Shaking when hitting the brake

Alright, so I have a 2015 Tacoma that I bought last year. About 3 weeks ago, I brought my truck in for its annual PA state inspection and an oil change. Nothing was wrong with it and nothing extra had to be done to it. However, in the weeks since, I have noticed that when I am driving in excess of about 50mph and press on the brake, my whole cabin starts to shake and rattle (I drive maunal, so I'd say it's comparable to the type of shaking you get when the engine stalls out, if I apply enough pressure to the break pedal). I seem to notice my ride isn't as smooth either, and it seems like my shifter knob might be shaking more when I'm resting my hand on it while driving around town (I'm not sure if this is just in my head because of the high speed shaking issue, but I've had the truck for a year now and I'm pretty familiar with how it feels to drive).

The mechanic I took it to has been servicing my family's cars for over a decade, and he's usually pretty good, but I know his lot was totally full that day and his guys were slammed, so maybe they did something in a hurry and got sloppy. I'm not a gear head by any means, but is there anything done during an inspection that might cause this problem? I was thinking maybe the alignment was thrown off if they rotated my tires, but like I said, i don't know much about maintenance. I just don't want to call the guy and ask him to take a look at it, without having any idea of what might be wrong. Also, I don't want to be that asshole who suggests him or one of his guys did something wrong to mess with my truck if nothing they did could have messed it up. Any and all insight is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

If they rotated the tires and now it's shaking I would check the lug nuts ASAP. Other than that i cant think of anything an inspection would do. Could be coincidence.

 

It is probably just coincidence. "However." Generally, if you get shaking, pulsing or vibrations when you hit the brakes it's a warped rotor (over tightening the lug nuts) or an out of round brake drum. I had a shop I was taking my Taco to that said they "torque all lug nuts on everything to 100 ft. lbs." Well, my 2004 Taco calls for 83 foot lbs. A Dodge Ram 3500 or a Super Duty is probably around 150+ Ft. Lbs. I stopped going there even though I really liked the guy that ran the place. It was a "chain store" albeit, a small one.

If you have a torque wrench that is very accurate I'd check the torque on the lug nuts up front since a warped rotor would most probably be the culprit if the lug nuts were over tightened. These newer vehicles are very sensitive to torque specs on everything. It's not the 70's anymore where you could just zip 'em on down with the air wrench and the only problem that would arise is the owner of the car not being able to get the wheel off for a tire change in case of a flat. Anywhere I take my Taco I always ask if they are using a torque wrench when they tighten the lug nuts.

Small stones in the tread or mud on the rim can throw off a balance and the guy's doing the balance and rotation aren't going to clean up your wheels for you nor are they going to get out a screwdriver and dig all the small rocks out of our tread before they balance the wheel's. I've had vibrations before and I've found out that stones stuck in the tread and mud caked on the inside of the rim was the cause. Once I cleaned everything out the vibrations stopped. With brakes though, where you feel it in the wheel I'd look into the warped rotor problem.

Even in this day and age there are still those (grease monkeys) that think just zipping the lug nuts down with a 1/2 " or even 3/8" air wrench is the way to do it. It isn't.

 

^Very good information.

 

Can't give you much better info than this, I just changed my rotors and pads last week due to having warped rotors. I was experiencing the same vibrations when hitting my brakes at higher speeds, seemed to have just showed up out of nowhere too... can't really place my finger on one specific event that cause it. Ended up going with premium EBC rotors and yellow stuff pads and it's all back to normal.

 

I just replace my brotors with oem

and well damn I don't know how you could warp one with
torque as they are mighty friggin beef


but anyhow..

yes

check bolt torque, all should be 82 foot lbs or so, you do not need
more than that and definitely don't need above 90

contamination of the rotor can cause this also, grease spot or smudge or a burnt spot

 

Yes, you wouldn't think you could warp them with over torquing but it happens. I don't know if this is still the case but back in the 80's you could bend every rim on a Honda Accord just by getting in a wreck and sliding it sideways. These cars nowadays are engineered to do what they were designed to do. They last forever under the designed use. Start over-torquing this and bending that in a way it wasn't supposed to be used and bad things happen real quick.

 

I think the overtorqued thing is a myth because its not even in line where the bolt holes are to the rotor. if it was just one flat surface possibly but its sticking out more than where the brake pad hits the rotor. thats just my opinion.

As for the OP Id say get new rotors and pads. should fix it

 

I think it would take a LOT of over torque to warp a rotor. The braking surface is well removed from the lugs and part of a heavy section of the casting.

I think over heating is the biggest cause of warping a rotor that has been in service a while (second to manufacturing problems). But I have little personal data to support either of those opinions.

 

I agree,
many say that warping is a myth also but Im inclined not to believe that. Ive seen rotors getting turned and theres clearly a high and low spot like its warped. Otherwise it would be uniform when they started grinding on the rotor.

 

Have the same issue and I am reading about a needle bearing being an issue....
G

 

Update: The new Hawk rotors and pads cured my wobble under braking
G

 

OP, did you get this issue resolved? I'm having the same issue on my 2015 TRD Sport wiht only 17k miles on it!

 

My 2010 has started shaking when I brake too. I've got the OE rotors and I don't think they have ever been turned. Are Hawk rotors what most are using for aftermarket, or should I just find a brake shop to turn mine?

