the more I think this is probably the problem. I do recall having to make some quick stops just before the problem cropped up. I've done all of my own tire rotations using a torque wrench, so the rotors should have never experienced 200ft/lbs from a torque wrench.