shaking when i brake

[Hylander24]

Hi. I have a 98 eclipse, non-tubo 2.0... I did see a similar post to this but didn't quite get an answer from it so i apologize if its a bit redundent. For the past few month when i brake, particularly if its hard braking like getting off an exit on the highway for example, but also slow braking as well.. my car shakes pretty hard. My original guess was bad pads and/or rotors so i replaced all the breaks being that i needed to anyway and after a few days it started happening again and seemed to get progressively worse, so i again replaced them all again because of the incredible annoyance and bought better rotors and brakes this time but its still happening... only other thing i can think of is something with the tie rods maybe or need to bleed the brake lines, maybe there is air in them... any thought? thanks

 

[chinola69]

I would say that your rotors are warped but see you changed them twice. First let me ask what kind of rotors did you buy the first and second time? I dont believe its air in the lines cause that would make it feel spongy but you should bleed anyway. A possiblity could maybe be the caliper or/ piston may be frozen.

 

[Hylander24]

the first time i just got the cheapest rotors they had at autozonethen the second time i got the next ones up. looks like the first ones were valuecraft and the second were duralast... My initial thought was warped too. but being that it happened again within weeks the second time lead me to think its something else... these are the rotors.

Brake Rotor - Front | 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse 4 Cylinders Y 2.0L MFI DOHC | AutoZone.com

I forgot to add, the first time i did the brakes it looked like one of the pistons was frozen so the following times i replaced them and made sure they were very well greesed up inside the caliper

 

[FLASH1970]

Might be a caliper. Check the caliper pistons.

 

[Hylander24]

i did, even replaced them . I cleaned the pads ( which only have maybe 5,000 miles on em) and rotors and everything with brake cleaner to make sure there wasn't any gunk or dirt in there

 

[97gsxIA]

Do you have any play when you tug on your wheels? refer to this half-assed drawing:

--/ <--bad
--| <--good
--\ <--bad

It could be something other than your brakes, it just happens when you brake because it's putting stress on the hubs

just food for thought

if your wheel has play like mentioned, I would check the status of your bearings.

 

[775TSI]

Did you notice any damage to your boots for any of your drive components like axle. Also is your vibration ONLY when braking or does this include take offs or at 60mph ect.. I had a 1g do this and the wheels were out of alignment with the driver side needing to be balanced.

 

[Hylander24]

i have thought it may be something other than the brakes, i notice the boot on the tie rod looked worn out, but thats also relatively new i'm not sure if that would even cause this... It deff only happens when i brake, well it shakes a bit on the highway at like 75-80 but i think thats just normal, nothing like the shaking that happens when i brake....i didn't notice any play in the wheel when i last did it, i can check though, gotta rotate the tires one of these days anyway... and its deffinetly in alignment cause i have a lifetime alignment at firestone so i get it done pretty regularly

 

[775TSI]

Does it shake at high speed and low speed stops or is one worse then the other?

 

[RyanR79]

Try Tires balanced and a Alignment not from firestone those guys have to be the worst so called technicians, or maybe even tie-rods can be shot.

 

[2GJeremy]

Its either a tire rod or a control arm. I can almost guarantee that.

 

[zcoh2gdsm]

rotors can warp within minutes of putting them on, it all depends on how you brake. check your wheel alignment though, that seems to be my problem atleast, but i have the same symptoms as you, high speeds shakes slightly nothing bad but braking in 5th and 4th gear has a violent shake, once i downshift to 3rd all the shaking stops and it's a smooth halt.

 

[TSIturbo91]

As said before rotors can warp very quickly. And if your just a bit out of spec with let's say 3 things like control arm, tie rod and alignment it could all add up to a big shake. Bearings should be check and I gotta ask, how hard do ya brake? I'm a pretty aggressive driver and as a teen I went through a lot of rotors. Now I take my time braking because I was tired of telling girls the cars fine it's just my rotors, .

 

[95TalonOwner]

Check all of your suspension.

 

[DSM Chase]

Mine does this same exact thing but only at speeds over 65mph when I brake it shakes wildly

 

[assassin3117]

I would say check your tires. I have had customers come in the shop with that issue and its the tires them self. You might have a separation issue going on that hasn't let itself out the closet fully.

 

[GoCanes777]

+1 On checking suspension thats the route i would go next

 

[97gsxIA]

rev-matching + down-shifting = who the hell needs brakes?

 

[Aameiel]

Check the tie rod ends for wear. If they are worn out they can cause a vibration when u break hard.

 

[hocka09]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I did not see anywhere in this thread that you checked the slider pins for the calipers. If those are rusty and not lubed it will not allow the calipers to float correctly, favoring one pad over the other and can likely cause this shaking during braking.

 

[preludeachris]

As said before rotors can warp very quickly. And if your just a bit out of spec with let's say 3 things like control arm, tie rod and alignment it could all add up to a big shake. Bearings should be check and I gotta ask, how hard do ya brake? I'm a pretty aggressive driver and as a teen I went through a lot of rotors. Now I take my time braking because I was tired of telling girls the cars fine it's just my rotors, .

I disagree with this....iv had rotors for may years (including on the 1/4 track) never had any of my stuff warp...they key here is to keep your foot off the breaks when breaking from an aggressive speed (say at a stop) then you dont have all that heat on one part the the rotor while the other part of the rotor is cooling off hence causing the warp... sames works for auto trans....just creep a little bit

Also.. OP no one here said anything about hub bearings.....hub bearings can start doing all sorts of weird stuff when they start to go out....when they get REALLY bad they make a constant road noise....but in the early stages...??? shaking?

 

[jtmcinder]

Couple of comments.

As to the rotors warping within minutes of installation ... no. 99% of the time, what seems to be warping is really incorrect bedding. If the OP slapped new pads and rotors on and didn't bed them properly, then that could be the problem. But it's not going to be warped rotors. (If the OP didn't bed the pads correctly, then scotch-brite the rotors and do it again.)

Of course, check for play in the suspension, but let's not worry about the alignment right now. The latter is rarely if ever a source of shaking when on the brakes.

And definitely check the slider pins. The tubes in the brackets rust and seize. This is a known and frequent problem for DSMs.

 

[red92tsi]

When my tie rod end got real bad my car started shaking when i would press the brakes.

 

[jtmcinder]

caliper or wheel alighment

And how could alignment cause shaking while braking, pray tell?

 

[TSIturbo91]

I disagree with this....iv had rotors for may years (including on the 1/4 track) never had any of my stuff warp...they key here is to keep your foot off the breaks when breaking from an aggressive speed (say at a stop) then you dont have all that heat on one part the the rotor while the other part of the rotor is cooling off hence causing the warp... sames works for auto trans....just creep a little bit

Also.. OP no one here said anything about hub bearings.....hub bearings can start doing all sorts of weird stuff when they start to go out....when they get REALLY bad they make a constant road noise....but in the early stages...??? shaking?

Well I have yet to warp a rotor in my 1g. I was talking from prior experience in general. Also I don't know where you live but we have a lot of mountains in the adirondack park and some of our roads are very steep for a good distance. It not uncommon to see gradients that exceed highway code but were grandfathered in. Stopping from a pass and slowing down a hill that's 5 miles long is different. Short bursts are fine and should not cause warping, but 3 minutes + of braking can.