1998 Honda Civic rotors have warped multiple times

Hello! I have had an issue for a number of years with my car, and I’m at my wits end from trying to get it finally figured out. If anyone here is able to offer any diagnostic advice, it would be much appreciated.

Let me start with my car: It is a 1998 Honda Civic EX, manual transmission, non-ABS model.

So, a number of years ago, my right front wheel bearing went bad and I replaced it with my dad, who is much more experienced than myself when it comes to auto repair, and he has a much more extensive set of tools, including a press, which was necessary for the wheel bearing replacement, since they are pressed-in bearings. Ever since we replaced it circa 2011, I have had issues with the right front rotor warping. I know that it is the right front because replacement of that rotor does temporarily eliminate the brake pedal and steering wheel pulsations while braking for about a month. I’m on what must be my second or third replacement rotor.

When I went to replace the rotor for the second time, I knew there must be some underlying problem causing it to warp again after the first rotor replacement. Thinking it may have been a sticking caliper causing overheating and/or possible brake pad material transfer, I pulled out my infrared thermometer one day and checked the rotor temps on both front rotors right after getting off the interstate. I did this a while ago, so I don’t recall the exact temps, but I remember them being maybe 10-15 degrees apart, with the right front being the hotter. With that in mind and the fact that the front right caliper, while not seized, did seem somewhat more difficult to retract than it perhaps should’ve been, I decided to replace the right front caliper with a Honda remanufactured unit and a new rotor and brake pads. All parts were OEM. One month later, the problem came back. :pinch:

And here I am now, not sure how to proceed to determine the cause of the repeated rotor runout. Since my rotor has warped for the third time, I decided to try the test that ETCG made a video on for testing for a brake line failure, causing calipers to stick. I had a friend pump the brakes up for me, as Eric suggests you do in his video and, after my friend released the pedal after the last pump, I opened the bleeder and all I had come out was the normal trickle of brake fluid, indicating the line isn’t necessarily bad.

It is worth noting that in all the times I have had my wheels off, I always torque them back to proper specs.

The only thing that I can think of as the possible cause of this may be excessive wheel hub runout, which transfers to the rotor, causing it to warp over time. The reason I suspect this is because, as I stated above, this problem didn’t begin until after the wheel bearing replacement. I’m wondering if, perhaps the hub might’ve been imperceptibly warped while we were pressing in the bearing, or, perhaps the heat from the oxy-acetylene torch my dad used to cut off the inner race from the old bearing may have heated it up enough to cause warpage. Does this sound like a possibility I should pursue? Or should I take another look at my brake hose? Perhaps there’s something else entirely that I have overlooked?

Sorry for the rather long post, but I wanted to try to preemptively answer questions that might come up and provide as much information as possible, so as to minimize the back and forth posts asking for more information.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! :cheer: