Jakebe1234

Cross Post from Civic Forums:
I have a 99 Honda Civic EX automatic (157k miles) and have been experiencing a shaking in the front end of the car that comes and goes. It seems to be related to temperature as it happens midday, but rarely happens at night.
Symptoms:

• Happens during normal driving
• Brake pedal becomes very stiff (normally pretty spongy)
• Feels like a consistent thudding
• Wheel shakes and speed is affected/have to put the pedal down to keep speed.
• Sometimes just goes away and drives normally

Known Good:

• Replaced both front wheel bearings less than a year ago
• Both axles replaced
• Calipers and hoses were replaced by a local shop about a year ago
• Replaced Pads and Rotors about 3k miles ago (no thudding while braking unless the problem is happening)

From my copy post in the other forum, I did figure out that my right rim is getting hot enough to boil water, (as i have sprayed it with a hose after driving).
But other than that the only other suggestion I received was that it seems to be a randomly occurring sticking caliper and maybe to replace my master cylinder?

Any suggestions appreciated, as I am not very familiar with braking system components other than their primary functions!

fgb000

Change your tires.

jonsey1886

How old are your tires, how old is the brake fluid, and was it PROPERLY bled of air after any work?

eat5

going through rain when brakes are hot can warp the brake rotors also....

mk378

If the master cylinder piston does not return to the fully retracted position when the brake pedal is not pressed, pressure will build up in the brake lines and cause the brakes to drag after a period of driving.

One simple thing to try is to loosen the brake light switch and turn it out a turn or two, so that the brake pedal comes up higher. If that does not help there are other places to adjust but they are more complicated.

Jakebe1234

Sorry for the delay I was on vacation.
Thanks for all the replies, the tires have probably 90 percent tread life. It seems it is definitely brake related. Will update if I can get it to stop by replacing the master cylinder. Might be a while as my lower ball joint just blew out as well