How long do rotors last?

Hi,
I just found this site. I have a 2000 grand jeep cherokee that stinks.
I had to have the rotors resurfaced at 13,000 miles, along with new pads. Now at 46,000 miles they are warped again. I've had 3 other suvs that I kept for 100,000 miles or close to it, all other brands, and not once had a problem with rotors. Now with this Jeep I'm having problems twice already. Can anyone tell me how long rotors last under normal city driving conditions. Not in stop and go traffic? It seems to me that they should last longer than they have. I need a reply so I can argue my point with the dealership. Thanks for any help.

Welcome Jeep forums.

There are a number of factors that affect rotor life so you shouldn't get to heavy on the dealer.

The fact that they have been turned is a strike against them staying straight in the first place.

There simply is not enough metal even in new rotors to allow them to keep their strength after turning - especially the composite rotors(steel centers and cast wear rings).

What condition are the caliper slides in? Were the wheel nuts torqued evenly and correctly at every wheel removal? Both of these can affect the warping of rotors.

I guess I am not being as encouraging as you may have hoped but Jeep is not the only make that has problems in this area. It does not help when shops recommend or proceed with repairs that will not last.

If it was this dealer that turned the rotors at 13K and it was not explained to you what turning might do to the rotors then that may be your best hope at this time.

All this is aside, other causes may be contributing to the situation as well.

JD

mine gets wheeled regularly and I average 30-40,000 between rotor/pad changes. if you live in a hot/rainy climate, you get a lot of hot rotor/cold splashing water that can warp them. but on top of that, rotors are NOT a dealer warranty item. just go down to your local Checker or other Raybestos parts distributor and pick up the lifetime pads and rotors.

What I dont get is how could your roters only last 13,000 miles? Unless you go alot of hard braking, or ride the brakes alot, that just doesnt seem possible. If the problem is truly not your fault, then I think it would be just faulty brakes. Twice seems nearly impossible. My 95 GC has the same brakes that it did when it rolled off the assembly line. And it stops great for 10 year old pads and discs. But then again, I baby my Jeep like none other, which means I brake as little as I can. But if you want to replace the brakes with aftermarket ones, you cant go wrong with Brembo.

Thanks for the replys. I feel that I am a decent driver. I don't drive double footed and not real fast so I have to break all of the sudden. My sister had also purchased a Jeep at the same time I did. She too had problems with her rotors at the 13,000 mile mark. She sold her jeep after 1 year because of all the problems she was having. I too have had other problems that took them some time to figure out. Four visits for one of them. I kind of feel like I might have a lemon. I'm getting ready to head to the dealershiip today. Should I have them turn them again or tell them to replace them? I wish I could do the work myself but I'm just no good in that area. It still seams like they were faulty from the get go warping at only 13,000 miles.

My wife's 99 GC rotors warped out @ 8k and about every 8-10k after that. The dealer kept swapping out the rotors with new ones until 36k when he said warranty expired.
Replaced them with slotted rotors and have about 50k on them with 1 warp out (had tires replaced and tire jockey didn't torque wheel down).
BTW i had a 93 GC never had problem with rotors until they were replaced under a recall and they wore out in under 15k.

My 04 Dakota's rotors warped @ 13k

See a pattern here?

I just came back from leaving my jeep with the dealer. I waited there until they came back with a diagnoses. He said they will resurface the rotors at no charge. The break pads are still good. The back breaks however need to be replaced. At 47,775 miles that is understood. I asked why the rotors keep warping. He gave the explanation of if you make a sudden stop just even one time, that could cause your rotors to warp. I don't think I exactly believe this. But that was all he was offering. After I got home I looked back at my records. Should have done this before I went. At 16,099 miles the dealership resurfaced front and rear rotors. At 34,841 miles the dealership replaced the front brake calipers, rotors and pads. At 47,775 miles (today) the dealership is resurfacing the front rotors. So about every 13,000 - 18,000 miles I've had problems with the rotors. Could it be possible that the year of my jeep (2000) there was something wrong with the braking system that involved these parts? I wonder if they just put the basic rotors on? Should I insist that they put a different type on with more ventilation? I guess I can probably count on seeing them in another 14,000 miles. I just don't know what to ask them that will satisfy my question WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING!!!! They don't give me an adequate answer. The head of the service dept. just brushed me off on the phone saying its not under warranty and it's the way you drive. The heck it is. I never had a problem with any of my other vehicles. All at or close to 100,000 miles. Not one time! I don't drive any different and live in the same area almost exactly. Thanks for letting me vent. Phew!

might be a good time to learn how to do your own brake job. not hard and will save a bunch of money. there is a reason I avoid the Stealershiip at all costs, all they want is YOUR money. the techs down at Jeep hate it when I can diagnose a problem.

