[CARR601]

I'm on my 3rd set of front disks and after 2000ish miles brake judder has returned again. I have measured the run out on the hubs and everything looks fine. I make sure the hubs are clean when replacing the disks and it still comes back after a couple thousand miles. Requiring new disks.

The judder happens at all speeds, increasing with frequency as the car speeds up. My guess is the disks are getting DTV.

Has anyone else had this issue and if so, has anyone been able to get the root cause? I'm looking at replacing the hub as it's the last thing I can think of to replace (even if it is in spec). Thought I would ask the question to see if anyone on here has experienced this. Thanks

[AlpineX]

What brand parts are you using? Do you often have to sit at a stoplight at the bottom of large hill?

[CARR601]

Pagid disks and Eircher disks. No I don't, I wish it was something as simple as that. On my third set I was really conscious of keeping my foot on the brake when stopped. I'm going to get a micrometer on the disks at some point to confirm the DTV. I'm at a bit of a loss.

[StannisBaratheon]

Are the wheel lugs torqued to spec? Over torqued lugs can cause pulsing brakes.

[dan of montana]

Did you replace pads too? Warped discs shape the pads in irregular ways. If you replaced the rotors and not the pads, the pads would then influence the new rotors to wear in an odd way too. Or, the irregularly worn pads contacting now flat rotors could produce something similar.

The other thought is tires.

[deviantspeed]

Originally Posted by AlpineX

What brand parts are you using? Do you often have to sit at a stoplight at the bottom of large hill?

These posts irritate me. What is a solution that you are thinking about? What did the OP miss?

Hmmm, sitting at a stoplight at the bottom of a large hill for several thousand miles?

Something is probably getting loose. Are you torquing all bolts to spec? Any chance of a bearing or maybe a control arm that has some wiggle in it?

Do the rotors look like they have been hot from maybe a sticking caliper, that's probably harder to diag for the average guy that wrenches.

Obviously hard to diag over the 'net, but those are a few things that come to mind. I'm not asking if you parked on a snail or a blade of grass for no specific reason.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by deviantspeed

These posts irritate me. What is a solution that you are thinking about? What did the OP miss?

Hmmm, sitting at a stoplight at the bottom of a large hill for several thousand miles?

Why irritate you?

Sitting on the foot brake with hot discs (rotors) is a possible cause for repeat warping rotors. Possibility has to be eliminated with internet trouble shooting.

[bimmer456]

Like the earlier post, I think you should replace the pads when you replace the rotors.

[amancuso]

Originally Posted by CARR601

Pagid disks and Eircher disks. No I don't, I wish it was something as simple as that. On my third set I was really conscious of keeping my foot on the brake when stopped. I'm going to get a micrometer on the disks at some point to confirm the DTV. I'm at a bit of a loss.

I had the same problem with a 528i I owned. Problem persisted until I bought BMW parts. They dust, but the stopping is linear and there is no shake, shimmy or judder at all.

[2000Z3M]

warped rotors are not a thing
https://www.brakeandfrontend.com/warped-rotors-myth/

make sure you bed your pads in, 5x slow downs from 60mph to 10 mph and 5 from 45mph to 5mph. You should be able to smell your breaks. Do NOT stop while doing this. if you do, you will have pad build up and get you judder back.

[Wgosma]

Originally Posted by 2000Z3M

warped rotors are not a thing
https://www.brakeandfrontend.com/warped-rotors-myth/

make sure you bed your pads in, 5x slow downs from 60mph to 10 mph and 5 from 45mph to 5mph. You should be able to smell your breaks. Do NOT stop while doing this. if you do, you will have pad build up and get you judder back.

Personally I'd pass on the pad bedding procedure; it's not necessary to do so to achieve fully functional brakes on a street driven car.

In addition, Many owners simply don't have the 'runway' needed to properly execute repeated accelerate/decelerate cycles-

Brake easy for 200 or so miles and one is good to go.

[Wires]

If you have oil/grease on the pads (stupid easy to do when you are lubing the caliper slides), the pads will grip the rotor and not slide giving a chatter. Sounds backwards to common thought process.

[CARR601]

Thanks guys. Yep I torqued the wheel up to 140NM. New pads each time. Made sure there was grease where the pads move on the caliper.

I'm just hoping someone has seen this before and it turned out to be something weird. I've put new wheels on and I'm looking to replace the hub just to be certain, before I put another fresh set of pads and disks on. If it comes back after that then I have no idea.

[nirvanabob]

I have the same problem more or less! There is a vibration especially driving on the highway even without touching the brake and when I brake a little harder the juddering/vibration is worse! BMW says that the vibration was caused by the wrapped front rotors which I replaced them 4 months ago with a Zimmerman rotors and trw pads as the oem! Anyways I replaced them again to be sure with a brand new set but the vibration/juddering came back right away! Then I checked all 4 rotors with a dial gauge against the shocks and front rotors showed a deviation of 0.02mm on one side ad 0.05mm on the other! I found out that I have to replace both front wheel hub bearings! Today I'm gonna bring the car to the dealership again and have them changed while the car still under warranty! I'll keep you update

[MacklinUSOB]

People in here who are talking about replacing the hub... resurfacing the hub is the most important part of replacing rotors. It is also by far the most common cause of runout/pulsation, warping is very rare. You can get a kit for about $10 that hooks up to a drill.

It looks like OP did have the surface cleaned and measured which is a good start. Next I would check tension strut bushing/bearing.

[CARR601]

Originally Posted by nirvanabob

I have the same problem more or less! There is a vibration especially driving on the highway even without touching the brake and when I brake a little harder the juddering/vibration is worse! BMW says that the vibration was caused by the wrapped front rotors which I replaced them 4 months ago with a Zimmerman rotors and trw pads as the oem! Anyways I replaced them again to be sure with a brand new set but the vibration/juddering came back right away! Then I checked all 4 rotors with a dial gauge against the shocks and front rotors showed a deviation of 0.02mm on one side ad 0.05mm on the other! I found out that I have to replace both front wheel hub bearings! Today I'm gonna bring the car to the dealership again and have them changed while the car still under warranty! I'll keep you update

My passenger side had 0.00mm run out on the disk and the driver side had 0.04mm on the disk. The hub runout was 0.00mm on the driver side.

If you could keep me updated with how you get on that would be great thanks! The only thing is my judder only redevelops after 2000ish miles and isn't immediate.

My best guess at the moment is that whilst there isn't any runout on the hub with the car jacked up. Once the car is back on the ground and the hub/bearing is under load, there is runout.

[nirvanabob]

Originally Posted by CARR601

My passenger side had 0.00mm run out on the disk and the driver side had 0.04mm on the disk. The hub runout was 0.00mm on the driver side.

If you could keep me updated with how you get on that would be great thanks! The only thing is my judder only redevelops after 2000ish miles and isn't immediate.

My best guess at the moment is that whilst there isn't any runout on the hub with the car jacked up. Once the car is back on the ground and the hub/bearing is under load, there is runout.

I took the car back from the dealership and they said that I have a wear front tire that cause the vibration so me and the shop foreman went for a test drive with different sets of tires and the vibration was gone! Now I don't know what to do! I guess I should buy a new set of tires, but the ones that I have are at 50% of tread life!