Vibration during braking????

I ran this by my mechanic and he said the issues they usually see with sway bars (nothing like thrust rods on a tacoma) typically don't have anything to do with the vibration issues we're talking about.

 

Ran this by the mechanic and he said if it's an issue with wheel bearings you'll see it when NOT braking also. And to 'visually' check the bearings you pretty much have to destroy them as they are sealed bearings on my Tacoma. They only thing they do to check em, is take off the tires and usually they can spin them and listen for noise or feel for a wobble. If there is noise replace em, but he's not so confident that it's bearings.

I'm taking my truck back in and have the brakes checked again (even tho I had the rotors, pads, calipers all done and the rear drums replaced).

Question, would getting new shocks at least reduce the damn vibration I'm feeling? Mechanic tells me it's not unsafe (the truck does brake well), it's more of an annoyance.

 

Have you tried another set of wheels?

ABS or non ABS? If ABS, there may be a piece of debris rolling around on the speed ring sensor and only being an issue on braking. Ever drop out of cruise randomly?

 

It was happening when I bought the vehicle (maybe I shoulda walked away), and it was happening after I got brand new tires put on em. I did not change out the wheels. They look like the original toyota wheels.

I haven't mentioned the possibility of ABS being an issue, but will mention it to the mechanic when I pickup the truck after he's rechecked his rear drum work and the front brake work that someone else did.

It has never dropped out of cruise unexpectedly.

 

If you've gotten a new set of tires and they actually balanced them, then a bent wheel shouldn't be an issue and would have been noted by the tire guys.

The ABS is the only other thing I could think of since it happens during braking and not continually.

Is there a way to disable the ABS? Mine doesn't have ABS so I don't know. A 'Traction Control' button or something? If you can disable it, then try the braking/shaking without it and see what happens.

 

I don't have ABS and the wheels are stock. This weekend I'll jack up the wheels and see if there is play and I attempt to wiggle them on the jack.

 

I have run into this issue in the past while being lazy and using the impact to tighten down the lugs, creating a bad vibration when braking from 40 mph and above. Went back and loosened everything up and torqued down the lugs to 85 ft lbs and the vibration went away. Not sure if there was a light warp in the rotor and over torquing the lugs made it more prominent or what, but that's what solved it for me.

 

Change your driving habits. People who use brakes heavily and do not release braking pressure when almost completely stopped end up warping their rotors quickly. Release the pressure right as the momentum of your truck comes to a stop and you probably won't have the issue anymore. My cousin drives a Taco and the rotors are warped bad because she lets the truck jerk back when it's stopped (just leaves her foot on the brake tightly until the truck stops). I've always let off to release the forward momentum and never had a problem with warping rotors.

 

Update on my situation. I got it back in to the mechanic. Note that at 84.6k miles I had new rear drums put on. Shoes were not replaced. Not much of a vibration when I left, but it came back and I returned truck at 87.6k miles. Mechanic resurfaced the rear drums and there is no vibration now. He said if it comes back we'll replace the shoes with TOYOTA parts but it's rare that yota parts would be defective. I also had my wheels rotated. That's all for now..let's if the vibration stays gone.

Hmm maybe my braking habits are warping my rotors in 3k miles as is being suggested above?

 

I'm having the same issue, when I first drive the car in the morning its fine. It seems like once the rotors heat up I start to notice the vibration. Even when I'm in town driving around it will happen. It's even more worse on the freeway when in busy traffic. I'm very easy on my brakes. I got the truck used so I'm thinking the owner before me was just hard on the brakes and maybe warped the rotors? The vibration only happens when braking

 

Driving habits are most likely the cause of your issues. Are you also aware there is a 500 mile break-in procedure for pads/rotors?

There's no such thing as a warped rotor, it's a misnomer. Basically, a small amount of pad is adhered to the rotor every time contact is made. If you don't have smooth braking habits you're not going to leave smooth pad material over the surface of the rotor.

 

Transmission can cause vibration while braking ...Have a transmission flush done it's on this forum somewhere ...

 

lets here more on this 500 mile break in deal

 

If theres vib on braking its best to change both rotors and pad and drums and shoes...sometimes you'll get bad parts from parts stores but typically they should be good. I wouldnt advise changing drums and not shoes. You also might have oil or ridges/wear on the old shoes. Its best to just redo it all. Try going to ceramic pads if you are harder on brakes.

 

You can find more detailed instructions all over the net but the basic principal is to adhere a uniform layer of pad onto the rotor. Start at 30 mph and decelerate smooth and continuously to near stop in 60 feet. Repeat 20 times. Do the same but stop in 40 feet, then 20. Bump up to 45 mph and repeat, then 60. This is the jist of it. It's a lot more reasonable to just work this procedure into your regular driving.

Another few things to remember are you never want to brake to a sudden stop. This is the number one way to "warp" a rotor. There is nothing wrong with hard braking the thing to remember is to just be smooth. I personally never let me truck come to a complete stop while on the brakes. I smoothly let of the brakes as it's nearing dead stop so at the moment it does stop I have just released the brakes completely.

 

I engine brake so hard that the tires chirp when I dump the clutch because changing brake pads sucks.

 

I'll answer this because I'm having the same trouble. 05 Prerunner, no TRD, no lift, 240k miles, new tires and alignment, 245/65/16r is my tire size i believe and they are all terrains (Iron man).

 

My experience is with 1st gens. You may get better feedback if you post your questions if the 2nd gen forum.

 

Yeah, still new here and I figured out right after I sent it. Thanks! This place is awesome!