Brake Problems

[Rdizzle]

Well after walts didn't do jack to fix the problem, i offer the question up to all: my brake pedal throbs and the car shudders rather hard every time i apply the brakes. Walts checked the pads rotors etc.. when they were installing my suspension. They said it was fine. So what the hell is it. If i brake hard at high speed i will vibrate stuff right off the dash.

Any suggestions are as usual appreciated.

[Mike Gerber]

I am not sure what walts is, but most of the time you have vibration, it is due to warped front rotors. It can also be in the rear discs or drums, but most of the time it is in the fronts, since the fronts do most of the stopping and therefore are subjected to the most heat.

If you have rear drums you can try breaking with just the e-brake and see if the vibration is there. If it is, it's in the rear drums. This test won't work if you have rear discs, since they use separate pads for the normal braking and small shoes for the e-brake.

Another test is to notice if you feel the vibration in the steering wheel. If you do, again it is most likely in the front rotors.

A good tech will put a dial gage on the rotors and actually check the "runout".

If you find the vibration is in the fronts, you can do the work yourself very cheaply. You can remove the calipers and the caliper mounting brackets (Toyota calls this a Torque Plate in their Manuals), and then remove the rotors yorself and take them to a machine shop for cutting. It should cost you about $10 per rotor. I would just lightly sand the surface of the old pads before reassembling everything. Keep the pads oriented to exactly the same places they came from and you should be OK.

Mike

[Rdizzle]

Walts is an auto repair place up here in washington.

To answer the other things, yes the whole steering wheels shakes. Iwill try the parking brake thing but i doubt its the drums. ANd like i said, the car place checked the rotors and said they were fine but i don't know...is there any way to check the rotors myself? I could replace them with powerslots myself way cheaper than the shop. Thanks so far.

[Mike Gerber]

The only way to really check the rotors is with a dial indicator. Do you have any friends that are professional techs or machinists? They may have one. If not, you may just want to take the front rotors off and bring them to a machine shop to have them cut. They will first check the overall thickness to make sure there is enough meat left on them to cut them. They will know right away as they cut them the first time; usually they do a quick first cut to determine if they are warped and how much more will have to be taken off on the second (and possibily a third) slow cut. If you have a Pep Boys in your area, I think they still cut rotors for $8 a piece. I would call around to auto parts stores in your area and get prices for cutting over the phone. The only other advice I can give you would be to mark the rotors as to which side of the car they came form. It's best to put them back on the same side.

Good luck.

Mike

[marc780]

my brake pedal throbs and the car shudders rather hard every time i apply the brakes. Walts checked the pads etc.. when they were installing my suspension. They said it was fine. So what the hell is it. If i brake hard at high speed i will vibrate stuff right off the dash.

What Mike said, shuddering when brakes applied, almost always means warped rotors, with warped drums on rear (if used) a distant second.
If they expect you to pay some more money to fix this problem, it might be better to change the rotors yourself if you can. They are cheap nowadays, $25 each or thereabouts. Sounds to me like the shop just told you the easy answer and did something else. So whether you can trust these folks anymore is doubtful, i should think.