Rotor & pad contact

[danyfra]

Today I removed my front wheels for the first time since I bought my car 3 weeks ago, and gave a good look around.
I was surprised when trying to rotate the rotor, it won't do a full rotation without touching the pads at one point.
Is that the way it's supposed to do?
I did have the hand brake on, but it's only acting on rear wheels right?
Also the brake pads looks pretty new...
Thanks

[extanker]

does the steering wheel shake when you step on the brakes ? you will use a torque wrench on the bolts right ?

[ekam]

You should be able to spin the rotor freely with the wheels off (and handbrake off if it's the rear).

Does it always stop or rub at one spot?

[just_me]

...rotors have a slight warp which means that they contact the pads at one location as they spin. Ber in mind nothing is perfect. Incidentally, the hand brake operates on a separate set of DRUM shoes inside the rear rotor - it does not apply the discs at all.

If oyu dont feel a vibration when braking, i would not worry about it. If you do, you have found your problem.

Grant

[danyfra]

Thanks all for the answers.

No vibrations when I brake, but I sometimes feel small vibrations in the steering wheels, that's why I took the wheels off in the first place. But coudln't see anything wrong, I think it's simply the wheels than need a balance.

And yes, using a torque wrench

[sd_boxster]

If you have vibrations in the wheel at speed when you're not applying the brakes, you need to have your wheels balanced. You may want to find a shop that does road force balancing since our cars wear unevenly - especially on the rears.