bejoyful

hello!
my car has started to shudder when i brake and it's not just slight shaking but it's a rather violent shaking. the steering wheel shakes as well.

at first i thought it would be something with my brake pads because they were getting rather worn, so i replaced them but it still does it.

and when i brake rather hard, it feels like tiny rocks are passing under my brake pedal.

can anyone enlighten me as to what's happening?

oh, and i have a 2007 se accord.

miguel1313

Rotors... if they are bad, you will just eat through your new pads.

bejoyful

sorry if this is a bad question, but how can i tell if my rotors are bad?

Chiovnidca

You can use micrometer to check for parallelism being in spec. And a dial indicator is good for checking run-out.

bejoyful

sorry, but i have no idea what you just said.
i'm kind of new to this haha.

placid888

just change the rotors

Grohe

How many miles are on the car? Are they the original Rotors? The rotors could be warper, causing the vibration. They don't have to be noticeable to the eye to be warped, it only takes a very small amount of warpage to feel it vibrate while braking.

johnnykash

rotors are prlly warped if its shaking violently. id change rotors and pads asap

bejoyful

mm about 70,000. and the rotors have been changed once. should it have been changed more?

Kseries_em

my cuz has an 07 accord as well, and his did the same when he first picked it up, because of cheap brakes and rotors, and the car braked fine after he replace em with better ones

Chiovnidca

Glad to help.

bejoyful

ok!
i shall replace the rotors then.

thank you for all your help

Kseries_em

no prob, let us know if that helps

tliebe89

I am having the same problems. when i brake for speeds over 25 mph my brakes shudder and i feel it in the steering wheel as well.

in the past 7 months i have changed my rotors, pads, calipers, struts and tie rods and had a new alignment done after all this work. it cured the problem for a couple months and now it is back. i have checked my rotors again and they seem fine. what else should i check? i am stumped.

Mechanic

Let's rule out the struts, calipers and tie rod (ends), and focus on the likely source of your original problem -- either the front pads or the front rotors. (Front pads and rotors because you can feel the shudder in the steering wheel.)

You said you checked the rotors. How? Looking at them won't tell you much unless you see obvious deep scarring or gouging. Assuming that's not the case, the only way you can determine whether the rotors are "running true" is to attach a dial micrometer to a fixed (immovable) brake component, rotate the rotor, and determine its lateral run out. If either rotor isn't true, that's your problem, and even a minor deviation will produce what you've described.

What causes the rotors to warp? Heat, obviously, and this stems from your braking habits. If you apply your brakes hard and then hold the pedal down after you've come to a full stop, the heat in the pads and rotors is trapped in that one spot on the rotors until you release the brake. Do this as a matter of habit and eventually that heat will distort the rotors. The only solution is to better anticipate when you need to stop, use the brakes more gently, and when you are stopped, either take your foot off the brakes while you are sitting stopped or leave enough distance between your car and the one in front of you to allow you to creep forward every few seconds to change the position of the pads where they contact the rotors.

To fix this problem, you could "turn" the rotors (cut them down) to eliminate the highs and lows, but the problem will likely recur fairly soon because there's less metal to absorb the heat generated by your braking pattern.

It's also possible that the pads are wearing unevenly, either individually or on either side of the rotor(s). Obviously, this will affect how they contact the rotors when you first apply the brakes, causing them the pull unevenly. If that's the problem, then one or more of the pistons in the calipers may be stuck or binding, and the calipers need to be rebuilt. Causes: Heat and or corrosion in the brake cylinder(s).

The other possibility (and it's a good one) is that you may see small bits of brake pad material stuck to the rotors. The pad material will look like small black dots. Even a small amount of clumped brake pad material will cause the pads to pull unevenly when you apply the brakes. If you think this may be the source of your problem, use emery cloth and lightly sand hand-sand both sides of the rotors. It's not a cure, but it will allow you to focus on the brake pads as the source of your problem. The transfer of pad material is also heat related. Better pads will prevent this from recurring.

Hope this helps.

weirdo

i had same problem. rotors were bad