Well, on a warm (45-ish) winter day I head out to the garage with a new rotor and get busy. Low an behold the the rotor isn't warped, but an honest to God manufacturing defect. I've never seen anything like it. Its like a casting 'cold' spot.
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The pads grip the rotor find, then hit this area, lose grip, then grab the other side.. that's causing the vibrations.
So I go to my PC, print out the receipt (which I scanned) and head off to Advance Auto. I show the guy the rotor and the receipt and say it looks like a warranty covered issue. First thing he says was 'that's not our rotor'. I said prove it. Here's the receipt. He says 'It's in an AutoZone box'. I say (exactly) 'No shit, I bought a new rotor so I could drive my car here. This is the box it came in. I used it so I wouldn't get rust/dust all over my car seat'. Then he processes the return and refunds $42 and change to my debit card.
To say that I'm happy about the return is an understatement. I mean its 18 months past the purchase date and I get a full refund. One thing that does make me wonder is how, exactly, CAN THEY BE SURE that the rotor is the one I bought??? I mean its not like they are serialize or stamped in any meaningful way. Anyway, car brakes properly now and the cost of the new rotor was offset by the refund of the old rotor.. so technically it didn't even cost me anything. No, I didn't replace the pads as they were still almost new.
