Fairfax 4.0T

NOTE: I have never done this before, and don't know if it something that should be done. Scuffing up a rotor may reduce pad life or lengthen stopping distance (who knows?) But it did work well for me in cleaning off the deposits.

A number of us who came back from the Audi Club Driver Education event at VIR this week had brake pad deposits on their rotors. Even though I used Pagid Orange track pads in my 332mm Stoptechs, I experienced some type of buildup on my rotors during the second day of the event.

While it is not clear from the picture, there is a pad buildup on the rotor. It is most noticable on the right and bottom of the rotor, and caused a vibrating pedal when braking.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/rotor_deposits.jpg" border="0">


Driving on the streets for 4 days with the pagid orange track pads installed did not do much, if anything, to clean up the rotors.

I first tried a wire brush on a drill, but that did absolutely nothing to clean up the rotors. I then used a 3M rust and paint stripper wheel mounted on a drill, and this worked very well in removing the deposits. I did not remove the rotors, so it was a bit of a pain cleaning of the inner surface of the rotor, but it all worked out well.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/dsc_0017.jpg" border="0">


Here is the finished product. Note, that for whatever reason, I read some ASE materials that stated don't leave scuff/scratch marks on the rotor that are along the circumference of the rotor, so I tried to leave scuff marks on the rotor which travel outward along the radius of the rotor. Of course, the rotors were a little scratched, but the scratches were not deep, and are not noticable after bedding in the brakes.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/28004/rotor_cleaned.jpg" border="0">

The clean rotors have eliminated the vibrations due to the deposits on the rotors.

KFJ_S4

I'll be trying the "removal of uneven deposits through aggressive friction compounds" tomorrow. Putting on a pair of Hawk Blues for a few miles.

Audeye A6

Nice read. Thanks.

v8a6

Nice. Ill have to try this

Esquire6

Nice. I can see the difference.

Press

thanks for the info...nice writeup...

Pete K (vegasguy)

something like this,

Pete<ul><li><a href="http://www.abrasiveresource.com/products_sandpaper_abrasives.html?source=Google_Ad _Words_Discs">http://www.abrasiveresource.com/products_sandpaper_abrasives.html?source=Google_Ad _Words_Discs</a</li></ul>

yrk2.7t@curbside

Very nice!!