Frusterated...couple of quick questions for the experts

I have 2 quick questions that hopefully someone can answer...

First of all my truck is a 2009 TRD Offroad Double Cab with 71k miles. I am the original owner and have taken it to the stealership for every maintenance requirement...

1) Today I took my truck in to have a rotation/balance and an alignment. When I picked up the truck I noticed a pulsating feeling when braking very similar to the feeling you would have if there was a warped rotor. This is very noticeable when braking especially when coming to a stop or breaking at highway speeds.

The guys at the tire shop (where i bought my Duratracs) told me it was probably because of uneven tire where that I am now noticing since the tires were rotated. Since I have my tires rotated during every oil change I told them to un-rotate the tires and they agreed the problem would go away.

Well the problem definitely did not go away and they aren't giving me any suggestions and are trying to get out of fixing it. I am going to bring it back to them tomorrow but thought i would check and see if anyone has any suggestions. Is this something they could have done wrong during the alignment? During the tire balancing? It feels like warped rotor, however, it was not there until they balancing/rotated the tires and did an alignment.


2) A second problem that i have been having is a chink/clunk sound. This happens almost every time i brake after pulling out of parking spot, and sometimes when normal braking. I had my wife drive the truck forward and backward trying to pin point the noise but it is very difficult. It sounds like it is coming rom directly behind the drivers side tire and is noticeably loud. At first i thought maybe something was stuck in between one of the skid plates but i tried pouding around to see if there was a rock or other debris and couldn't repeat it. Any ideas??

 

The second clink clank noise might just be the brake pad, our brake pads "float" and the click clank might be it settling.

The first thing I have no idea how they can screw up your braking items while doing an alignment, they never really get near those items.

 

In reply to the UCA/LCA suggestion.....

Thanks for the reply.... it does sound like it would be coming from that general area. I am traveling for work for a while...do you think i can wait a couple of thousand miles and let the dealer look at it during the next service? I don't have any tools with me here in northern kentucky to really work on it.

Does anyone know what the torque specs are? I can buy a torque wrench and check them in the parking lot?

 

If it is the pads "floating" how can i doublecheck this? Is it something that needs to be fixed?

although the pulse feeling is very similar to a warped rotor i don't feel anyhting in the brake pedal. Is there something else that could of messed up with the alignment that could result in a similar feeling?

 

Id check the LCA and UCA bolts first and no the floating pad is just something that comes with the truck. Some people hear it some dont, I do.

 

I have nothing useful to add, but DAMN! 71K on an 09? You must do some serious travel. Or one hell of a commute.

 

Yeah unfortunately, I travel a lot for work and my current commute is pretty long. I feel like I am constantly in my truck.... good thing i love it. The 5k service seems to come up every 2 months though lol.

 

Regarding the "floating pad" idea... would it make sense that the noise hasn't always been noticeable until recently.... and i know that i am due for some new pads shortly? Since the pad would be thinner now that they are pretty worn there would be more float?

 

They probably put your front lugs on with an impact wrench one at a time. This will warp your rotors faster than anything. That's why you are suppose to tighten them gradually in a star or cross pattern.

 

Is the brake pedal pulsating?

 

The pedal does not feel like it is pulsating. But the car pulses in a very similiar fashion as thought there was a warped rotor...

i know that it didn't do this when i dropped it off and it does it now... very disappointed with this tire shop.

 

I would suggest having the balance re-checked.

Car is not driving funny, pulling to one side or the other, hard to keep in a straight path, things like that?

 

The clicking only happens once in each direction so i assume that this must be the floating pad scenario.

As far as the tech torquing the lugs... they re-rotated all of the tires so that means they would have had to do this twice. Definitely possible however.

 

The original vibrations were taken care of by the balancing. There does not seem to be any other driving items that seem funny.

 

I'm with chris4x4....since it was fine before you gave it to them, they probably did something wrong. Since they didn't touch your control arms, the wobbling feeling very well could be an overtorqued wheel. Loosen them up, pull the wheel off the (might need a big rubber mallet if it was tightened down too much) and retorque them properly. I don't know how many times a young or lazy mechanic improperly uses an air gun.

 

X2

i'm still old school and scared of guns (you ever seen how they toss them around), i personally prefer an actual torque wrench.

 

I will try this in the morning. thanks for the tip.