Low gas mileage and pulsating after front brake change

Hello all,

Last week I had my Subaru Outback 2001 LTD Ed. wagon into a Monro Muffler/Brake shop to have new brake pads put on. Prior to this, I noticed when braking on rain slicked roads that the brake pads were wearing very thin. This was confirmed by the mechanic at the Monro shop.

So last week they put new ceramic pads on for $110 and sure enough I just had to briefly tap the brake pedal and I was coming to a quick halt at intersections and stop signs. That compared to the slow deceleration and gearing down (5spd) that I felt was safe to do prior.

Anyway the day after I noticed two problems...

1.) When driving 40mph+ and having to come in on the brakes hard, the steering wheel would shake semi-violently. That was only for braking over 40mph with semi-sudden stops. That didn't really happen when cruising streets and coming to slow stops.

2.) The second issue was that I could 'feel' and 'hear' this pulsating and or hum coming from the front wheel/tire area. This caused my gas mileage to SEVERELY drop IMMEDIATELY after having the brake work. Prior to this I had been holding steady at 29.5mpg even with the worn out brake pads. But within 3-4 days afterwards I noticed just by watching the fuel guage that it was decreasing much faster than usual. I haven't gotten an 'official' measurement of MPG just yet. But my own observation is that when I used to get ~115miles per 1/4 tank, I'm now getting about 100miles per HALF tank.

I did have the car back into the shop where they machined down the front rotors for $25 a piece and that did solve issue #1 where the wheel shook violently when braking. However issue #2 is still there. Yesterday I put about $20 worth of gas in to give me exactly 1/2 tank full. As of this morning the needle is sitting on "E" and the light hasn't yet come on, but I've got a total of 105 miles on the odometer for having driven between yesterday and today.

I can still very much hear this pulsating hum from the front tire/wheel area when driving. I have checked tire pressure and have made sure that the front tires are around 31 and rear tires 30. The Monro guys said they checked and couldn't see or hear anything that would be causing this.

Does anyone have ANY ideas of what is the matter? I have to drive about 100 miles a day and I can NOT afford to be putting $40 of gas in a day at this rate.

Bradley

As for the hum it is more than likely a wheel bearing going bad.

Actually I had new rotors put on and that solved the problem.