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DrBoost on September 10, 2009

Seems there are lots of ticked-off folks out there with Chevrolet Impalas with brake problems. More specifically, warped rotors. What you'll feel is a pulsating when you hit the brake pedal, like someone is under your foot, pushing up on the brake pedal. Depending on who you take it to you will have a few options. Some will want to replace the brake pads, some will want to turn the rotors and some will want to replace the So, you have 3 choices, and only one of them COULD fix the problem. Replacing the pads will do nothing for the warped rotors. See, your rotor is just a metal disc that your wheel is bolted to. The rotor must be perfectly straight with no run-out. Run-out is the rotor not being straight. Remember your old record player? The arm would kind of ride up and down on the record because they were never really perfectly straight. Same with your rotor. But that lateral movement get's transmitted to your foot. Anyway, replacing the pads will do nothing for your warped rotors. The second option is to turn the rotors. Basically turning rotors is shaving them to make them perfectly straight. I don't recommend this. It will take the pulsating away, but I'd bet it'll be back. First off, the rotor is now thinner, this makes it more prone to warping. Second, you are still using that inferior rotor, and that is the problem in the first place. So, the best option is to replace the rotors. But don't bother getting them from the dealership. Go to a nice mom-and-pop auto parts store and buy the middle of the road or a bit higher rotors. Now, there are other things that can help avoid the warped rotors. This applies to ALL cars. Make sure the wheels are installed properly. This means the lug nuts should be put on in a criss-cross pattern for wheels with an even number of lug nuts. If you have 5 lug nuts, as you tighten them, to either counter clockwise or clockwise, doesn't matter, just make sure you skip every other lug nut. And do not over tighten them. This can warp a rotor quickly. The proper lug nut torque is normally 100 ft. lbs. So, that's it in a nutshell. Replace the rotors but don't waste your money on the GM parts. They are the problem in the first place.