brakes

[tmontague]

Rotors rarely ever warp. What you're likely feeling is burnt pad on your rotor which causes different friction points at different areas on your rotor, hence the pulsating "warped" feeling.

This can be cause by hitting the brakes hard and then staying on them while at a stop (think hitting sudden traffic stop on highway). It can also be caused by worn out rotors that are thin and can no longer dissipate heat effectively. The heat start to burn the pads.

This second scenario happened at 320,000km on the original rotors on my Echo. I used a grinder and self turned/grinded the rotors flat while lifting the front of the car and putting putting in gear. It worked but after a week the problem came back and since the rotors looked very thin I knew that was the problem and not heavy braking.

Purchased cheap rotors from RockAuto and no more issues.

That being said I will be spending extra an getting good pads for my Yaris. I like grabby pads.