I have owned my truck for a few years now and over this period of time I have serviced the brakes about two times. My question is does anyone make good rotors for this truck. I have used factory replacements as well as aftermarket rotors. I don’t drive like a maniac and brake hard so I don’t understand why my rotors seem to always warp. This always leads to an annoying brake pulsation.

Does anyone else have this problem? In my opinion it seems as if the front brakes on the truck are undersized for the vehicle and they get overworked under the load causing them to warp because of to much heat being put into them. I would love to have smooth as glass brakes on this truck since I drive it 66 miles a day.

 

One thing you need to do is make sure you tighten your lug nuts down to 140lbs. Use a torque wrench. A pound or 2 of difference will warp your rotors.

 

A big cause of warping is washing the truck/wheels while they are hot. If the rotors are hot do not spray cold water on them. The water in the road is not as much an issue since the rotors are in motion and dry/heat themself. Or getting them hot and running through a water hole and parking.

Excessive heat or heat and then cold temp changes will warp anything.

 

yea i have been told the exact same thing chopper just said many times. That is what i believe causes the most warping. going for a quick spin and them coming home and washing it. Cause them to warp.


BNB

 

I always hand tighten the wheels with a torque wrench to the proper specification, especially with new brakes. I know that with an impact gun you can warp a new rotor before you even hit the brakes for the first time.

One thing I also always do is use a touch less car wash. Obviously I drive to the car wash so the rotors are probably hot. I never actually thought of that one though. I do this mostly in the winter when it is to cold out to and wash the truck. This extreme temperature change on the rotor is probably not good at all for them.

Has anyone had any success with slotted or cross drilled rotors? Do they make a huge difference? I know they are readily available for the truck I just don’t know if they would be worth the hassle since they would most likely be subject to the same heating and cooling cycle.

 

Slotting and cross-drilling isn't so much for cooling as it is to carry off gasses and material released from the pads under severe braking conditions. In a panic stop, the heat generated will actually cause off-gassing from the linings which acts as a "lubricant" between the pad and the rotor. You're trying to force the pads through a layer of gas they are generating ... brake fade. The holes and slots give this material someplace to go allowing the pads to stay in contact with the rotor. They work ... believe me.

 

2 things... dont buy cheep rotors... I recommend power stop's and their pads... awesome results.

2nd make sure you bed the pads in correctly... incorrectly seated pads will cause crappy brake results.

 

I don't agree. I've NEVER torqued the wheels on any of my cars down to proper spec. I've used the generic 85 for all my cars and IIRC I only did my truck lugs in the front to 125 when I did my axle seals. I've never had a problem with warped rotors on any of my vehicles....at least with less than 60,000 on the rotor [8D]

 

The factory and my present wheels get torqued to 90-100 ft.lbs. The factory aluminum specs were 90-95.

For your 1997 Dodge Truck RAM 1500 1/2 ton 4WD:

Wheel Stud Torque 95 Foot pounds (Final torque)

 

Correct, I didn't even catch that one. [8D]

The acceptable range for 5 lug is 80-110

8 lug rims are in the 130-150 range for lug nut torque.

8 lug dually rims are in the 140-160 range.

GM torques all of their trucks (both 6 and 8 lug) to 140 [&:]

Also, I forgot to mention before that tightening them too tightly won't cause warpage. But, tightening them unevenly will (tightening them at different ratings). It's also not good to tighten the lug nuts down by going AROUND the wheel. It's always best to go in a criss-cross (X) when torquing down lug nuts.