I recently had my rotors resurfaced and put on Hawk HPS pads on all four corners. At the same time I rotated my tires front to back. Since putting everything back together there seems to be significantly more road noise which seems to be loudest around 40mph and 70mph (which can be quite annoying). To get the left front rotor off I had to drill out the philips head screws that hold it in place. When I put everything back together I just used one screw in each of the front rotors. Could leaving one screw out of each cause an imballance that would result in this increased noise? I don't notice a significant vibration through the wheel. I do have brigstone potenza re730s all around. The rears were worn close to the tread wear marks while the fronts had about 1/8 th inch more tread. When I rotated them I moved the more worn tires to the front. Maybe the noise that was always there is just more noticible now that the more worn tires are up front? Has anyone left these screws out and had a problem, or no problem? Can I just get new ones from NAPA, or AutoZone? Any other suggestions?

 

I use them to hold the rotors on while re-attaching the calipers, but then I take them back out before putting the wheels back on. They serve no real use (other than being a pain in the ***).

 

It may well be the tread wear markers.

I experienced a similar increase in noise also following a tire rotation. I finally decided that the front suspension transmits more of this type noise in to the interior.

In my case it was a slightly scalloped wear pattern on the inside edge of one back tire. The noise showed up when that tire was rotated to the front.

 

Like bros said, they aren't needed. They only hold the rotor flat while installing the caliper.

Jeff

 

Using just one screw would create an imbalance, but I doubt that it would be that noticable, or even if you would notice at all.

Use both screws or no screws. The screws are not needed -- they are just used for convenience on the assembly line to keep the rotors on the car.

-Max

 

Yeah the screws are just there to rust and be a pain in the *** whenever you want to remove your old stock rotors.

(j/k but they can be a pain the *** when removing the stock rotors.)

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. I doubted that this would cause any problem which is why I left them out. gluing a screw sized weight to the outside of the rim may cause a slight vibration, but they are close to the center of rotation so will likely have little effect. Maybe I'll try rotating the tires back to verify the noise is a result of having the more worn tires on the front. thanks again for the input.

 

no doubt. frigging marshmellow screws.... argh. just boughgt a 1/2" 12 horspower hammer driver to take care of little nusances like thes f*ckers.