My car shimmies and shakes like hell when I brake.
 

Well, when I brake, going anywhere from 55-80 mph, the car will shimmy and the steering wheel will shake badly. Anything under 50 mph, the car feels fine. I have some abnormal tire wear, due to the fact that I have not had an alignment for three years, but it is really not that bad. For the brakes, I have stock Accord rotors up front with stock pads, and there is still a lot of pad left. For the rear, I have the stock POS drums with some cheap Rebestos pads. They are relatively new. I am thinking that maybe my rotors are warped and need to be turned. Is there a way to tell visibly if the rotors are warped? What can be causing the shimmy? Thanks.

Re: My car shimmies and shakes like hell when I brake. (accord55)
 

brake job, you may have a seized caliper, drum etc.....

Re: My car shimmies and shakes like hell when I brake. (accord55)
 

I would bet the farm that your rotors are warped up front. You can't see the warping, but my 94 Prelude had a similar but less pronounced problem. I figured the rotors were shot so I just replaced the rotors. I would suggest at the least getting them resurfaced or examined. The tech will recommend a replacement or a resurfacing based on how bad it is.

Just one of those sucky things. Don't let it get'cha down.

Good luck,

Spen

Re: My car shimmies and shakes like hell when I brake. (accord55)
 

New tires, alignment, check rotors for warpage -- turn if warped, non-directional scuff if not warped.

Drums are not the issue since they hardly do anything.

Re: My car shimmies and shakes like hell when I brake. (bps2799)
 

check your wheel weights as well. you lose one usually thing shakes a lot at high speeds then like a mofo when you break. or just shakes when you break

Re: My car shimmies and shakes like hell when I brake. (accord55)
 

check your wheel lug nuts for even torque on all four lugs each wheel if not your tires need to be balanced .when was the last time you had your brakes done?could be rotors need to be turned

Re: My car shimmies and shakes like hell when I brake. (flymecourageously)
 

I appreciate all the info http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emsmile.gif

Re: My car shimmies and shakes like hell when I brake. (accord55)
 

my rotors ar warped like a mofo and it does the same thing
anything ove 50mph and the steeringwhele starts to shake
oh boy at the track hah the whole dash shakes
im holding out to get a set of bremobs http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emsmile.gif

Re: My car shimmies and shakes like hell when I brake. (redteggy)
 

Make sure you bed your pads in too.

Drive first 100 miles w/o hard braking.

Then, 8-10 - 50-10MPH stops OR 70 - 40MPH stops.

Do the brakes SMELL? Good. Do they sound bad. Okay.

DRIVE (do not stop completely) for 15 minutes, staying off the brakes (add an extra 5-10 minutes if you do.)

IF you must stop, stop early so you can roll the car forward to turn the rotors. Get back moving ASAP.

Repeat process above, then put the car away ASAP after your cool down period and let the rotors "cure."


This is all worthless if you have shitty tires, bad alignment, and out of balance rims. Pissing money down the drain.

Re: My car shimmies and shakes like hell when I brake. (bps2799)
 

****************************
READ THIS about Warped Rotors http://www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/...otors_myth.htm
***************************

yes turning rotors may get rid of the symtoms but it may keep coming back..