Is anyone experiencing rotors with hot spots and how are you dealing with it? I just hit 30,000 miles and the car shudders violently when braking. Dealer inspected and says replace rotors and pads due to hot spots...not covered under warranty. Dealer also said it is due to driver habits...

I've never had this happen with any other car I've owned and I use the brakes way less on a hybrid than on a regular vehicle. I've been researching this issue and seen some posts saying Honda brake rotors are of poor quality. But I also came across one review of the '08 civic where the reviewer noted "The four alloy wheels are mostly smooth-faced, polished metal (presumably for low-drag, high-mileage aerodynamic reasons) and, like past-generation Civic Hybrids, have only a few very small holes for air circulation and brake rotor cooling (I haven't talked to any Honda technicians about it, but I wonder how many of these cars come in with rotor warping and glazed pads from heat buildup)."

I'd hate to invest in better rotors (any recommendations?) and have them warp or develop hot spots because the problem is the airflow from the wheel design. Any input is appreciated.

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99 times out of 100 the reason rotors warp is when the wheels (tire) were put on they over torqued the lug nuts with a power wrench. they need to be hand torqued to 85-90 foot lbs. The other one percent is braking so hard and so long as they glow red. ( I bet the hybrid cannot do that as the generator will kick in before it can get hot. ) .

If the you paid the dealer for wheel (tire) rotations - remind them that they did it and you'll see them in court. whoever did the rotation is at fault.

 

Thanks for the input. I guess it might be caused by overtorquing or mismatched torques. Would this cause hot spots? The dealer has not been doing the all the rotations, but was the last to have the wheels off before I noticed this issue. I've rotated the tires a couple times myself and set lugs at 80 with torque wrench. Too low?

Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

All lugnuts need the same ft/lbs - if one is off by 5 lbs the rotors will warp. if over torqued, the warp-age is permanent. a defective torque wrench can cause problems. Once dropped, a torque wrench cannot be trusted, it needs checking, and can be off by 20lbs.

 

I have 85,000 miles on my stock rotors and they still measure out as serviceable. No pulsing or "brake shake".