Shaking when braking

2003 TRD Tacoma w/ 150K miles AKA hardly broke in

This is my first post so we will see what happens.

When braking my steering wheel and the entire vehicle shakes. The truck does not pull to one side or the other. I just replaced the pads with high quality, $140 for the pair, pads. I also just had the rotors resurfaced, the front end aligned (nothing major found) and the problem still exists. So, with brand new pads, resurfaced rotors, and a front-end alignment the vehicle and steering wheel still shake.


I heard guide pins may be the issue, or possibly the calipers themselves. Although I'm not sure how these would cause shaking on newly resurfaced rotors. Any ideas? Anyone with similar issues?

Thank You!

 

How bad are the shakes? Are your tires cupped?

Did you do anything with the rear?

 

Shakes aren’t anything crazy, but get worse with speed. Tires are pretty new and not cupped. The rear brakes are drum brakes. Inspected them but didn’t notice anything major and pads are in good shape.

 

When you say you just replaced pads, how many miles ago? It's wise to gently break them in, about 500 miles or so not mashing them (AKA bedding them in).

It's also possible the rotors aren't very thick still. I only have a 2WD so I just replace them whenever I change pads.

 

Probably not 500 miles on them yet but the shaking was a problem with the old pads as well.
The rotors were replaced a few years ago and the problem still persisted. They are getting a little skinny now but it’s been a problem with new and old rotors.

 

Put 10-15 miles of interstate on the truck, then stop, get out, and feel the rear rims. If they are too hot to touch longer than a couple of seconds, that's a problem.

I had that problem too a few years ago. To fix it, I backed the adjustment of the brakes on the hot rim until I could hear the drum just rub the shoes.

Just an idea to check out...

 

Worn suspension / steering components can cause braking vibrations as well. Other thing could be dragging calipers causing the rotors to over heat and warp.

I’d pull a rotor and take it in to see if it’s still true.

 

I misread the title and thought I was coming into some Ricky Bobby action

 

Warped rotor is the most likely culprit. That's where my bet is.

 

Replaced the calipers today, with resurfaced rotors and brand new pads and the problem is STILL there! Resurfaced rotors made the problem worse. Guessing the rotor face is flat but not orthogonal to the axis of rotation. Going to get new rotors soon and see if that fixes the problem.

 

What kind of a shop, mechanic? Was he able to or even tried to determine the flatness of the rotors before turning them? Did he measure using a caliper tool at numerous spots? Didn’t he do a test drive afterwards?

 

It was Oreilly’s. Yes he measured the rotors with calipers and said when initially turning them, contact would be made on one part of the rotor, and it would completely miss other spots.

 

https://www.powerstop.com/product/power-stop-z36-brake-kit/

Theses solved my shaking problems

 

LCA bushings. That’s a guarantee!

 

PROBLEM SOLVED

In the future I will not be paying to have rotors resurfaced. In my case, it just made the problem worse. So after an alignment, new pads, rotor resurfacing, and new calipers. The final fix required REPLACING the rotors.

Not the cheapest way to fix the problem. This frustrating path seems to be common when working on vehicles. Hope it’s not just me.

Thanks everyone for your comments!

 

Not ideal but you got the issue fixed, always the best.

What was the cost to resurface and to replace?

 

Ive had rotors resurfaced/turned. The problem came back within a week of normal driving. Replaced rotors and pads good as new. Theres gonna be 20 people say 10 different things. Thats my experience...

 

The cost to resurface was $25 per rotor, so $50 in total.

The cost per new rotor was about $128. But we were given money for returning the old calipers. The total came out to around $110.

 

Definitely more for replace but peace of mind is very valuable.

 

Rotor warping is almost always caused by excessive heat build up from braking.

The reasons for this can be varied. Aggressive driving style is one, but there are others. For example, now that you've got the fronts refreshed, take a close look at the rears. Make sure they are in good shape and are working correctly. When the rears don't do their share of the work, the fronts have to take on all of the load, leading to excessive heat and warping.