Steering Wheel Shake

My DCSB 4X4 finally needed front brakes at 70K miles. Rears are still fine. Toyota dealer said I needed new rotors and pads. I told them the rotors were original and asked if they could be machined. Dealer said possibly but they don't recommend it. For the first 70K miles the front end felt tight and the steering wheel never shaked.

I took my truck to a friends repair shop and had him measure the rotors. He said there was plenty of material to have them resurfaced. I had him machine the OEM rotors and let him install a set of Napa premium front brake rotor pads. While they had the truck I asked them to change the oil and rotate the tires.

Immediately after picking up the truck I felt the steering wheel shake when the brake pedal was lightly depressed. The problem (shake) got worst as speed increased.

I took the truck back to the Toyota dealer and had them rebalance all wheels and align the front end. As soon as I picked up the truck I could still feel the steering wheel shake. That evening I called the service manager and explained what I had been through and asked why the tech who balanced the tires wouldn't have felt that the problem if he test drove the truck. The service manager wasn't sure how to respond. He apologized but asked if I could bring the truck back and have him take care of the problem.

When I took the truck back, the service manager had a senior mechanic test drive the truck with me. He said I definitely had a problem and thought it felt like the rotors where warped. We talked about the work that had been done. He said there are times when he will resurface rotors but most of the time he replaces them. He always recommends Toyota brake pads. He said the Napa pads are probably very good parts but nothing he has seen last longer than OE parts He recommended I bring the truck bake and ask to have him work on the truck. He was confident he could fix my problems.

When I got the truck back it was perfect. He put new OE rotors on and new OE pads. There was no steering wheel shake when I picked the truck up. The brakes feel like new. 80K miles on the truck and the whole truck feels like new. I'm very pleased.

 

Your two issues are bolded above.

You should have listened to the dealer. The dealer isn't always out to screw you.

I never do business with a friend. It just causes hard feelings.

Did you get the money back from your "friend"?

 

How good of a machinist is your friend?

 

Obviously not very good.

 

That's pretty harsh. How are you qualified to make that judgment call?

 

Actually, Yes I am. Work with CNC machining every day.

The facts speak for themselves.

1.) The rotors shouldn't be warped after you machine them.
2.) A good machinist would check the run out of the rotors after machining.

I hope he was a good enough man to give the OP his money back.

 

I'm confused

Didn't you first post that the OP should have listened to the dealer and replace them because they couldn't be machined

Now the machinist that attempted to machine them is no good because he should have been able to machine them ?

 

Think there is a chance the reason the dealer told him to not Face them is because the dealer knows it could/would reduce the thickness below the lower specification limit. Therefore the rotors would not able to with stand the force and heat applied while braking, wrapping upon braking?

 

No. You misunderstand or maybe I should have been clearer.

The dealer stated he should replace them vice machining them. I agree that this would be best. They already make the rotors as thin as possible for weight and cost.

I didn't measure them so I could not make a determination IF they could be safely machined or not. The Toyota FSM has specific guidelines on these measurements.

He decided not to do this and took it to a friends shop. The machinist should have been able to determine if it was possible to safely machine the rotors. If he didn't know the minimum thickness allowed he should have not touched them. His friend obviously machined them incorrectly and they were warped. Or he cut them too thin and they warped due to the heat shortly after they were installed.


Better?

 

Yup all better. It's really hard to tell based upon the information given if the "friend/machinist" did a good job or not. In any event the end result was warped rotor.

 

Proof????
It is in the pudding.

 

The rotors were measured and in accordance with Maryland Inspection specs there was enough thickness to machine up to two times. The friend is an excellent mechanic and has faced thousands (if not more) of rotors.

It's not out of the question that the problem with the rotors was introduced by over tightening the lugs. The Toyota mechanic said he has re-faced rotors but only when a customer insists. He (the Toyota mechanic) said even he has had mixed results. He's not sure why but his experience is both Tacoma's and Tundra's are sensitive to re-faced rotors or aftermarket pads. Re-faced rotors often (not always) lead to the steering wheel shake I described and aftermarket pads don't last nearly as long as the Toyota pads. Just saying...

 

Unless the rotor or wheel is cocked, the tightness of the lugs is not going to warp the rotor.

 

Thats because they are likely softer and of different compounds than the stock pads. Meaning that the stock pads are harder and could be generating more heat and more wear on the rotors themselves. The after market pad that is softer should wear quicker and leave the rotor intact. The Rotors will get hot, Any brake experts care to chime in here and let us all know if a softer pad is used will the rotors get hotter than if a harder pad is used? Thus causing more heat in the rotor and its eventual warp...

 

There is a lot more involved than just " harder or softer ". Material composition would have more of an effect that harder or softer. The surface area would be the same on either more or less a minimum variation of the dust grooves cut through the pad.

In my experience nothing performs or lasts longer than the stock OEM pads. I have also found that braking habits play a much bigger role of warping and heat that the pad material.

In other words if you drive with your foot on the brake peddle or haul ass and jam the brakes hard every time you stop and then run through water all equal excessive heat and warped rotors.

 

Had my toyota dealer re-surface my front rotors when pads were replaced at around 120,000 or so. Wish I never had, and never will again. Shakes now when braking, wasn't immediate though, took a few months for it to show up. I did ask if they recommended doing that (my direct question was do the Tacoma rotors have enough meat to turn them down, assuming they had never been turned before.) They said sure, shouldn't be a problem. I don't fault them, lesson learned on my part. I use my brakes conservately, so I know I'm not abusing them to cause bad things to happen sooner.
Lug nuts on my truck have always been torqued to correct specs, as I always do it myself, even if a shop put the tires back on for some reason or another, I'll break out my torque wrench in the parking lot and check all the lugs.

 

Right, I phrased it this way for the cheap seats.

Racing pads vs Street pads have different material composition, Consider Kevlar pads, Carbon Ceramic pads, Sintered Metals, etc etc.

Racing pads work best when hot and have poor initial bite when cool. This is the exact opposite from what you want from a street pad.
Street pads on the other hand have the affect of having good initial bite but will tend to fade once heated. Most driving should not cause this.

I'd try a hawk hi performance street pad vs the junk you get at autozone.