Last summer, I put new front rotors and pads on my MKZ. I used NAPA premium pads and rotors.
I call these "nearly new" because of how little I've driven the car in the past year between my wife doing most of the long distance driving and my going into the office two days a week if that. My notes indicate a bit over 5K miles. No one but me has touched the wheels/lug nuts since I put them on, and my usual install process, all in a star pattern, is snug with a 12" ratchet, torque in a star to 50 ft-lbs, and torque again to 100 ft-lbs.
I don't know how I could possibly had overheated these or done anything that would cause pad transfer. Most of my driving is low speed around-town or open road 70mph. It's flat enough around here that I'm not on them that much to keep speed in check, and my commute to work has little enough traffic around that sudden or hard stops are a rare event.
Still, though, I've developed a NASTY vibration/pulsation. I'm putting it on the front brakes because I feel it in the steering wheel when I'm on the brakes, and it's there even with fairly light braking.
I'm GUESSING I've developed a rotor issue, but again I don't see that I've done anything that would have caused it.
None the less, I'm wondering about remedies. I hate to dump these pads with this little mileage on them, but also I wouldn't want to do anything to the rotors without putting new pads with them.
As I see it, I have two basic options:
1. Turn the rotors, which I can have done locally for $10 each. My worry on that is that there's some sort of defect in the rotors that caused uneven wear and vibration in the first place, and turning would just hide it for a few more miles
2. Replace
Looking at options, I can get the same NAPA Premiums for $46, on up to $66 for Ultra Premium(and a "Proformer" between the two). They also have a "Freemont" brand rotor for $125(ouch) and say "Freemont is an OEM manufacturer"(although I don't know if that means OEM to the car...the phrasing makes me think not).
I can also get Motorcraft for $71.65 at the dealer.
Part of me is tempted to try turning since it's 1/5 the cost of even the least expensive option, and I know true rotors aren't necessarily guaranteed out of the box.
Still, though, if I'm going to fix this I want to not deal with this again for a while.
Any suggestions first of all if I could be overlooking something that points to it not being a brake/rotor issue, and second what you all would do in my situation.
I call these "nearly new" because of how little I've driven the car in the past year between my wife doing most of the long distance driving and my going into the office two days a week if that. My notes indicate a bit over 5K miles. No one but me has touched the wheels/lug nuts since I put them on, and my usual install process, all in a star pattern, is snug with a 12" ratchet, torque in a star to 50 ft-lbs, and torque again to 100 ft-lbs.
I don't know how I could possibly had overheated these or done anything that would cause pad transfer. Most of my driving is low speed around-town or open road 70mph. It's flat enough around here that I'm not on them that much to keep speed in check, and my commute to work has little enough traffic around that sudden or hard stops are a rare event.
Still, though, I've developed a NASTY vibration/pulsation. I'm putting it on the front brakes because I feel it in the steering wheel when I'm on the brakes, and it's there even with fairly light braking.
I'm GUESSING I've developed a rotor issue, but again I don't see that I've done anything that would have caused it.
None the less, I'm wondering about remedies. I hate to dump these pads with this little mileage on them, but also I wouldn't want to do anything to the rotors without putting new pads with them.
As I see it, I have two basic options:
1. Turn the rotors, which I can have done locally for $10 each. My worry on that is that there's some sort of defect in the rotors that caused uneven wear and vibration in the first place, and turning would just hide it for a few more miles
2. Replace
Looking at options, I can get the same NAPA Premiums for $46, on up to $66 for Ultra Premium(and a "Proformer" between the two). They also have a "Freemont" brand rotor for $125(ouch) and say "Freemont is an OEM manufacturer"(although I don't know if that means OEM to the car...the phrasing makes me think not).
I can also get Motorcraft for $71.65 at the dealer.
Part of me is tempted to try turning since it's 1/5 the cost of even the least expensive option, and I know true rotors aren't necessarily guaranteed out of the box.
Still, though, if I'm going to fix this I want to not deal with this again for a while.
Any suggestions first of all if I could be overlooking something that points to it not being a brake/rotor issue, and second what you all would do in my situation.