Steering Wheel shake when braking

My steering wheel shakes at highway speeds only when braking. It seems very smooth around town, even when braking. I've always thought this was due to warped rotors, but I want to say it slightly changed a bit when I recently put in shims in the rear and flipped the carrier bearing - making me think it might be driveshaft related. Just curious if that is possible or if it is still likely warped rotors or unbalanced tires/wheels?

I had the dealer check out the front brakes and mentioned the warped rotors a month or 2 ago, they said everything checked out, but I dont know how closely they looked at the rotors, I have a feeling they just checked the pad thickness...

 

I'm with you either warped rotors or unbalanced tires. My brother had this problem on his 95.5 taco even after having his rotors machined. His problem was only fixed when he got new rotors.

 

Thats warped rotors!

 

Big time warped rotors. My dad did that to his 08 taco.. Replace them, don't machine them.

 

Been there. Replaced rotors and brakes and done.

 

Hello.. The dealer and I agree. your rotors are warped...

 

If not sure use a dial indicator to check the run out of the rotor.

 

That is crazy then. I have only 42,xxx miles on the truck. Only been through water less than a handful of times but I guess it only takes one time. I know a brake job is cheap and I can do it myself. I was hoping I could get more out of them though. I suppose I could just replace the rotors and leave the pads....

 

Warped rotors for sure!

 

Running the wheels on the studs with an impact gun at full speed (especially a good one) is enough to warp the shit out of rotors......torque wrench for the win!

 

That's a good point. I always use a torque wrench in the garage, but it's been at various places for wheel alignment, lift install, tire rotation with other services that they may have tightened them too much when they put the wheels back on.

I'll have to research some new rotors then. Thanks.

 

+1 on warped rotors, ..since it only occurs when braking..

you might try just backing off the lug nuts a tad, and retorquing to spec w/ a torgue wrench - can do this on it as it sits in the garage... maybe they overtightened the wheels...

 

I check them periodically with the torque wrench and they are good, right at 80 ft/lbs I believe. I've had the wheels on and off quite a bit lately and the issue has persisted for quite some time. So if it was lug nut torque related, then I'm afraid the damage has been done. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

After some searching it seems most all the thread on this issue were never followed through with, so rather than making a new thread I'll just bump an old one.

My new to me 2015 Taco with only 23k miles on it has this exact issue...I didn't notice it until after I drove it off the lot and was braking at hwy speeds, low speeds it doesn't seem to be prevalent. I have not had the chance to pull the wheels and check everything but is it safe to assume that new pads and rotors will be in order?

Thanks!

 

i know this is a thread revival. That said, I noticed the shaking in my steering wheel recently when braking at highway speeds. Just like the OP, I don't notice it around town. Only on the highway and during heavy braking.

I had the rotors turned at Oreillys about a month or two ago because they had plenty of life. I put them back on and added new pads and all seemed well. I know that you always put new pads on new rotors, so I'm going to be very disappointed if I have to replace (new) pads and the rotors.

I also have my sway bar off right now as I recently upgraded my suspension, and I have not had the tires balanced in a while. I'm planning to reinstall the sway bar and front skid this weekend. I'll also get my tires balanced just to be sure. If it persists after that, I suppose I'll be in the market for new rotors .

 

It’s the rotors, but unless you do high speed racing or drive downhill 30 miles each way to and from work everyday, your rotors aren’t warped. It takes a tremendous amount of heat to warp a peice of metal as thick as your rotors. This only occurs in extreme circumstances, not in daily driving.

When your brakes get heated from excessive use, when you stop your brake pad burns essentially an impression of brake pad material onto the rotor. Providing an uneven surface for braking. Over time it gets worse and causes shaking when braking at high speeds.

There are many reasons why this can happen but 99% of the time it’s going to be driving habits. Braking too aggresively and too often. Slow down in the city, don’t accellerate super fast so you have to slam your brakes, anticipate stop signs and red lights, coast down before running right up to the car infront of you then stop abruptly. In essence, play the game of “your brakes are lava”, use them as little as possible.

Also whats important is when you get new brakes is seat them properly after putting them on. Without doing this it puts you at risk for getting uneven brake pad wear.

 

Try new brembo blanks, worked for me.

 

While I'm not going to disagree, I'm not in total agreement either.

Rotors were turned a few thousand miles ago, so they should be smooth as can be. New pads were used and seated properly. Though I don't fully understand the point of seating them. I mean, I do, but I highly doubt every brake shop takes every car they service out to the highway to seat the brake pads. So I'm not entirely convinced that is a necessary step. Either way, I've done a half dozen or so brake jobs and never had this issue. I've also never turned rotors, as I have always just replaced them with new. This is my first time having rotors turned/machined/resurfaced/whatever you want to call it.

I already do coast to stops and as much as possible. I'm not an aggressive driver by any means.

After reading some other posts, I'm going to check for and remove any surface rust between the rotor and hub in addition to the other steps I mentioned above.

 

FYI, just picked up an 08 that had the same issue. Dealer had turned the rotors so assumed was a crap job. Picked up a set of power stop rotors and pads for 100 bucks online. Put them on, same issue, no change at all.

So I brought it back into the garage and pulled the front wheels and put a dial indicator on things. yep, Rotor "Seem" warped....but brand new? Nahhhh. Pulled the rotors and checked the front hub with the dial indicator.....BINGO. One hub was the culprit, bearings were quiet etc. Was just off enough to seem smooth at speed but jacked up under braking.

Replaced both sides with a set of Droman complete assemblies and all is fixed, truck is smooth as silk now.

Mine is a 2WD, so all work is dead simple, probably an hour's work to replace Rotors, Pads, Hubs and get back on the road. This truck is awesome to work on, almost reminds me of aircooled Type 1 bugs.....almost.

 

Good to know. I'll check that out when I get everything apart to check for surface rust.

Any info on how you checked the front hub with the dial indicator? I'm going to google how to do that....