Tracy, if you look at other posts here, you'll see that WJs are notorious for the warped rotors deal, and a few mechanics have said that Chrysler has done a lot to try and take care of it with no luck. This is why your dealer keeps on fixing it. I believe the warranty doesn't even cover the brakes beyond 10,000 miles.

But one thing I've heard over and over. Whenever you take off a tire, make sure you use a torque wrench to torque all the lug nuts down to the specified torque. (I've heard that this is the biggest thing you can do to prolong the life of the rotors on these Jeeps)

Others have replaced their rotors with higher quality ones and have had better luck.

You've probably found by now many follks griping just like us. I had the same issue with my 2000 GC. Without going into details, 'cause there's nothing you can do to save your brakes from this happening agaian and again if you stick with oem replacements. You must upgrade the rotors slotted or slotted/drilled to dissipate the heat and use heavier duty pads. And also use steel rotors, one-piece. There have been a few technical bulletins put forth, if you search you'll see the numbers. But, I'm just gonna break it down like this...The caliper design creates a wave, different than typical warping, preventing and adjustments to them. That is, compounded with the two-piece rotor design (steel hub and composite rotor) that molds to this pattern under the heat stress. After reading many many posts, I feel that my suggestion will significantly increase the time I will continue to like my JEEP>

There is a DaimlerChrysler class action lawsuit about this.

The contact I saw was Lenexa lawyer Michael Hodges at 913-888-7100

I believe the problem is with the caliper. It has two large pistons and applies a lot more force to the brake pads and rotors. I found that replacing the rotors with Bendex suv rotors will help extend the life of the rotor. The Bendex pads last forever, I've had the same pads and rotors for over 45K on my YJ running 33 inch tires. Try the Bendex

I have the same problem with my brakes. On my 2004 Grand Cherokee, the rotors warp every 6-8,000 miles. I now have 26,000 miles on my Jeep and the rotors are warped for the 4th time. Seems like when I take a long trip, drive for 250+ miles without stopping and then braking, the rotors are warped and they seemed fine when I started the trip. I also had a 2002 Grand Cherokee and never had any rotor problems. I know of 2 other Grand Cherokee's that have similar problems and both as mine have the chrome wheels. My 2002 and another friend who has a 1999 with no problems have the standard wheels. I know that the type of wheels shouldn't make the rotors heat up, but does make me wonder a bit.

#1 cause of rotor warping is incorrect torquing of the wheel nuts.

second to that is corrosion/dirt on the wheel mount surfaces when the nuts are tightened.

Rotors with a stamped steel center are more sensitive to this mishandling.

Another thing that happens that mimics a warped rotor is the result of stopping when the rotors are hot and a small amount of pad material sticks to the rotor creating a high spot when the parts cool. Again, some pad materials are more prone to this than others.

A seized piston or sticky caliper slides will add heat to the rotor and pads by not retracting when the brakes are released. This places a side force on the rotor and it cools in a warped position.

Many owners miss the relation ship of warped rotors and the fact that they just had tire work done on their vehicle. Tire rotations, flat repairs and seasonal tire changes are all opportunities for the improper tighteneing of wheel nuts.

The small $ invested in a click type torque wrench with a range of 20-150 ftlbs is worth it so you can double check the work of the tire shops. It should save atleast some of the rotor failures that people experience.

JD

Of course those are all true statements. You seem to know your stuff. Your explanation helps ereryone to understand the root causes of the GC front brake problems. Except for the wheel torquing, which would only make it worse, the GC's that exhibit the warping have steel center/composite rotors, two piston calipers, and pads that do not have adequate heat dissipation and tend to stick. The system just wasn't designed to handle the way we drive Jeeps. I ordered a set of front drilled brakes and ceramic pads for my 2000 GC just the other day from JCWhitney. I hope a lotta people read this thread, it could save them plenty of $$$.

