vibration during breaking

[brinkz]

Well this problem started around christmas time, and whenever i put on the brakes, i'd get a horrible vibration coming from the passenger side. Well changed the pads, and rotor, but still having problems with it. I pulled the fuse for the ABS, and problem still occured. Anyway help would be great...by the way it only happens during breaking..and the vibration is proportionate to speed....the faster I am going the more it vibrates on breaking.....Oh and there is slight pulsating in the break pedal
Thanks

[LeSabre97mint]

Originally Posted by brinkz

Well this problem started around christmas time, and whenever i put on the brakes, i'd get a horrible vibration coming from the passenger side. Well changed the pads, and rotor, but still having problems with it. I pulled the fuse for the ABS, and problem still occured. Anyway help would be great...by the way it only happens during breaking..and the vibration is proportionate to speed....the faster I am going the more it vibrates on breaking.....Oh and there is slight pulsating in the break pedal
Thanks

Hello

Did the vibration go away for awhile after replacing the rotor and pads? I looked at your profile. Is this on your 98? How may miles on it? When you pushed the piston back into the caliper, did it slide in fairly easy, or did you really have to push/squese?

I'll write more in responce to your answers to the above questions.

Regerds

Dan

[angleton]

This might be a long shot but have you looked at the bearing to see if there is any play. They can cause all sorts of strange vibration issues. Also check tire wear for signs of ball joint or tie rod problems. You'd think they would cause vibrations in turns and bumps too but sometimes they present symptoms during braking and just aren't noticed during turns.

Good Luck

Owen

[alphalanos]

Well if its correlational with speed then obviously its something that is rotating, so its either the rotors have gotten warped again, or your bearings are gone. (could also be axles but i dont think so) Get the rotors checked to see if they are warped again. If they are, try to find some higher quality ones. Also check the bearings.

[brinkz]

yes this is my 98....

actually now that you mentioned it, the piston on the caliper was extremely difficult to push back in on the passenger side....the drivers side was easy....when the pads and rotors were changed there was no difference in the vibration. There is no abnormal wear on the tire....i am guessing you are going somewhere with the piston.....

[LeSabre97mint]

Originally Posted by brinkz

yes this is my 98....

actually now that you mentioned it, the piston on the caliper was extremely difficult to push back in on the passenger side....the drivers side was easy....when the pads and rotors were changed there was no difference in the vibration. There is no abnormal wear on the tire....i am guessing you are going somewhere with the piston.....

Well....I was going to go somewhere with the piston being hard to push back...however, the fact that the viberation didn't go away with a replaced rotor. If it had and then came back, I would say that it's a warped rotor causing the vib. If the vib. had gone away and then came back I would say that the caliper was sticking and causing the rotor to heat up and warp.

Does the vib. increase with greater psi on the pedal?

Do you hear clunking when going slowly over small bumps? How about pulling differernt directions depending on if you're acc. or braking? Ford Windstars are known for the bushing in the subframe coming loose. This bushing supports the strut rod that keeps the lower control arm in position thus keeping the wheel in place.

Hopefully, we can get to the bottom of this.

Regards

Dan

[brinkz]

well during acc there is no vibrations....going over any bump at slow speed causes lots of clunking on that side....

turning is good, no clunks...as for psi on the brake pedal...hmmm...well at faster speeds if i put more psi on it, it vibrates the crap out of it...but coming to a stoplight, with a normal stop, it seems constant. Going about 30 km/h it's barely noticeable.

[wiswind]

I would take the windstar to a good mechanic, and have the front end checked out..... A good shakedown of the front end will likely find the problem.

[brinkz]

wis you make a good point....but 2 problems with that....
one - a good mechanic??lol
two - I am broke.

I am hoping to win the 26 mil tonight, then i will pay someone to burn the van to the ground...lol

[wiswind]

Ask around for a good independant shop.
Ask at work, and ask your neighbors, who seem to have decent cars (not brand new cars, but good condition older cars....which have been maintained).

I used to live in Pennsylvania, where they have manditory inspections each year (I am old enough to remember having them every 6 months).
The inspection includes checking out the brakes, and a good shakedown of the front end to check for worn parts.
Less than honest shops make a mint....but it is a very good idea.

Here in Wisconsin, shops (dealerships and independant shops) have what is called a "Safety Inspection" that you can schedule and have done.
There is a good chance that the repair will not be expensive.
I consider the cost of the inspection to be money well spent.

I try to do many things myself....but there is a time and place for a trained mechanic with the proper tools, knowledge, and experience.
They can save you lots of money by catching things before they become serious and expensive to fix.

[brinkz]

just to pass on...i rode the brakes a bit today, while acc, and well the vibration still occurs. Just wondering if there is anything that i can try to resolve this..that's free of course....thoughts on maybe it being the caliper? Any help or advice would be great.

[wiswind]

Lots of options, If wondering about brakes.....calipers, etc....you could look for signs of uneven pad travel.....like areas of pad dust on the rotors that would indicate that the pads are skiping on the rotor surface.

With blocks in front of and behind the rear wheels, shift the transmission into neutral.....and manually rotate the rotor. See if you notice the pads hitting in spots (indicating warped rotor or other issue), dragging excessivly, or anything else.
Will be unlikely that you will be able to notice anything under this no-load condition, but worth trying.
Do this on both sides in the front.

Rotate the tires and see if that helps.....a uneven tire, or bent rim, etc would be eliminated by that step.

[brinkz]

thanks wis, i will give that a try....

[Blue Bowtie]

Another thing that can cause vibration is changes in alignment on braking versus acceleration. I have seen a few Windstarts that have had the front lower strut rod bushings fail, both at the swingarm end and the crossmember end. I have seen two of them that have had the bushing sleeves in the crossmember break free. New bushings didn't cure it, but welding the sleeves in solidly in conjunction with the new bushings did. One of them exhibited shudder on braking due to fairly substantial changes in toe-in and caster from the "slop" allowed by the loose lower control arm. Another shop had diagnosed the problem as struts, replaced them, then replaced the upper strut mounts. Then replaced a right lower control arm/ball joint, but still couldn't get the shudder eliminated. This, of course, was after new rotors, pads and a pair of reman calipers.

[LeSabre97mint]

All to the tune of what???? 1,200 to $2,000? Of guessing?

Bluetie, I agreed with you on this a few posts ago.

Dan