legacycentral bbs

I just removed my front rotors and had them resurfaced at Napa and installed new OEM pads. My brakes are still "juddering" although not as bad.

Could this be coming from the rear brakes or is there something I overlooked.? It only happens upon braking...

thanks, mp

Do you feel the juddering in the pedal or in the steering wheel? Typically out-of-true rear rotors feel like a juddering in the brake pedal but not in the steering wheel.

You bedded in the new pads correctly, right?

The rears are drums, right? Likely not the cause. Could be wheel bearings, or the rotors simply being to worn to be properly resurfaced.

Did you properly break in the pads? Did you do any hard braking then come to a full stop?

all 4 discs on all bc/bf's in the states

well technically yes there are drums in the rear.

My 95L FWD had rear drums, so I was just making sure.

only feeling the "juddering" at the pedal and my 94 Legacy wagon FWD definitely has disc brakes in the rear...

when the rotors were turned they were checked and within specs.

What does the rotor surface look like? If its heavily blacked it may be heat damage to the rotor. Also, if the wheels weren't torqued evenly they can be warped.

I've seen an early Legacy with drum brakes in the rear. A Subaru mechanic also told me it was a 1.8. It had the unpainted bumpers and roll up windows of the base model.

Steve

rotors shiney and smooth in back just as they were up front...

After many years screwing around with brake rotors, I've come to the firm conclusion that turning rotors is a waste of time, if there was any evidence of warp in the first place. If you think of it, cutting warped rotors turns off the high spots, and they seem nice and smooth on the lathe, but once heat cycled they warp again more often than not. Considering the reasonable price of new rotors, I just can the old ones and do a complete brake job. Usually I'll change front pads once between new rotors, and rears last so long I'll just fit new rotors after the 50k or so miles it takes to wear pads.

But check the torque on the wheel fasteners first

Well do to the inflated costs of parts in Hawaii I elected to have the rear rotors turned and viola that fixed the problem.

Mind you they looked and felt fine just as the fronts did before turning. I asked the technician if they were significantly out of round and he said they were not bad at all.

It seems to me that Subaru rotors are more likely to judder than either the Volvo or Acura vehicles I have maintained in the past.

Smooth brakes are essential. Thanks for all the help!

mp

They do seem very sensitive to warping.

Steve