Looking for a little clarification on rotors

I have a little steering wheel shake when I brake so I pulled the wheels of today and found these black streaks on my rotors. Pads still have plenty left on them and were supposedly new when I bought the car a couple months ago. Any idea if that would cause the wheel to shake? Like I said it only shakes when I apply the brakes.

Warped rotors?

+1 on warped rotors

Could also be worn fcabs.

get one of those green sanding pads ( i forgot the name) but it's gentle enough to not scratch your rotors. Sand/remove that gunk. That's what's causing the insconsistent braking.
Change out the pads too.
I highly doubt you have warped rotors; it's not easy to warp rotors.

i agree it looks like from what i can see the pad to rotors are catching inconsistantly. now i don't know if that's deposits left from the pads or something else. i'd first try to clean rotors and then re-bed the pads to the rotors.
if the previous owner put the new pads on already worn rotors i can see it being high/low spots. new rotors wear little grooves with new pads. these togehter aren't really a problem, but when new flat pads hit the old grooves (like a record) it''ll have high lowspots and inconsistent grabbing. often squeaks or noises is another side effect.

another very common symptom of brake judder when stopping are worn out bushings for the control arms.

i would look into caliper operation as well

usually, rotors warp due to the pad making more pressure on one side of the rotor than the other, thus , one side heats up more

usually from slide pins not being greased with every pad change

You can try brake cleaner and a scotch-brite pad, but more than likely you'll have to replace those rotors.

nah the vast majority of "warped" E46 rotors are not warped. but high spots from pad material glazed/deposited on the rotor.

Would it be bad to just replace the rotors and keep the pads since they are still good?

anyone^?

Do you get the shaking with light application of the brakes? If no then rotors could be fine. For example my car shakes when braking from higher speeds but not low speed (my FCAB are worn) pars on the way.

Originally Posted by honkifyoubonk

Would it be bad to just replace the rotors and keep the pads since they are still good?

That should be fine.

Originally Posted by caddy1820

Do you get the shaking with light application of the brakes? If no then rotors could be fine. For example my car shakes when braking from higher speeds but not low speed (my FCAB are worn) pars on the way.

It does but obviously shakes more when I am going faster I am going to change rotors this weekend ill report back with results

replaced the rotors and no more shake