Straight to the point, I want to have my brakes inspected by someone who knows what to look for and would know what I need to do with them exactly. So should I just take it to a shop or would there be an easy way to inspect myself?

They have a slight warped feel when slowing down at slower speeds you notice it sometimes. Other times its not there however.

I had my car in a shop to get the oil changed and they said my "tie end" was loose. Thats all no detail about it. I only noticed it written there on my receipt once home. So I could call em back about it. Would this be my issue not my brakes? I suppose Ill take it into the shop anyway to get the work done thats needed, but I'd rather save the money.

Thanks for reading.

 

The tie-rod end is actually part of your steering, not brakes. Grab on to your front wheel at the 3 and 9 o'clock position and try to turn it back and forth. If it has play (wobbles) without turning the steering wheel, your tie rod ends are probably worn out.
If I just totally confused you, try searching YouTube for tie-rod end.

 

When slowing down at slower speeds, this warped feeling that you're describing..is it like a Flintstone's car-type feeling? Almost like your wheels are more oval shaped than perfectly round? If so, that would be your rotors. Over time, your brakes wear tiny grooves into your rotors..and it gives it a texture similar to an old record. You can take them off, take them to a shop, and get them machined when you replace your brake pads. It's really easy to do and would probably take you about an hour. O'Reilly's will machine your rotors for you (which means they cut of a VERY small slice of the rotor to make it smooth again), and you can simply look at your pads to see how worn those are. Be cautious if one side is more worn than the other, because that could mean further problems (ie: calipers). Dive in! And good luck!

 

at highway speeds does the steering shake when braking? thats pulsation warped rotors if not your bad tie rods will cause a loose feeling in your steering

 

Generally speaking, if you brake, and feel pulsing in the steering wheel, it's your front rotors being warped. If you feel it more in the seat, it's the rear drums being out-of-round... though sometimes it can be a little misleading.

A bad tie rod will make the steering feel wide and loose. Often, when you accelerate or stop, with a bad tie rod end, you'll feel the car kind of swerve a little bit to one side or the other.

Checking for warped rotors or out of round drums is easy enough. Jack the car up and support it on jack stands. Put the car in neutral and disengage the parking brake. Then manually spin each wheel. If you feel or hear uneven resistance, that is the culprit. It might help to have a buddy very lightly depress the brake pedal when doing this.

The aforementioned test with grabbing the wheel at 9 and 3 and checking for play will indicate if your tie rod end is bad, and which one.

 

Well, I was with my mechanic friend Saul, he checked out my brakes, he seems to think nothing is wrong with them at all. But in checking the brakes, he said the tie end on the left side needs replacement, I saw it too, looked a bit broken so to speak. And yes, the steering wheel shakes at higher speeds, like over 75mph. Another fun fact, my right front tire has what Saul called "separation" So I'm going to get 2 new tires and save the left front one as a spare. Problem is, I was trying to get the tires done, and because my rear tires were made in 2002, a couple places even said they would not move them to the front, calling it "policy". So what do I do to have the wheels/tires up to par here? Could I just rotate the rears to the front myself, or would that end up not being balanced or in alignment? Thanks guys, sorry I've been busy to respond but I do appreciate the advice.

I'm taking the car into a trusted shop in two days just to do a diagnostics and figure out what I'm looking at, mostly just to fix that tie end.

 

If it were me Id get 4 new tires, 11 year old tires are bound to have dry rotting.

 

Yea, 4 new Douglas R175/70 R13 tires at Walmart are like 200 bucks, altogether. Go get your toe angle checked and/or corrected at a shop shortly afterwards... that's what is ultimately causing your shaking at freeway speeds (your wheels are toed out, which causes wonky tire wear, which causes high speed shaking).