Those brake techs are incorrect if they say rotors never warp. I've had plenty that have warped.

 

Ask any current or former Jeep ZJ or WJ Grand Cherokee owner if rotors warp. The ex wife had one ZJ and two WJS and I replaced warped ORIGINAL Mopar rotors on all three. Never seemed to have the problem with the Autozone ones I replaced them with...

 

I just asked myself, and nope no warped rotors on our 170K mile 98 ZJ

 

We've always known you're special oldjeep, LOL.

The ex-wife '98 made it to 22,000 and needed front pads and rotors. Her '02 and '04 hit 24k and 28k. Now granted her driving habits were horrendous, she was an all-gas/ all-brake driver, but on the Jeep forum I moderate, it's the single largest complaint in the old ZJ and WJ sections.

Although I get your point, I do have to admit, I owned my '04 Overland from '06 until '12 put over 75k miles on it and until I had a caliper lock up, obliterate the pad and gouge the hell out of the rotor, I never had to replace a rotor.

There are a huge number of threads in the 2nd and 3rd Gen Ram sections citing rotor warping issues. Put 68,000 miles on my 2nd Gen, traded with all original rotors. Put 63,000 miles on my 3rd Gen, sold with all original rotors AND I towed with both regularly.

Driving habits or just dumb luck???

 

I think it is driving habits, just based on anecdotal evidence. I know people who have brake problems with almost every car they have ever owned - my wife is one of them. Some driving styles just seem to destroy rotors.


My truck has 117K on it, the first 102K were on the factory rotors. Didn't have any vibration issues with them, they were just worn.

 

We had two GM Astro/Safari vans. I am a light brake user - I anticipate needing to stop or slow down and let off the gas early, and also use the transmission when it seems applicable (usually only when going down hill). The front rotors on both vans rarely lasted over 25k or so. I tried OEM ones and several aftermarket ones - no difference. They just were under engineered in my opinion. That's what happens when you use a car suspension on a truck.

 

Never had a rotor actually warp. Plenty of chatter as the pad deposited too much material and it became uneven, but not actually warped. Just changed my rears this weekend. Used Wagner rotors, Raybestos pads. Took the time to bed them in right and most times make 50k easy. And in western PA with all the steep hills, that's pretty good.

 

Yep, they do warp. In my instance, one in the front and one in the rear. Not by much either. Bad rotors were out by only 2 to 3 thousands but that was enough to bring on the braking issues. OE stuff was TRW and they've been making brake parts for a long time. However, both the bad rotors had a healthy amount of material machined from one point on the OD and into the cooling vanes of the rotor. Ostensibly this is to balance the rotor but I have to ask: What's up with your metallurgy if you gotta grind that much off the OD to balance a rotor? Me thinks that the amount of material that was removed from the bad rotors ultimately contributed to their deforming. Sux too because the pads on both ends were only 50 percent worm.