[ericksaint]

Just as the topic says. This weekend I did my front brakes and upgraded to Performance Friction pads, not that I need them, but lifetime warrenty is what I was after. Anyway, brakes on this car are simple so it didn't take too long. I didn't get the rotors turned cuz there was very minimal wear or scoring, everything seemed even ( I know "seemed" isn't a good mechanical test). The rotors were new at the last pad change.

After putting the new pads all seemed fine around the city. Today on the way to work I got on the freeway and like clockwork when I get to 60 MPH I feel a vibration in the steering wheel, and if I just rest my hand on the wheel it's clear there is a bit of a shimmy there. If I back down to say 55 there is no shimmy. And it is only very slight, not anything like a front end part failing.

This never happened with the old pads on there. I dont feel any pulsing in the pedel at all when I give it light or heavy brake. So I dont think the rotors are warped.

Any ideas? The fact none of this was happening before the brakes were done was another reason I never got the rotors cut, had they been showing signs of warp before I would have just bought new rotors. Do I maybe just have to wait a few hundred miles for the pads to bed in a bit?

 

[soup]

are you sure you dont just need an alighnment?

 

[ericksaint]

Don't really think so, the car is on a rail, it goes where ever I point it and stays there when I let go of the wheel. Never drifts on me. And as I said above this problem never came to light till I did the brakes. Before the brake job I could cruise at 80 and never feel a vibration.

 

[shaunchrisc]

Always cut your rotors. Only the lathe can tell you they are straight. You may have to replace the pads too after you have the rotors cut. Always cut your rotors!

 

[ericksaint]

Well I can kinda understand the "cut your rotors" statement, however I may sound stubborn for saying that replacing pads is absolutely out of the question. I just spent $35 on a set of lifetime pads and there is currently about 30 miles on them. I may just buy new rotors at about $12-15 each and put them on then get the other set cut for next time I do brakes since I dont really have second car right now to wait a week to have the rotors cut.

 

[88ragtop]

Lets start with something simple. Pull the wheels off and put them back on. Make sure your torque them evenly and in the correct sequence. I've seen wheels get tightened down just slightly cockeyed and cause a vibration like you're describing.

Only takes a few minutes and won't cost you a dime to try it.

 

[whitetiger]

Lets start with something simple. Pull the wheels off and put them back on. Make sure your torque them evenly and in the correct sequence. I've seen wheels get tightened down just slightly cockeyed and cause a vibration like you're describing.

Only takes a few minutes and won't cost you a dime to try it.

He beat me to it!

It sounds like one of the wheels isn't on right. Did you maybe know off one of the balancing weights when you were working?

 

[ericksaint]

NA, I didn't have any of the weights laying on the ground where I had the tires sitting. I'll pull the wheels off tonight after work and see what happens.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[moe]

Like shaunchrisc said "Always cut your rotors!"

You might not have to replace the pads, you might be able to use sandpaper and sand them down a little to make them flat again.

 

[ericksaint]

I'm gonna pull the wheels and rotors tonight and check a few things. When I pulled the rotors the first time to check them maybe some rust pieces got between the hub and inside of the rotor. If thats the case and the rotor is not sitting perfectly flat against the hub would that cause this?

I checked around again today and the only place that "has the time" to cut my rotors is a Checker parts store. And the only guy there that knows how to cut rotors won't be in till next week. Since this is my only ride I can't really just drop them off somewhere and wait till they "have the time to get around to it" as I was told. This is kinda the reason I didn't get them cut on saturday when I did the brakes.

 

[kaseobeer2585]

sounds like a wheel thing to me, i dont see how your brakes would make your steering wheel shake when your not even using them. i could understand if it shook when you were slowing down or on the brakes but not going 60 down the highway. i say check the wheels first and go from there.

 

[patrick]

most liely a wheel thing i assume you torqued your lug nuts? make sure you didnt knock the wheel balence weights of during disassebly/assembly

 

[ericksaint]

Well I went home last night and pulled the wheels. While I had them off I pulled the calipers and rotors as well. I bought a 3/8" allen wrench socket, what a difference it made, when I took the calipers off the first time I used a reagular allen wrench and only being able to turn it a half turn at a time was a pain.

Anyway. I took off the rotors and put a wire brush to them and got rid of any rust build up on the inside. Put it all back together and took it for a beat run on the freeway and my vibration is gone. Everything is smooth up to about 80.

Since I took everything apart I can't say if it was just a tire on goofy or if it was something to do with all the rust build up on the inside of the rotor. All weights were still on the tires so that wasn't it. Doesn't really matter now thats it's fixed.

Thanks for the tips guys.