Steering shake when applying brakes

Hello all,

Thank you for reading this post. I have a puzzle that I'm hoping I can get some info on before bringing the truck to a mechanic.

My '15 taco has 25k miles and is a 4cyl. I recently noticed that the two front tires (all 4 came with the car when new) are unevenly worn and the car was pulling to the right (only slightly). I took it to Firestone for replacements. The tech inspected all four tires and told me that the 2 in the back are still ok and still have a decent amount of threat on them and I can still drive on them for now until. I replaced the front 2 and got an alignment for them as well. Firestone did a rotation and moved the two old tires to the front and put the new ones on the back. The tech also did a brake inspection and everything came back normal. The report also shows that I have 6 (whatever that suppose to mean) left on the pads. The tech told me that they don't recommend replacing the pads until they're down to 3.

So after the replacement of the tires and the alignment the pulling was resolved but I started to have a severe shake when braking anywhere from 50m/h and up. I brought the car back to Firestone and asked them about the issue. They first told me that it's the brake/rotor problem. I told the tech that I didn't notice that issue before it had the alignment and tires replaced. I also told the tech that they did the inspection when they replaced the tires and the report was good. So they told me that there's a possibility that the old tires need to be balanced. They wanted $28/$48 + tax to balance the tires. I ultimately opted to replace those two old tires as well since I figured why waste the money to balance the two old tires. After replacing the remaining two old tires, the shake was a bit better but it's still there.

I'm sorry for the long essay. Can any one chime in with their thoughts on what the issue I might be having? To be completely honest, I think I might have felt something when braking before I replaced the first 2 tires and the alignment (but I know for a fact that it was not like what i'm feeling right now). The only reason I took the truck in was because of the uneven ware on the tires.

Could the new tires and the alignment somehow amplified a pre-existing problem that I was not ware of (brake/rotor)? The only thing that throw me off is because the tech at Firestone told me that they inspected the brake system when they replaced the first 2 tires and it was fine.

Is there any other possible issue(s) that can cause that?

If it's a brake/rotor issue, do I need to have the rear drums inspected and/or replaced as well? If yes, what would be the "reasonable cost" for both parts and labor for the repair?

Just spent almost a 1k on the tires and the alignment and hoping to not get ripoff on other repair(s) .

Again, thank you very much for taking your time to read the entire post and help me out with it.

 

Firestone - in a word - terrible. Find a good independent repair shop.

 

I had a very similar steering wheel shake when I would brake from 50mph and above. It was a warped rotor situation. Got them turned and it was fixed immediately. I had just got the truck so the dealership did that for free. If they are charging you to do it, it might be the same price just to buy a new set and replace them your self. I'd be willing to bet if you replaced your rotors, the shake will go away.

 

I had this issue with an older car i had ...the fix which worked for me was to replace the rotors and pads.

Good luck

 

Warped rotors. It's possible you drove through a puddle while the rotors were hot. I just replaced my rotors, fixed the issue.

 

If it started just after the tire rotation, I’d question how the lug nuts were tightened.
In proper order and with a Torque wrench?
Or did they just drive them home with an impact?

More often than not, it’s build up of friction material on the rotors.
But the fact it started just after the rotation make you wonder?

The only way you’ll probably fix it is by replacing or resurfacing the rotors.
I would also recommend replacing the pads at this time as well.

 

Thanks, Lester! I only went there for the tires and the alignment. I thought they would at least got those services right. Plus the prices for those services were pretty much about the same everywhere else.

You mentioned that you got the problem right after you just got the truck? What's the chance of it getting that problem so soon? I have only driven 26k miles on mine.

Thanks, will have a mechanic take a look and do the repair as suggested.

Wow, that's a new revelation for me. I would have never thought of driving through a puddle while the rotors were hot can cause the rotors to warp. It makes total physic sense, just would have never thought of that considering the time and thought that were put into designing the car/components. But I can see that as a great explanation as to why it's happening already given that I have only driven 26k miles and never abused my vehicles.

Are there any other reason you could think of that could have caused it?

I did wait for the vehicle and observed the entire process. The tech did torque the nuts with a torque wrench in the pattern that he was supposed to.

As I mentioned in the post, I "might" have felt some vibration when braking "before" replacing the tires and alignment. However, it was very slightly, i have always attributed that to the worn tires and alignment issue. If I was to compare, it would have been a 1 or 2 before and a 10 after replacing a first 2 tires. It's now like a 7 or 8 after I replace the remaining 2 tires.

 

Warped rotors are actually very rare. The most common issue with "warped rotors" is embedded brake pad material in the rotors from incorrect break-in/bedding in. If new pads/rotors are not properly bedded in, a minute amount of brake pad material gets embedded in the surface of the rotor.

Initially, the driver notices nothing, but as the rotor wears away, the area where the pad material is embedded wears more slowly. After some time of this, the embedded material actually appears as a "bump" as the pad rides the surface of the rotor(s) reflected as a shimmy in the steering wheel. That is also why many times resurfacing the rotor works many times - the surfacing bit grinds the minute bedded pad material away. Sometimes, however, the rotor machine does not put enough "force" when scraping, and it ends up riding the "bumps" like the pad would. I don't remember how many thousandths of an inch of pad material causes this, but the info is out there - I think it's in the realm of LESS than 1 thou.

This is very common when a shop does the brakes and doesn't bed the brakes prior to delivery, doesn't cautions the owner about the proper procedures upon delivery. In the case of DIY, the person is simply not aware of the process.

If you DIY, you can now get pads/rotors that are "pre-stressed" to reduce the possibility. You can google "bedding brakes" or something similar and find the reasons and process.

It can usually be avoided by "gentle braking" for the first few hundred miles of use without the crazy speed up/slow down without stopping a few times dance (where you need a long stretch of road with no one behind you).

Hard braking heats up the rotors/pads, and if you come to a complete stop before everything is bedded/broken in, that is when the material transfers from pad to rotor. This is how the speed up fast/slow down fast without stopping method works - heat up the rotor/pads but don't completely stop and allow the pad material to bed into the rotor. Then drive a little more until the brakes cool down to "normal."

 

The problem was there. I just didn't really notice it during the test drive. I guess I didn't break enough on the short amount of hwy driving I did. Vehicle only had 26k miles on it then too. I noticed it more in the following days after I already purchased it and contacted the dealer ship with my concerns and they said bring it in. They diagnosed it as warped rotors and turned them and issue was gone. If they were going to charge me to do that, I would have just bought new rotors and installed them myself.

 

Post #8 is too long to quote, but is the best reply.