Of course those are all true statements. You seem to know your stuff. Your explanation helps ereryone to understand the root causes of the GC front brake problems. Except for the wheel torquing, which would only make it worse, the GC's that exhibit the warping have steel center/composite rotors, two piston calipers, and pads that do not have adequate heat dissipation and tend to stick. The system just wasn't designed to handle the way we drive Jeeps. I ordered a set of front drilled brakes and ceramic pads for my 2000 GC just the other day from JCWhitney. I hope a lotta people read this thread, it could save them plenty of $$$.

Please explain what you mean in reference to wheel torquing making it worse.

:confused:

My 2004 Grand Cherokee that has had warped rotors 4 times in 26,000 miles has always had the wheels torqued to 95lbs every time the wheels have been remove and this was also when the rotors were replaced each time. Never had a flat. As far as a dirt problem - only the dealership would know about this, when they changed the rotors each time. I'm pretty sure the calipers were replace the last time also - 6,000 miles ago

Please explain what you mean in reference to wheel torquing making it worse.

:confused:

Here's what I meant. If someone isn't torqueing their wheels properly, it's going to make a rotor that's prone to warping even worse.

Remember all 1999-2000 GC owners.

Lugs tightened to 80-110!
Caliper retaining mount bolts to 66-85!
Caliper slidepin bolts to 21-30!

Just finished my install of rotors from JCWhitney, unfortunately, they sent me pads for the Teves caliper, while I have the Akebono. So I had to run out and get some semi-metallic from a local carquest.
All in all, once ALL supplies had been purchased it took about 2 hours to complete the entire rotor and caliper replacement. I recommend that every Jeep owner do this.

Of course those are all true statements. You seem to know your stuff. Your explanation helps ereryone to understand the root causes of the GC front brake problems. Except for the wheel torquing, which would only make it worse, the GC's that exhibit the warping have steel center/composite rotors, two piston calipers, and pads that do not have adequate heat dissipation and tend to stick. The system just wasn't designed to handle the way we drive Jeeps. I ordered a set of front drilled brakes and ceramic pads for my 2000 GC just the other day from JCWhitney. I hope a lotta people read this thread, it could save them plenty of $$$.
I have to disagree with you on a few things you said.First of all,those are not composite rotors.They are solid 1 piece cast iron rotors.I know this because I work at a dealer and I have changed quite a few of them.The older jeeps had composite rotors but the Wjs which have the problem have solid rotors.Also you say the pads dont have adequate heat dissipation.How did you arrive at that conclusion?If you ask me,those are some pretty good sized brake pads,they seem like they should be able to dissipate heat better than the older jeeps that had pads half the size and they didn't warp rotors like these things.But thats just my opinion.The part you said about the system is not designed to handle the way we drive our jeeps I also disagree.Most people that have this problem just drive normally.Basically what I'm trying to say is,yeah,these things have a problem.It's something in the design and chrysler tried to fix it once and they failed miserably.In 99 they used the teves parts and when they started warping rotors they had us cutting them on the car.Guess what it didn't fix it.Then they came out with the akebono stuff.I think that was around 01.They thought it was the calipers and they were so sure that it would fix it.Obviously,wrong again.They tried blaming mechanics for not installing the parts correctly after they started to come back.I always wondered why the ones the guys at the factory put on were warping at 8000 miles then.One thing I do agree with but I think you dont,is that if you do not torque the lug nuts correctly,you will have a problem.And in a lot of cases instantly.I work with some clowns that do not believe in using anything other than their Ingersol set as high as it goes to put wheels on.I have seen them do something as simple as a tire rotation and the customer comes back thesame day complaining that their brakes which did not pulsate before they brought the jeep in are pulsating now.Now i have seen only a few people using drilled rotors at the shop and I have not heard any complaints so you might have the only real fix for this.I know chrysler can't fix it.Also to anyone else who has this problem,I have seen chrysler buy rotors for customers long after their warranty is expired.They definetly wont advertise that but if you have a history of trouble and you make enough noise,they might try and help out.If the dealer wont help,call chrysler.Its chryslers money and their decision not the dealers.Dealers are completely independent businesses from chrysler.They are authorized to sell and repair vehicles,but they don't build them and they can't decide if any repairs can or can't be warranteed.They might try to B.S. you but Chrysler really makes the call.