Greetings! I just joined the forum and thought I'd place my first post. I have a 2002 Elantra with 46900 miles on it. I use it as my daily driver (40 miles each way to work) and it has been bullet proof reliable except for the brakes. I've gone through 3 sets of pads and last night I attempted to remove my front rotors to replace them. The rotors were literally welded onto the wheel hub and nothing would budge them. I've done hundreds of brake jobs and I've never had a problem like this. I ended up having a mechanic friend take the car for the day and he had to use a torch to get the rotors off the car. The rotors were completely rusted out. I was just wondering if this is a common problem for Elantras that are driven all year and in snow? If so, is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening again? Thanks!!!

This post has been edited by jw38: Apr 8 2005, 04:39 PM

Hi!......unfortunately this is quite a common problem & people have been known to destroy their front wheel bearings whilst removing the old discs (rotors)!. :57:

Before fitting the new discs, carefully smear the studs & mating surfaces with copper grease (`Copper Slip`)........next time they will come off without difficulty!.

Whilst you have this substance to hand, treat your battery terminals to a small dose!!.

Cheers,
Nick. :)

I also just had this problem with taking the rotor off. I happened across a mechanic while in an autoparts store and he told me about the bearing possibly being damaged if I tried to get it off. Knowing almost nothing about cars I had the car jacked up and everything off except for that center axle nut and rotor plate. I was attempting to replace 2 of the lug studs. I accidentally stripped one of them and another was somehow previosuly cut off so I had to drive at 4 miles an hour down the street on only 2 studs and park in front of a wheel shop and sleep in the car until they opened shop. They put the new studs on for $35.

Nick,

Thanks for the reply! I was finally able to remove the rotors after POUNDING on them with a ball peen hammer! By the way, I see you are from Cambridge. I lived in Newmarket from 1990-1993 while I was stationed with the USAF at RAF Lakenheath. I'd love to be in England now! Cheers...jim

what happens of you destroy your front wheel bearings? is it expensive to fix? i think the people at midas may have done that to my car. I just bought a 2000 elantra a few weeks ago, and before i bought it i took it to midas to have an inspection since i know very little about cars and engines and i wanted to make sure it wasn't messed up. anyways, the car drove fine when i was test driving it before i went there, but after they returned my car to me it started doing this wierd jerking thing every time i stop. i put the clutch all the way in, and it just gradually jerks, it feels like the brakes are rubbing harder on 1 part of the wheel each time it comes around, and as i get slower it starts jerking less rapidly because the tires are turning more slowly. so i have no idea what it is but i think the wheels or something like that may have gotten bent, or else maybe the breaks are mesed up. they said they did an inspection on the brakes and they were pretty good, though. he just said i had diry brake fluid.

I haven't taken it back there cuz i don't want them to screw my car up. i gave them my very first car ever on the first day i had it, and they returned it to me with a problem. i plan on taking it to the dealership tommorrow cuz here's also a recall on the exhaust manifold

This post has been edited by midnight toker: Apr 15 2005, 04:47 AM

Hi!......it sounds as if you have a warped brake disc. It is unlikely Midas had anything to do with this.

This fault is usually caused by waiting at traffic lights or junctions etc. (at times when the brakes are hot) with the foot-brake applied instead of the handbrake.
The hot pad causes differential cooling of the discs & hence warping.

If this is the case, have Hyundai replace your discs/pads.......they know what to expect when removing the old units & are less likely to trash your wheel-bearings!.

Cheers,
Nick. :)

what? I'm supposed to be using the handbrake at a stoplight and not the foot brake? wow that's news to me. lol i must sound like an idiot but this is the first manual transmission car i've had and i thought i knew everything i needed to know to drive a manual but i guess not, cuz i've never heard of that. i've been using the footbrake every time i stop at a stoplight , i only use the hand brake to park. do you think that's what caused the problem?

My experiences
Except those problems with Lantra's glowing ""melting"" brake rotors on the red lights I've found also one problem of ALL cars which have their front wheel brake systems air-cooled (not liquid-cooled). E.g. when you're often driving in a hilling country as me, then going down the road for a long time and get into some bigger puddle etc. with cold water it could be dangerous to twist or deform VERY HOT brake rotors, pads or other brake compartment. My trustworthy authorized Hyundai dealer confirmed me that if I'd like to avoid these brake problems during racing the car or during some heavy operational conditions in the course of mountain's driving I must spend additional money and rather buy special racing brakes with liquid cooling and/or bigger drilled rotors. It's a little advertise for car parts manufacturers I know :wink2:

On the other hand even though Hyundai cars are low-price cars I must confess their STANDARD brake systems have relatively high efficiency and are trouble-free (opposite to e.g. Ford's brakes...). Lantra's are often equipped with not well-known cheap Mando brake systems manufactured in India but there's no fatal complaints about them around world car market. So don't wory about Hyundai brakes. Always engage lower gears during going down the road, let brakes stand more idle and avoid big cold puddles :) :thumbsup:

Some pics of drilled, bigger brake rotors or liquid-cooled brakes fitted onto fine tuned Tiburons&Tuscani (from Hyundaiperformance,Bobae's etc. servers):

can anyone please answer my question about using the brakes? i was not aware that you were supposed to use the handbrake at stoplights rather than the footbrake. is this true?

to put it simply, as you are braking (towards a red light for instance) the brake discs get very hot, once you have come to a standstill the discs begin to cool down,however if you leave you foot on the brake pedal so that the brake pads are in contact with the discs then that portion of the discs will cool down much more slowly than the rest of it and this can lead to the disc distorting so it's best to apply the handbrake once you have come to rest so that the disc cools down evenly

Hey someone else from NH!