2003 Corolla steering wheel shakes and one hot front brake

[Toy29]

I have a 2003 Corolla S with 130,000 miles. Here recently the steering wheel started violently shaking between 50-70mph. While checking the tires I realized my right front brakes were much hotter than the left. I took the tires to get balanced and it seemed better during a follow-up drive. However, after a short time the shaking came back and at almost any speed above 30mph. It remains when I slow down and the brakes pulsate rather badly. I noticed the brakes did not pulsate when I initially left on this test drive. It seems to develop, which would seem to suggest possible caliper problems but not sure. The one thing I do know is that I could really feel and smell the right front brake after the drive, which included some highway and city driving, but only about 6 miles worth. I am not sure what the problem could be; whether there are two separate issues or one that is leading to both. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[TrdSpeed140]

could be a really badly warped rotor, seized slider pins, or even a stuck caliper piston. best to get it checked out by a pro if you don't feel confident doing it yourself.

[Toy29]

Thanks for the suggestion. I keep coming back to the rotor too. I am just confused as to why it seemed fine initially and then got worse. Could it just be warped and as the heat builds up the problem becomes more pronounced? I too do wonder about the slider pins. Think I need to get a whole new caliper? What would be your first guess?

[AZrolla9]

i'd try the rotor first, typically when you apply the brakes and your steering wheel shakes, its typically the rotors going. hope that helps.

[03mooncorolla]

Had a similar thing happen a few years ago.

Your pads have not been fully releasing after application, sliders will need cleaning, in my case I needed rotors and pads at 90,000kms got good life out of them anyway.

A hard application may free it up some if it's only sticking a bit, but the damage may have already been done.

[silver04rollas]

Your front disks have been completely warped, which is why your steering vibrates.

You will need to either get the front disks machined or if they cannot be machined then you will need to get both new disks and pads replaced.

[Slaander]

I think you should just replace the rotor and pad, since is 03, might as well change them plus those rotor and pad is not that expansive.

[mhinz000]

i just ran into this on my 03 S, same exact issue, turns out the piston in the caliper decided to seize up so it wasnt releasing pressure off the rotor. when i took it off, i was able to push the piston back in but it was very difficult, ended up getting a new caliper. was like 46$ after the core was returned to autozone. hope this helps a little.

[tarbasd]

Just what the others said. Most likely scenario is that you caliper stuck, and the heat buildup warped the rotor.