I installed Centric cryo treated slotted front brake rotors on my '01 F-250 SD CC. I also installed OEM Ford pads. They worked well for about 38k miles.

Now the front wheels have a bad braking shudder at speeds above 45 mph.

Has anyone else had issues with cryo treated rotors?

I am also wondering if it is worth resurfacing the cryo rotors? or is it best to get new rotors?

 

I'm surprised your cyro treated rotors have warped. That's the last thing I'd expect. I'd have a runout performed on the rotors before going any further. You could have something else going on. As far as resurfacing I think you have two issues, one is the fact that the rotors are (or should be) extremely hard due to the cryo treatment and the other is they are slotted. I think both will cause issues for the equipment used to turn them.

I put ART cryo slotted front rotors on my truck 3 months. My thought going into the upgrade was that if I ever had a problem with one or both rotors, I'd replace them.

 

The rotors are not warped. There is 0.001" runout on one side and 0.002" runout on the other side.

However, there is bad shudder coming from the brakes when applied about 45 mph.

Since there is little runout, I suspect, but can not verify, that the rotor surfaces have variable hardness causing the shudder.

I am now wondering if the cryo rotors are not that big of a benefit over quality non-cryo rotors.

 

are you slid pins free? they stick very easly and can be causing your problems with shudder

 

A few weeks ago I cleaned & greased the slide pins to make sure they weren't causing the problem.

 

only other thing i would say is tie rod ends going bad? my gpops caddy only had 30k and it started to shudder when hitting the brakes. after messing with it the junk rack and pinion was shot

 

I would contact the manufacturer and see what they say. Could have been a problem they have run into before, and they might help you out.

 

You mentioned you only added them to the fronts. How's your rear brakes?

 

Rear brakes work very well.

I would like the front brakes to work like the rear brakes.

 

Did you follow the proper break in procedure?

 

There is a school of thought that the feeling of warped rotors in this case can be attributed to pad material being deposited on the rotor surface (causing differing friction around the rotor). You might consider going over each rotor surface with a steel wire wheel brush on a drill and seeing how this affects the problem. I frequently scuff rotors when replacing pads to remove the shine, if I'm not otherwise turning or replacing the rotors.

 

I don't know what the proper break-in is for Ford OEM pads.

The brakes worked fine for 38k miles with the 1 set of Ford OEM pads (which are still in there). No shudder or vibrations.

 

I had been thinking of using sand paper or scotch brite to deglaze them.

 

Check this out:
StopTech : Balanced Brake Upgrades

 

Great article. It finly answers my questions about supposedly warped rotors. I had this happen to a new set on my last and it sounds like I imprinted them after coming down off a mountian road so a stop on a steep grade. I ended up living with them until trading up to my 250.