1998 Camry Brake Pedal Vibration - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Weez1 · 10-09-2008, 12:20 AM

Hi. I have a 98 Camry with a brake problem. When applying the brakes a vibration is felt in the pedal & entire car. It seems the harder the pedal is pushed the worse the vibration. At first I thought the front rotors where warped. The other day I decided to try slightly pulling on the emergency brake while driving. The same vibration could be felt. Is it possible the rear drums are out of round/warped? In the past on any other vehicle I've owned, this type of vibration ended up being warped front rotors but I think this time the problem is coming from the rear. Any advice would help. Thanks

***new echo owner*** · 10-09-2008, 01:30 AM

Like rotors, drums can be out of round too. And like rotors, drums can also be machined to correct out of round concern. When front rotors are warped, sometimes you can also feel it through the steering wheel when braking. There are tools available that can check the drums for out of round.

N.E.O.

***BMR*** · 10-09-2008, 09:25 AM

Weez1, do you have drum or disk brakes on the rear? If you have disks, the E-brake has separate pads; it's basically a small drum brake sitting inside the disk. If you have drums, then NEO is spot-on. If you have disks, it might be a bad wheel bearing causing the pulsing. That's what it was for me. Here's a link to my DIY thread to replace the bearing... Link

Weez1 · 10-09-2008, 10:26 PM

Thanks for the info. I haven't physically checked the rear brakes yet but I think they're drums (1998 Camry CE 4 cyl). I do not have any vibration during normal driving but only while braking (also when pulling on the emergency brake when moving at regular speeds) - that's why I'm pretty sure the problem is coming from the back.

prjkt_c4mry · 10-11-2008, 02:22 PM

Because you are a 4 cylinder, you should have drums on your rear. Rear disc brakes only came on the V6.

***BMR*** · 10-11-2008, 05:20 PM

I'm not sure how it was for the '98 models, but on the '92's, if you got ABS brakes you got disks on the rear regardless of which engine.

Mike Gerber · 10-11-2008, 09:29 PM

The 98's were definitely rear drums on the 4 cylinder models, with or without ABS. The V6's got 4 wheel discs.

What the original poster is describing definitely sounds like an out of round drum.

Mike

Weez1 · 10-18-2008, 09:46 AM

I did a brake job on the rear end. Replaced the drums & shoes with jobber parts. The vibration is gone so I'd have to assume the old drums where out of round. I'm starting to wonder if the savings on the jobber stuff was worth it. Even though the old brakes vibrated when applied, they worked really well (I could lock up the rear tires while driving just by pulling on the emergency brake). Now, there's no way I can do that. The hand brake does engage and prevent the car from moving while parked but it doesn't grab like the old brakes. i figure it must be because the material used in the cheaper jobbers isn't as good as OEM shoes.

***new echo owner*** · 10-18-2008, 10:54 AM

There are many factors that would affect brake performance, amount them is the materials being used for construction; however, new brakes do require a little bit of break-in period before they are fully effective. So maybe try it again after some miles and see if they perform better.

N.E.O.

Mike Gerber · 10-18-2008, 12:56 PM

You may also have to manually adjust the new rear shoes a bit closer to the drum.

Mike

Yanpapa · 09-29-2009, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Gerber

You may also have to manually adjust the new rear shoes a bit closer to the drum.

Mike

I've just replaced rear brake shoes and used a brand new drums for my 97 Camry and when I brake and slows down to 10 - 15 mph, it vibrate or pulsate. I'm thinking may be I need to adjust my shoes but when you place a new drum, what kind of resistance are you looking for? I was able to spin a drum with a bit of resistance but is this close enough?
Or am I looking at other problems?
Thanks.

Mike Gerber · 10-02-2009, 08:02 AM

"I've just replaced rear brake shoes and used a brand new drums for my 97 Camry and when I brake and slows down to 10 - 15 mph, it vibrate or pulsate."

I had that happen once, years ago (in the middle of winter here) when I let someone else do the rear drum brakes on my 86 Camry. One of the brand new rear drums they used was out of round, so it can happen.

As far as resistance, a bit of resistance seems about right. If the pedal heitght seems too low, than they need to be adjusted a bit tighter. I could always tell when it was time for adjustment by the pedal height on my 98 Camry.

Mike

Yanpapa · 10-02-2009, 12:06 PM

Yes, Once I have re-surfaced drums, vibration has gone and brake is working just fine.

However now I have small clicking sound comming from left drum when I brake and slowdown to about 5-10 MPH.
I've greased with high-temp. grease(silver color) at contact points and adjuster tread but I can't fugure this out. May be it'll go away once pads are braking in.

Yanpapa · 10-02-2009, 12:10 PM

Mike, Thanks for your suggestion on other tread. I'll re-check connection points. and re-grease it.