Brakes warped

[wvinson]

My '17 R-design's steering wheel has begun to shake after braking under 50mph. They shouldn't be warped at 3K miles. Anyone else had this issue?

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by wvinson

My '17 R-design's steering wheel has begun to shake after braking under 50mph. They shouldn't be warped at 3K miles. Anyone else had this issue?

Not on the Volvo but I did have the issue on a couple of cars years ago. The first being a 1988 Audi 90 Quattro and then in a then fairly new Land Cruiser 100 series, which I still own. I've changed the front discs on the LC twice in 200,000 miles. Once when it was three years old because the originals warped and again at about five years due to a year when it was hardly used and they crusted up with rust all around. The current front discs have been on it now for 140,000+ miles.

I put warping down to heavy braking causing the discs to heat sunstantially, and braking to a stop from high speed for a traffic light or something. The point being that the pads were clamping the static hot disc and acting as a localised heat-soak that caused the warping. That's my theory.

I changed how I stopped after hard driving after the LC warped, so that I either release the brakes and let the car roll forward a few inches before re-clamping, and repeating two or three times. Otherwise I use the handbrake.

Brake discs are cheap as chips these days and generally made from relatively soft near-monkey-metal for better stopping power at the expense of increased disc wear rates and susceptibility to corrosion. Not sure if this also means that they are more prone to warp as well. Probably not. Discs have always been prone to warp.

The cure is either to skim the discs or to change them for new. Non genuine discs are quite cheap but I'm not sure that they are available for the new Volvo 90 series yet. Genuine spares prices will possibly make your eyes water.

[Rojah]

Originally Posted by wvinson

My '17 R-design's steering wheel has begun to shake after braking under 50mph. They shouldn't be warped at 3K miles. Anyone else had this issue?

Hi,

I had similar at about 5k miles. Very unlikely discs are warped, but have glazing of pad material, road gunge on them or whatever. Can happen especially if you stop with very hot discs and hold brakes on with foot brake...

On a clear, dry road at max speed limit 70 mph, brake very very hard (not hard enough to activate abs though). Slow down to 30 mph, then accelerate quickly to 70 mph again. Repeat 3 or 4 times.

Cured.

Works well on my motorcycles, and on my T8. Now got 43K miles, brakes smooth and little wear too.

Regards

Rojah

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by Rojah

Hi,

I had similar at about 5k miles. Very unlikely discs are warped, but have glazing of pad material, road gunge on them or whatever. Can happen especially if you stop with very hot discs and hold brakes on with foot brake...

On a clear, dry road at max speed limit 70 mph, brake very very hard (not hard enough to activate abs though). Slow down to 30 mph, then accelerate quickly to 70 mph again. Repeat 3 or 4 times.

Cured.

Works well on my motorcycles, and on my T8. Now got 43K miles, brakes smooth and little wear too.

Regards

Rojah

Yes that can happen. It used to happen a lot when pads were prone to melt and even catch fire. Not so much today where harder pad compound is used in combination with softer disc metal.

Having said that, my new XC90 is prone to more brake dust on the wheels than any car I've had in years, so its not impossible that pads will indeed melt on that heat-soak part of the clamped disc.
Last time I had that problem was on a 1977 Ford Fiesta 1300S. It was particularly prone to brake fade and stinking pads on long steep hills that modern cars don't have the slightest problem with. I don't think that cars even had dual circuit brakes back then, partly because my brother suffered total brake failure on it. Luckily it was at very low speed on a minor road and no damage was caused, but it made us think. The Fiesta was sold soon after.

[uro1]

Originally Posted by Quacker

Not on the Volvo but I did have the issue on a couple of cars years ago. The first being a 1988 Audi 90 Quattro and then in a then fairly new Land Cruiser 100 series, which I still own. I've changed the front discs on the LC twice in 200,000 miles. Once when it was three years old because the originals warped and again at about five years due to a year when it was hardly used and they crusted up with rust all around. The current front discs have been on it now for 140,000+ miles.

I put warping down to heavy braking causing the discs to heat sunstantially, and braking to a stop from high speed for a traffic light or something. The point being that the pads were clamping the static hot disc and acting as a localised heat-soak that caused the warping. That's my theory.

I changed how I stopped after hard driving after the LC warped, so that I either release the brakes and let the car roll forward a few inches before re-clamping, and repeating two or three times. Otherwise I use the handbrake.

Brake discs are cheap as chips these days and generally made from relatively soft near-monkey-metal for better stopping power at the expense of increased disc wear rates and susceptibility to corrosion. Not sure if this also means that they are more prone to warp as well. Probably not. Discs have always been prone to warp.

The cure is either to skim the discs or to change them for new. Non genuine discs are quite cheap but I'm not sure that they are available for the new Volvo 90 series yet. Genuine spares prices will possibly make your eyes water.

I had that about 10 years ago on a Peugeot 407. The mechanic said it happens when you drive with red hot brakes through a puddle of water. That hardens part of the disk and causes uneven resistance over the radius of the disks. On that car I had 3 disks in as many years. First was in guaranty. But Peugeot then lowered the guaranteed kilometres for disks 2 times in these years. So the other 2 were on the company....

[wvinson]

I've tried braking really hard a few times, but it still is not smooth. All I've had previously, before 4 children, is BMWs -- 6 of them. I'm not hard on brakes, just average, but have never had any issues with BMW rotors warping. I know hot rotors vs. cold water will warp them, so I make sure not to wash the vehicle after driving without cooling them down.

I'm going in for a service visit to check out the problem on Monday. Hopefully, they will just swap the rotors.

[Rooster]

Originally Posted by wvinson

My '17 R-design's steering wheel has begun to shake after braking under 50mph. They shouldn't be warped at 3K miles. Anyone else had this issue?

If you brake from say 80mph gently down to walking pace like down a motorway sliproad does it do it from first putting you foot on brake nearly all way down or does it come on about 55mph and sort of disappear around 35-40mph,

Oh and what size wheels have you got on with what brand tyres

[wvinson]

I don' feel it when I lightly put on the brakes at higher speeds - only at around 30 mph when coming to a stop. When apply the brakes hard at 50 or below is when I feel it the most.

I have the 22" five spoke with Pirelli Scorpion Verde summer tires.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by wvinson

My '17 R-design's steering wheel has begun to shake after braking under 50mph. They shouldn't be warped at 3K miles. Anyone else had this issue?

check the torque of the locking wheel bolt it MUST be the same as the standard bolts ( 140nm ) this can cause your problem if people are worried about tightening them fully .The New volvo locking bolts/nuts are pretty trouble-free since 2010 .

[Bigbluedude]

Hi All,
Well its back the shake and vibration when applying the brakes especially on highway exit ramps. I know this well as it happened @ 13K miles. The US dealer did "unofficially" say that Volvo had a bad batch of rotors.All rotors were replaced then. I am at 42K miles now. 80% highway driving on the car with no panic stops I can remember. I need to get in before my warranty runs out.

Does anyone have more information or an update on this. If I put the Volvo rotors on again the next replacement will be on my $$$ after warranty

Thanks
2012 XC60
2016 Jag F type
2020 Jag F type
2017 XC90