1999 Cavalier - Back Brake Vibrations

[amcswebs]

Well.. after a month of trying to sort this out I NEED your help desperately..

Please note that this does NOT happen all the time.. Only when braking hard.

When we come home we need to brake from 50 mph or so while coming down a small hill to make the turn into our road. Lighly applying the brakes to slow down is fine.. but as you increase the brake pressure nearing the turn the brakes start to shudder or vibrate to the point it transmits the vibration throughout the car. It REALLY sucks.

Anyhow.. its kind of along history as to what has been done.

1. Initially the problem was the drivers side back locking up.. (solution was to replace the drum and brake cylinder and the problem was solved).

2. The shoes were in pretty good shape, but it was decided to replace the other drum and put on new shoes so that everything was pretty much on equal footing. (seemed like a good idea at the time..)

Enter Vibration.. BAD vibration... Start reading message boards.. (lol)

3. Bought and replaced all the springs on both sides.. making sure upon assembly that grease was applied to all recommended positions.

Result: No difference.

4. Took back the right back drum and had them exchange it for another one.. (it kind of had a bluish tinge like it had overheaded).

Result: No difference.

5. Took off the NEW right drum and put the old one back on.

Result: Not near as bad, but still not gone.

I don't have a clue what else could be causing this. Done many backyard brake jobs on many cars, but have never had this type of frustration or result. It is getting VERY frustrating to say the least.

Any suggestions, comments, thoughts?

Should I just park the car in the garage and work full time playing online poker? Gonna have to find someone that delivers food if I don't have a car.

Glen.

[99chevycav]

if its only when you're breaking hard it sounds like its your anti lock brakes.and thats normal.

[amcswebs]

Now I could be wrong, but I don't think this is the case..

When the anti-locks kick in its like a grab-release-grab-release type of feeling that you not only feel as a 'jerking' but hear as well. Is this not correct?

With this it is a shudder.. Another test that was ran to confirm it WAS the back brake was given to us by a mechanic (couple of em actually) and that was to lighly apply the parking brake while driving... This activated the shudder as well... If I understand the braking system on the cavalier, the ABS is shut down when the parking brake is applied.

Glen

Originally Posted by 99chevycav

if its only when you're breaking hard it sounds like its your anti lock brakes.and thats normal.

[Lances133]

Originally Posted by amcswebs

Should I just park the car in the garage and work full time playing online poker? Gonna have to find someone that delivers food if I don't have a car

No, you can't gamble online anymore it's illegal lol

Are you sure it's the rear brakes? I had brake vibrations too and I changed my front rotors and it went away.

[caspian]

I have same problem on a 91 cavalier. Rear brake shudder without a doubt. No ABS on this model and the hand brake produces same result as brake pedal. I checked but could find nothing with rear brakes that pointed to be the problem. Shoes, mounting hardware, and drums were replaced at a garage, not by me. I now pull the drum and back off the adjuster wheel about 8 or 10 clicks. Problem goes away for a maybe a month and returns. When I can't stand the vibration I pull the drum again and unadjust a few clicks. You can get pretty fast at doing this with practice.