Steering wheel shaking during braking

My steering wheel shakes during braking at exactly 55-60mph range. It doesn't shake during acceleration at any speed range. Is it warped rotors? I was expecting vibration at other speed ranges as well for warped rotors, but it only occurs around 55mph.

Truck only has 28000 miles on it, and I don't beat up on it.

 

warped rotors are the lead suspect. i found mileage has little to do with it. my friend cooked his brakes towing a trailer..same symptoms.

 

Sounds like warped rotors, mang. Its not about the mileage, really. If you had to break real real hard in the past, that can warp them a bit causing your symptoms.

 

excessive heat = warped rota's

 

I would look carefully here first. Rust build up over time on the rotor hats and hub can give false vibes due to their uneven mounting surface to the wheel and rotors. Inspect that area carefully. I had some on mine when I used to have vibes at the same speed and it went away after only scrubbing all the rust away. If yours are rusty, you can either wire brush them off while on the vehicle, or the most advisable way would be to remove both rotors, wire brush them front and back, then hit the hub as well and get to scrubbing.

If you still have vibes at speed itt could be unevenly wearing pads. These rotors have a lot of meat on them. Given we run stock ceramic pads, my first thought goes towards the pads before the rotors. Ceramics are known to unevenly wear due to heat. Your best bet would be to either A. replace the pads and test it out (though not always advisable to do JUST that). Remove the rotors and inspect them on a lathe. Warped rotors always rear their ugly head when turning dynamically on it. They usually appear in form of wobble. Good luck.

 

I have a 2015 with 27,000 miles on it an I have the same issue. I mentioned it to the dealership when I had my 25,000 mile service and they said the same thing about it being warped rotors. I do a lot of highway driving and the faster speeds means more friction and heat so a higher tendency to warp no matter the mileage.

 

The thing people have to consider is that when they are braking at highway speeds is that unless there is a potential danger immediately in front of you, you have to let off that pedal every so often to keep airflow moving in between those pads and rotors to cool them down.

I drive mostly highway as well, but the method I stated above coupled with close to 60K on the original pads and rotors has allowed me to keep vibes and warpage away. Just something to think about.

 

My wife's VW had same issue at 28k miles. Warped rotors. She's a bit too heavy on the brake pedal.

 

Sounds like the rotors. Sometimes you will get the shaking at certain speeds due to the fact that at those speeds, all the harmonics of the various moving parts in the front end and driveline come together, and the vibration occurs.
If you were to let the truck crawl at just idle speed, and lightly apply the brakes just until you feel some slowing, you will more then likely notice a slight pulsing in the pedal, or feel slightly uneven slowing that you might not notice unless you were actively looking for it.

 

Too long didn't read.

What was the point?

 

Other than he beat me to making the same post..............

Rotors don't warp.

But you will get pulsation from pad material build up.

Improper, or no bedding of new brakes is the leading cause. I find it amazing that every box of quality pads or rotors I've ever bought contains instructions on bedding the new brakes, yet new vehicles, which should be treated the same way, you don't get that. Most people don't even know what it means.

 

Warped rotors. My 2010 Tacoma and 2009 Camry both did it at around 40000. Turned rotors with new pads and only took half the mileage for it to come back on both.
New rotors and pads fixed it up until we got rid of them both last year.

 

Might enjoy reading post 12. If you are a doubter, read the link in 10 too

 

Rotors do indeed warp as a result of heat or poor materials. As a professional mechanic I see this all the time. You are not going to have fifty thousandths worth of material build up on a rotor. Buy the best rotors and pads you can afford. Every parts store has multiple lines of brake parts you get what you pay for.

 

"Rotors don't warp"

While I am quick to agree most of the time as well, there is some bit of falseness behind that statement.

Example: Pretty much any year model from 1990 - current Honda Civics and Accords. About every 20-30K miles if not sooner a person (were customers where I worked at) complained of brake pedal pulsation and or steering wheel shake upon applying the brakes. Upon removong them and spinning them at low RPM (usually 675-800 RPM or less on an on car lathe) would show wobble on the rotors when turning. Bare in mind this occured after cleaning the hub to rotor mounting surface as well as the rotor hat itself. The brakes themselves were not actually bad. It was the rotors.

My whole point behind my blabber is that on certain vehicles, models, and or sometimes even a manufacturers at the time vehicle line up, they install undersized braking assemblies which is simply not able to keep up with stopping all that weight and inertia moving it to stop it without becoming damaged in relatively short order.

My GTO and Tacoma never experienced this issue, they did, but it was due to excessive rust build up on the mounting surfaces and/ or the brakes simply going bad and unevenly wearing at the clamping surface of the brake system.

So I both agree and disagree with that statement. Not sure if Stoptech said that or you did. Lol.

Due to decreased overall disc thickness, which no longer allows the same amount of heat to build up like it once used to before warpage. Allowing the system to need service in quicker order. Which may explain why BMW recommends replacing the rotors instead of just simply turning them.

 

Regardless of Warped or whatever you want to call it, turning or replacing the rotors is the cure.

 

More suited? Should I put racing pads on my wife's VW? We turned the rotors and it fixed the problem just fine.

 

High speed braking- as in exiting a highway, will tend to cause you to need the rotors turned. Then scuff the pads to keep them even and to remove high and low spots if able.

Stop and go braking typically wears the pads before rotors need repairs, though I'm of the mindset that whenever you replace the pads, shave the rotors if possible.

 

This /\
Rotors do warp, heat + poor materials used for rotors + lug nuts not set correctly on alloy wheels + hard braking = warped rotors often and repeatedly.
And simply testing backlash on rotor will quickly prove it.

Once you think you have warped rotors.
1. Take wheel off.
2. Put all 6 bolts on rotor and bolt them to at least half of the spec
3. Put the backlash gauge on rotor at the edge and spin the wheel. If you have more than 0.05 mm backlash your rotor warped and you need new one.
Simple test.
If backlash is small you can"
1. Simply remove rotor
2. clean spindle and rotor from rust
3. postion rotor back on spindle Check for backlash Using steps above.
4. If backlash still exists. Move rotor to next position on wheel studs (rotate by one stud)
5. Check for backlash again (do this until you find setup with lowest backlash)

 

Shocker.