as the title suggests, i think my front rotors need machining again on my el fairmont ghia. This will be the third time in 8 months. Why? First time was when i just bought the car - fair enough they hadnt been maintained. Second time the pads were shagged so they needed to be machined again (this was 6 weeks ago), and now they are shuddering under braking again.

I had bendix pads put on, i have heard some pads can increase the chance of the rotors warping, is this the case? or are the rotors just that old i need new ones? My mechanic said i was lucky to get away with machining them the last time.

i really cant be bothered having to have the brakes looked at every 2 months, there is already enough s**t to fix on this car.

that is not too dear for slotted i guess. So because they are slotted they are less likely to warp because the dissipate heat better? And if my current rotors have been machined a few times, when they get thinner they warp easier?

Just trying to get by head around why i need to machine my rotors so damn often..

i think it may be the case of the rotors bein too thin so they warp ezy.
From wat ive heard from other members of my family ef and el falcons seem to be seceptable to warped rotors... i dont know why.
When i brought my el falcon the rotors wer soo fukd it was like holdin on to a paint shaker everytime i braked. Lol. it was truely horrendous.
But then i brought some new rotors from supercheap and never had a problem again... went on to own the car for almost 4 years or so. funny that.. still miss it. lol.

I agree, get some new rotors.

Also, check that your rear calipers aren't fully or partially seized, resulting in the fronts doing all the work. This is more likely if the brake fluid has never been changed and it never gets changed on poorly maintained cars. Also, one of the fronts might be seized, putting most of the load on the good front rotor.

My rears were full of rusty gunk when I brought the car. I cleaned them up and put new seals and pistons in, and good as new.

make sure your caliper slides aren't seized. i'm actually about to go to my work this morning and machine all 4 discs for the same reason. make sure your discs aren't undersized or of a poor aftermarket quality

i just put slotted/vented discs on the front of my el, and noticed the caliper slides were very sticky too. a quick clean and regrease solved this problem

Repco deal finishes tomorrow; two rotors and pads and brake fluid for $99. Can't get much better than that for normal gear. In my experience, harder pads have caused rotors to warp especiallly if you are a hard on your brakes. Something to do of the normal operating heat range of your pads and rotors. Normal pads, if they get too hot will burn and score the rotors and maybe warp them. Race pads operate at higher temperatures but because of this, they are not effective at normal street temperatures which is why they need to be warmed up. I would suggest you ask yourself how you use your brakes and buy the right gear accordingly, otherwise just go easy. As fairmont said, a lot of people forget to grease the caliper slides; some are as hard as rock! What rotors do you have at the moment?

i thort you could only really get one maybe two skims off a rotor depending on servarity befor it reaches its minimum thickness? upgrade to good quality pads and rotors and dont ride the breaks

i was gunna say the same as jim. although autos will always be worse on brakes than manuals in general.
most falcons after the 90s had brake rotors made from chewing gum which was fine on cfi ea's. power increased a fair whack for ford over a few years and the brakes never seemed to evolve for a while. i can't say much about post bf but i can say that i didnt even bother skimming the standard rotors on my bf at 80,000 when shuddering i just bought cross drilled & slotted rotors for cheaper than i couldve got oem fraud replacements.
everytime you machine a disc you reduce it's heat resistance making it more prone to warping, thats not taking into the account the metallurgical aspect of having your rotors that hot they've warped and just skimming them cold and expecting them to live up to previous expectations... not likely. they've done you well, it's time to sign them off....safety related consumable.

another thing to look at is the blocked up front air dams in the front bumper (if they are blank). ducting brakes is far more benificial and economical than you think. i did one side at a time on my ea and when tested from higher speeds the difference on initial braking was non-existant, however the longer you hung on the brakes the more the car pulled to the side that was ducted. not scientific evidence, but evidence none the less that factory 'vented' brakes are asthmatic.

also the shaft behind the booster, there is an adjustment nut, undoing it can help alot, from factory they where usually to tight and caused the pads to always sit on the rotors and cause excess heat

gearbox-suspension-brake-driveline-f4/found-common-brake-shudder-fixes-t97736.html
have a look, id say if its not the master cylinder failing to release, its a caliper slide needing grease. its not standard grease either, special high temp stuff. check the gators on the slides too

dont be silly, just put line lockers on the front! LOL!

Machining is a temporary fix at best unless you really baby it.

Maybe as it is a bit more tedious to change on E series you might consider machining, but for the ease of changing and cost of new rotors on my AU there is no point in machining.

If your going to put on slotted rotors, don't use Bendix General CT pads

See this thread gearbox-suspension-brake-driveline-f4/burnt-rotors-so-which-pads-now-t97985.html?hilit=rotors

The burnt sections in the rotor are actual pad material burnt onto the disc. This gives the same feeling as a warped rotor. The rotors needed machining but not because they were warped, just to clean this crap off. I now have Bendix Heavy Duty which are recommended by DBA and Bendix