All rotors warped at 55k miles

[BLFarnsworth]

I have a 2015 Fusion Energi, live in So Cal, and drive (I'm guessing) 65% highway / 35% city. I drive pretty conservatively - try to keep my braking score up and maximize regen -- but just recently I found that the whole car shakes while moderately braking. Dealer says they're warped but can turn the rotors and replace brake pads. The brake pads look in great shape, about only 10-20% of them gone.

 

2 questions:

 

1: is it normal to have all the brake rotors warped on this vehicle at around 55k miles? I know that brake pad & rotor wear depends on how hard you drive, environment (i.e., the plains vs. mountains), how many passengers on average in the car, etc.

 

2: even though the dealer says they can turn the rotors, would you just replace them (the rotors)? Dealer here says that turning the rotors and installing new brake pads would run about $350-375 for all four wheels

 

Any info would be appreciated!

[murphy]

Brake rotors warp because they have been overheated.  Do you brake with your left foot?

[BLFarnsworth]

I brake with my right foot (funny - my mom used to drive with two feet; she'd brake with her left foot [while probably slightly stepping on it all the time] and it drove me nuts).

 

I completely get it that brake rotors warp due to overheating (i.e. applying brakes during a long downhill stops, then while the car is stopped... the brake pads are still applying pressure to one [hot] spot on the rotors) while the other part of the rotor is cooling... Or repeated hard braking. I'm pretty cognizant of lightly applying the brakes, getting as much regen and keeping my brake score high.

 

I'm sure I've had a few hard stops in the time I've had the car, but not a whole lot of them. Of course, I don't have a way to record the number of hard stops (like some of the speed/braking monitors available nowadays); I wish I did. I'm just surprised that all the rotors are warped after just 55k on this car.

 

Or is this typical for these Fusion Energis? Thanks in advance.

Edited July 14, 2017 at 10:22 PM by BLFarnsworth

[storksb]

I would take it to another shop to get a second opinion, rotors should not be warped with such mileage unless lots of heavy repeated braking.  is it possible shaking caused by something else in the braking system?

[BLFarnsworth]

I would take it to another shop to get a second opinion, rotors should not be warped with such mileage unless lots of heavy repeated braking.  is it possible shaking caused by something else in the braking system?

 

Thanks for the reply, and yep, I just scheduled an inspection at an independent repair shop tomorrow morning... I also wondered about something else in the braking system - we'll see, but I sure hope it isn't the ABS going bad on me! 

[openair]

Don't machine them. I had mine machined and three months later, without hard braking, they were pitted and needed machining or replacing again. If they're already warped from over heating, when they're thinner after the machining, they warp even easier.

[BLFarnsworth]

Don't machine them. I had mine machined and three months later, without hard braking, they were pitted and needed machining or replacing again. If they're already warped from over heating, when they're thinner after the machining, they warp even easier.

 

 

Yeah, after thinking about the fact that the rotors were going to be much thinner - and more likely to warp sooner... I decided to just replace all the rotors.

 

Here's the summary... I took the car to 2 different Ford dealerships, and they both told me that the rotors were warped and that they could turn all rotors and "de-glaze" the brake pads.

 

First, I understand it when you have to resurface the rotors to even out the surface, but machining warped rotors means that you have to strip away everything that's "warped" on both sides. Who knows how much material that'll really remove from the rotor... I'm sure a lot more material than if you were just smoothing out the surface (of a rotor that isn't warped). So, just like openair said, the rotors would be a lot thinner and probably will warp easier.

 

Second, de-glazing pads? I guess there's still a lot of pad left so they said they'd basically sand down the surface. I've never done that before, but... OK.

 

I decided to take the car to an independent shop; I can get 4 new rotors and all new brake pads for about $50.00 than what the dealers would charge to turn the rotors and "de-glaze" the pads -- that seems a better use of $ to me.

 

Anyway, I'm still not that happy about having to replace all these brake components after 55k miles... On a hybrid, no less! I used to unequivocally recommend this Fusion Energi, but now will warn any prospective buyers that they might have to replace the damn rotors and pads earlier than they expect. 

Edited July 18, 2017 at 08:01 PM by BLFarnsworth

[Davidoo]

Yeah, after thinking about the fact that the rotors were going to be much thinner - and more likely to warp sooner... I decided to just replace all the rotors.

 

Here's the summary... I took the car to 2 different Ford dealerships, and they both told me that the rotors were warped and that they could turn all rotors and "de-glaze" the brake pads.

 

First, I understand it when you have to resurface the rotors to even out the surface, but machining warped rotors means that you have to strip away everything that's "warped" on both sides. Who knows how much material that'll really remove from the rotor... I'm sure a lot more material than if you were just smoothing out the surface (of a rotor that isn't warped). So, just like openair said, the rotors would be a lot thinner and probably will warp easier.

 

Second, de-glazing pads? I guess there's still a lot of pad left so they said they'd basically sand down the surface. I've never done that before, but... OK.

 

I decided to take the car to an independent shop; I can get 4 new rotors and all new brake pads for about $50.00 than what the dealers would charge to turn the rotors and "de-glaze" the pads -- that seems a better use of $ to me.

 

Anyway, I'm still not that happy about having to replace all these brake components after 55k miles... On a hybrid, no less! I used to unequivocally recommend this Fusion Energi, but now will warn any prospective buyers that they might have to replace the damn rotors and pads earlier than they expect. 

 

I don't know what to say about this only that I believe this is highly unusual.  I now have a 2017 Energi with only 6,000 miles, so obviously no brake issues.  However, I had a 2011 Fusion Hybrid and put 100,000 miles on it and the brakes were straight and plenty of pad still left.  With the hybrids, seems like the brakes should last longer than most other cars, and that was my experience.

[rbort]

If you're hand, brakes are very easy to do.  You could replace the rotors and pads yourself and it would cost much less.

 

For the record, I drove my Cmax to 73k miles and the brakes were still like new, I regen very well, 99% brake score lifetime average.

 

-=>Raja.

Edited July 19, 2017 at 03:07 AM by rbort

[Tammap]

Read every words in the attachment and you'll very soon know more about brake than most part exchangers out there.

 

http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=auto_pres

 

Enjoy!

[Paul Creed III]

My 2017 has 15,000 miles, I am easy on the brakes (still on the first set of pads), and the front rotors needing machining and the rears replaced. Tech blamed it on the weather. 

[muzicman61]

Tech blamed it on the weather = idiotic tech

[Davidoo]

Yes, an idiot tech.  These cars should get way more mileage out of the brakes than others due to the regenerative braking.  As I said before, I traded my 2011 Fusion hybrid for the 2017 FFE.  I had just a few miles short of 100,000 miles and the brakes had never been touched.

[rspray]

This happened to me on my 2013 FFE - all 4 warped at ~50k miles.  I probably drove on them ~2-3k because I was in disbelief - I'm rarely slowing from highway speeds and have a braking score of like 98%.  I wasn't thrilled when they told me, but was out of warranty.

[jj2me]

Could you have been stabbing the pedal at low speeds when encountering traffic lights that turn quickly amber then red? On another car that's what happened to me, I once wore out my brakes (I forget now, rotors or pads or both) within 10,000 miles because I had been driving on such a road and was careful to stop on amber because my last two tickets were from running red lights. Since the braking was at such low speeds, it didn't seem like hard braking.

[rspray]

I could probably count on 1 hand the number of times I stamped on the brakes, low speed or high.  I'm in the Northeast, but haven't noticed a particular (visual) issue with oxidation.  That said, besides the brake replacement and the $600 estimate for replacement of my charge port door, I've been really happy with the car.