Re: PT Cruiser 2001 - Brakes (Autozone)

"Just Me (remove <nospam> to reply)" <2000-nospam-cam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in

message news:N6Yzj.19845$ES.5043@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Ok here's the problem.
>
> I've changed my own brakes forever and never had this problem.  I got
new 
> rotors and pads at Autozone.  Then about 6 months in I started hearing a

> grinding or groaning sound while braking.
>
> I looked at the pads and they had tons of life.  I looked at the rotors 
> and they were smooth.  Nothing seemed wrong.  I wen on driving for a
year 
> plus more just living with it as it seemed to stop well and it wasn't
warn 
> out.
>
> I finally gave up and decided to get my rotors turned as they seemed 
> weirdly worn.  The pad wore a groove the entire size of the pad into the

> rotor.  On other cars they seem to wear all the way out to the edge of
the 
> rotor I think.  This looked odd.  But, I turned them to totally flat
again 
> and got new pads (for free because of lifetime warranty.)
>
> I installed them all and viola, the noise was gone.  Cool.
>
> Then about 2 months later the groaning is back.  There is no deep groove

> yet but they are wearing out the same.
>
> A couple of questions:
>
> Do others see that PT rotors wear out this way?  Wide groove.
>
> Would the drum brakes in the back have anything to do with this?  There
is 
> no noise back there and I haven't changed them in all this time. They 
> hardly wear out fast.
>
> Might these just be bad rotors?  Soft like silly putty?
>
> Don't want to reinvent the wheel (pun intended) or spend a ton on the
car.
>
Could be that those pads are unusually hard. (Not unreasonable,
considering 
they're giving you such a long warranty on them.) This is why you don't
want 
to use race duty pads on your street car. Hard pads last longer, but eat
the 
rotors (and, incidentally, don't stop as well as softer one, unless you're

racing & getting them very hot).