Hi!

I have a 97 Civic EX with ABS. I bought the car about a year ago with 130,000 miles; it now has 138,000. When I first bought it the car vibrated when I applied the brakes. I assumed the rotors needed to be replaced, so I took it to a shop and had them replace the rotors and pads. Well, I get the car back and it still vibrates. The shop then replaced the rotors and pads again; car still vibrates when I brake, and only when I brake. Car is smooth smooth smooth when driving.

The shop showed me the old parts, I watched as they installed the new parts. They said it could be something with my suspension and they would need to do an inspection, which was more money. I didn't let them do that bc I didn't trust them at this point (were they using cheap parts?) So, my question is, can anything else be causing the vibrations when I brake? Could really cheap pads and rotors cause the vibration, even when new? Could it be something in the suspension? (But like I said, car is smooth when driving, struts are fine, there is no creaking noise from anywhere on the car.)

Thank you! Your help is much appreciated.

 

Cheap rotors will sometimes cause vibration. Some of them are warped right of out of the box. OEM Honda pads and rotors aren't cheap up front but they do last a long time and are worth it if you're planning to keep the car for a while.

 

i bought EBC rotors and i used it for two months and my car is starting to vibrate in the front like you mentioned what i did was i bought the factory EX rotors with ceramic pads everything was expensive but the problem ended there. my advice is replace everything again and the cheap turns out expensive and my car is soo low 2 and its never vibrated in the front tires area. so go and get good rotors good ceramic pads an you shouldnt have no problems

 

could be ball joints, likely lower.

 

[QUOTE=solbrothers;44755264]brake pads/rotors need to be broken in, too.[/Quote=
i dont want to sound wrong but when you buy cheap parts your gonna have bad results. go and get all that stuff and the cerramic pads and youll see the change.

 

There could be a several possibilities, a tire is out of balance, pedal pulsation, if you feel vibration in a brake pedal then this is probably the anti-lock brake system which modulates pedal pressure.
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Thanks for the responses.

I don't think it would be be the ABS system bc then the ABS light would illuminate, correct? As for tire balance, the car would vibrate at any speed, not just when I brake, so I will rule that out (but have it checked just in case). I will have the lower ball joints looked at, and if they aren't the culprit, I will go and buy good parts this time.

One more thing: Could the rear brakes cause the vibration? They were replaced as well, and I read on here somewhere that if the pedal pulses it's the rear brakes but if the steering wheel vibrates it's the front brakes. I can't really tell if the steering wheel pulsates, I just know the pedal definitely pulses. But it's not my ABS; I've hit the brakes hard enough to know the ABS works fine and engages when needs to (like in the rain trying not to run a red light..ahhhh!!)

BTW, the pads and rotors were replaced under warranty from the last place that changed the brakes, so I didn't pay for them. Woo-Hoo!

 

check the balance of the tires, but im almost 90% that its the disc or rotors. and the abs the pedal jump the steering wheel dont vibrate so it deff wouldnt be the abs.

 

and buy ceramic pads and oem rotors

 

If you want to find out get up to 35 - 40Mph and gradually pull up on the ebrake, if the drums are out of round you'll know.