cholder919

The Problem

I believe the brake caliper on my driver side is sticking. I was driving down the road and I was going about 50mph and my car just started shaking real bad I couldn't go pass 50mph and it was hard to push down the brake. I smelled a burning smell so I parked it really fast. I had my brakes change and rotors reserviced awhile back. Yesterday I had a hard time getting my car out of park I had to put my spare key in the shift lock release to get it out of park.

any suggestions

nus_dogg

Remove the caliper out and put some wiener slider lube on the slide pins to help some. Otherwise, just get a new caliper to make things easier.

About your shift lock, maybe your brake switch under the dash is going bad which won't let you go out of park when the brake pedal is depressed. Check the continuity of that switch with the pedal depressed and what not. Get a Haynes manual to help you.

holmesnmanny

What makes you think it's the driver side caliper ? I would jack up each tire and spin the wheel. That should help you narrow down which caliper is the culprit.

NilesCrane

I have a similar problem. I brought my car in to get new front brake pads and it has been shaking when ever I get up to around 45-50 mph. I brought the car back to my mechanic and he says I need to look at replacing the calipers, which I plan on doing this Saturday. My question is what would cause both calipers to fail at the same time? I don't want to get the calipers replaced only to find out a few months from now that I'll have to spend another couple hundred bucks to replace something else.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

tim73

To make sure it is indeed your calipers, raise both wheels, remove them. Then spin both hubs, make sure they both spin(Make sure car is in neutral. If one is hard to turn, then try and remove the caliper. Once you get it removed, see if the hub will move, if it is still hard, I would suspect the hub. Just make sure, before you start changing out parts.

holmesnmanny

Its easier to spin a wheel than a hub so i would just jack up the car to get the wheels off the ground and spin the wheels. If a caliper is bad one wheel will stick. Then remove the caliper and spin it again.

MAD_MIKE

I do not see how calipers would cause shaking.
When the shaking occurs is it only when the car is cruising or does it occur while braking?
Recheck that the wheels were properly mounted and the lug nuts are snug.

NilesCrane

It shakes when it's cruising but not all of the time. It comes and goes and seems to happen less frequently lately. I appreciate the input, folks.