 

http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/-warped-brake-disc-and-other-myths

High/low spots and 'grooving' are easily created by pads not being bedded properly, pads being cooked and dropping material on the rotor face, and from calipers being cocked, thus engaging the pad in lopsided manner. Like when you find the leading or trailing edge, or top vs bottom of the pad worn unevenly, it's usually either a caliper or lack of maintenance (no periodic cleaning/lubing of moving parts)

As far as new rotors vs turning. I've found that new rotors (like Bembro blanks from Napa) often only cost $5-$10 more than having a shop turn them. If they need work, new seems to make more sense. Typically a turned rotor will last about 1/2 what it did when it was new.

Once I learned how to properly bed new brake pads, even when putting them on unturned used rotors, I've not had any pulsation issues.

Lug torquing can 'cock' a floating rotor, creating a pulse almost instantly, and if not addressed, eat the pads in a weird fashion. But that is far from being 'warped'.

 

Thanks for the info Bill. I'm going to buy new ones. As a DIYer, its an easier job vs pulling them and then having to go to a shop for the turning.

 

Im not discounting your theory, but I had some rotors done on my honda...I watched them turn them...there was clearly at least half that was hitting the cutter and the other half was not...it wasnt built up matterial that was removed it was metal. They took it down till both sides were true/squared/flat whatever you want to call it. If it was just debris from brake pads it would scrape off and be done with it. Subsequently the rotors started vibbing less than a month later. I replaced with NEW brake rotors and pads and never had a problem and never looked back.

 

Ok I have seen this thread a few times now and think this post just is so fucking stupid each time.
First, overtighening lug nuts will not warp a rotor, what the fuck are you thinking. the lug nuts contact the wheel, a solid piece of metal, compressing the wheel to the rotor, another solid piece of metal, then stops at the hub, you are suggesting that the lug nuts can be tightened enough to compress two solid pieces of metal and somehow malform the rotor before the stud breaks. I have broken a stud at work and I can tell you that the rotor was fine. Now if someone puts the lug nuts on tight all on one side instead of evenly across from each other as it is done, then yes the rotor could be cockeyed and wear strangely or not even wear strangely but just being cockeyed could cause the breaks to act strangely, possible as if it were warped.
Next grow the fuck up about torque specs on lug nuts, 100 ft/lb is not gonna screw up anything when the spec is 83 ft/lb on your taco. For torque wrenches yes I have a rather nice 1/2 inch torque wrench that I break out if I really need it, I also have 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch torque wrenches. But most mechanics take tires off enough times a day that they know when their gun, be it air or battery powered has the lug nuts tight. I get paid 0.4 hours to change your oil and rotate your tires at my dealership, if you want your lug nuts/oil drain/oil filter tightened to the exact spec you are gonna have to pay me at least 0.6 hours labor. People who work on cars get a sense for whats tight because we use the same tools countless times every fucking day. I did 6 oil changes/tire rotates yesterday(saturday) and there is not a doubt in my mind that everything is appropriately tightened.
You mentioned that stuff nowadays is more sensitive to the tourqe spec, generally you can go over by a little and not screw anything up, suspension and engine work are the areas that you always go with torque spec cause suspension is always moving and turning and it will bind if over torqued and engine always gets torqued to spec cause it is going thousands of revelotions each minute and shit can go real bad real quick if theres something loose.
Ohh you want your current tires balanced, ok that pays 0.2 hours per tire. I am not gonna remove all the fucking rocks from your tire and spend a a half hour on each tire.
For just zipping the lug nuts on with a 1/2 or 3/8 gun not being correct, your right you start each lug nut by hand and then tighten them with the gun till the nuts dont freely spin, then in the cross pattern you tighten them down to what you know your gun says is tight. Now I have two guns the Milwaukee 1/2 mid torque and the 1/2 high torque, I will use the high torque for when the mid torque cant bust a lug nut loose but I only use the mid torque for tightening. If you do this in your driveway then I can understand that you think we are just are zipping them on because you take longer to do this and we do it multiple times a day so we are pretty good and quick about it.
Rant over

Actual contribution
For vibrations when breaking, yes rotors do get warped, maybe you braked really hard on the interstate when going 70 and made a hot spot in the rotor, maybe a little rock got throw up between the pad and rotor and caused the pads to be slightly crooked or the rock can cut a groove into the rotor. Either new rotors or turning the rotors can solve this, at my shop we turn the rotors every time we put new pads on, usually only cutting off 0.005 to 0.010 inches per side. Rotors will get very slightly warped just from normal use and this is why we do it. you may not feel it but I can see where its only cutting half the rotor. To those who say its not worth turning, some shops do over charge for turning rotors but it does take a slight amount of skill and skill costs money, if you want to compare buying new lower end rotors vs turning higher end rotors for a price comparison, be my guest and have fun. Generally it is not worth turning lower grade rotors such as Advance or Auto Zone or O'Reillys, the metal just isnt all that high of quality and if you have a hot spot it can go deeper into the metal then is safe for turning, now when you have OEM rotors they seem to be higher quality metal and can be turned many times before needing new rotors altogether. If you turned the rotors and the vibration is back in a week or so, they your rotors are likely toast and just go get new ones. Now if you brake and your whole damn car starts shaking, just start with new fucking rotors. No you do not have to get new pads when you get new rotors but usually people dont come in needing their rotors turned and still having plenty of meat on the pads, it generally goes like this - customer) my brakes are squeaking and my car shakes a little. mechanic) well lets take a look, yeah you need new pads and we will turn the rotors to solve the shaking.

 

2015 Sport with 15,800 miles - me too. I think I might have over heated them coming down a long twisting mountain road. It comes and goes when driving in the flats.

 

Awesome, Ive been saying the same for years. about over torquing and rotors warping...glad Im not the only one that agrees.