And my car still shakes at high speeds and terribly when applying the break.... WTF - Tire balancing, anything else?

 

Are these rotors on a TL? If so are they the brembo rotors? I have been told the brembo rotors can't be turned. While I don't know how much truth is in this , I guess it's something to look at .

 

replace your rotors.

 

maybe control arms, your rotors would have to be terribly warped to have shaking at high speeds without applying the brakes

 

I balanced the tires and the shaking reduced greatly, but there is still shaking. They are not Brembos - But I will be replacing them this weekend to see if that solves my issue. Next step would be the control arms.....

 

Did you just changed the frt rotors and pads only? If so the rear brakes could be vibrating. While driving at 40-45 mph slowing pull up on the e brake handle and see if you can feel the rear end or your seat vibrating while the ebrake is slowly pulled up. Do not lock the rear brakes but hold down on the e brake button and pull the e brake handle.

 

it is defiantly rotors, had this same problem rotors were warped and problem did not go away with any other fix. ( balancing, rotating tires, new tires ect.) did not help!

 

I swear I just made a post in here, but I guess not.


The problem could be bad tires, bad wheel bearings, improper alignment, bad brake rotors, bad ball joint, bad tie rod, bent wheel, or a combination of things.

Here's what you do:

1. Jack up the car, grab a wheel firmly with both hands (one on each side). Wiggle the wheel left/right, do you feel any movement? If so, have a closer look to see if the tie rod or wheel bearing is moving.

2. Grab the top & bottom of the wheel and move it in and outwards. Does it move? If so, check to see if it's a ball joint or wheel bearing.

3. If ball joints & wheel bearings are good.... go rent, buy, or borrow a dial indicator. Attach the dial indicator to your brake rotor and set it to zero. Turn the rotor a full 360 degrees and look for movement. If the dial indicator moves more than 0.004", replace the rotor. If you've got a micrometer, measure the thickness; anything below 0.83" needs to be replaced. If all is well, leave the brakes alone.

4. Go get your wheels balanced. The tire person can tell you whether or not you have a bent wheel.

5. If it still shakes after wheel balancing, go get an alignment. The alignment guy can tell you if you've got a bad bushing, bent control arm, bent unibody, or anything else that's not right.

 

Sorry but this won't work. The TL has a drum-style e-brake inside the rotor so won't be able to diagnose front-vs-rear this way. Good idea though.

 

are you feeling vibration on the pedal or on the steering wheel now? possible rears need to be turned as well

 

We'll I've replaced the rotors, pads, balanced the wheels, and still nothing. I will try jacking up the car this coming weekend and try to wiggle the tires.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

Thanks for these pointers. I will give them a shot.

 

So I've jacked up the car and wiggled the tires and everything appears to be firm. I was told maybe my axles are shot, old, or worn out????

 

Looking at my car closely I found that the driver side lower ball joint was shot. I replaced it along with a new driver side axle because the one I previously had, looked bad.

The car still shakes. I check the arms the go from the rack and pinion to the wheel hub and they have a lot of play. Before replacing the rack and pinion I might just take it to an alignment shop.

Extremely frustrating.

 

Have you by chance taken the car to the dealer so maybe they could diagnose the problem, Just hate to see you keep throwing money at the car and still not fixing the problem...G/L...

 

brake vibration usually do to warped rotors, even new rotors sometime are warped when come from factory

 

You have to make sure there are not suspension parts that are loose before doing or even going to get the car aligned.Professional alignment will check the car before doing anything.If the problem you have described above "shaking pronounced while braking" felt in the pedal(after the rectifying the rotors) there could be bad job done on the rotors.(just a possibility).You also have to make sure that there are other brake components are in great working condition(sliders,calipers,hoses) and not causing the overheating of the rotors and warping them out!Tire will not make the car shake only while braking!

 

Well I took the car to an alignment shop and while diagnosing the car I saw my motor jolt badly. I checked the mounts and they where torn apart.

I immediately went to the dealer and purchased the obvious front mount that was bad. Replaced it and car was still shaking but not as much. Since it was my day off (Friday) I decided just to go ahead and do the rear one while I was at it. (Pain in the *** by the way)

Finished the car and it still shakes but only when braking from 60mph - Other than that it appears to be getting better. But because that still did not satisfy me, I got under the car again and noticed that my transmission mount was also torn apart. I purchased the new one today and while I was replacing it, I noticed that a vibration damper that is bolted from transmission to cross member was also ripped apart. Since my local auto shop doesn't carry it, I left the car on jack stands and hopefully tomorrow I can buy the parts. I will keep everyone posted. I have a feeling this is going to be it ::::crossing fingers:::::

 

Here is a picture of the torn vibration damper that was also torn after I replaced front, rear, and transmission mount.

 

WELL............................. I'm about to throw my phucking car away lol - After replacing almost everything the car still shakes. Only difference now is that it only shakes while pressing the brakes hard or suddenly.

I am down to three options left.

1. Tie Rods
2. Rack & Pinion
3. Alignment

Tie Rods have A LOT of play, so I will start there.

 

You have to pay attention to brake components! Your symptom is related mainly to brake system.If you are going to check everything else on your car than you will find all kinds of thing but the problem!The problem won't go away by crossing fingers.It works better in church

 

same problem here my friend. just not when i brake.

 

Well I've checked my brakes components and I see nothing wrong. I was told that in the past others have purchased OEM pads and rotors and that cures the problem. So maybe I will just go ahead and do that. I've done everything else. I have even checked my ABS system.

 

I just purchased OEM brake pads and rotors (freaking expensive by the way) I will put them on today and see where it takes me.

 

Well on Monday 01/30 I finally took the car to the dealer. They came to the conclusion that both lower ball joints where damaged. I had a hard time believing them because I knew for a fact 1 was about a month old. The other one, might need it. But not for $766.48 so I instead bought the pair of ball joints for $65.00 from the dealer, went to my buddy's shop, pressed them in and the car still shook.

The following day I get a follow up call and I described the on going problem and they offered to re-check it for FREE - So I took it again and they told me "your driver side ball joint is bad" I told him, I had just replaced them yesterday. So they said "take them back to where you bought them from because they probably sold you a bad one" I responded with "I BOUGHT THEM FROM YOU GUYS" So then they apologized and said, ok we will hook you up with a free OEM ball joint and labor for $75.00 and I said ok.

4 hours later they call me to tell me my car was ready - No more shaking. I went to pick it up and yep, my car now drives like a true TL. After months of haggling, I finally found the bug!!! So yeah, replace both your lower ball joints.