Shaking while Braking

[C man]

I have a problem with my 95' park ave. I've changed the rotors,recently and the drums yesterday. And got the tire balanced today, but I still get a vibration from the steering wheel when I step on the brakes at speeds above 50mph and the vibration intensity increases with speed. Do I have a worn supension component?

[HotZ28]

What kind (brand) of rotors did you install? Did you install new pads with the rotors and new shoes with the drums?

[C man]

I installed durlast rotors (autozone) and pads about 4 months ago and I just installed weaver drums (advance auto) and duralast shoes a couple of days ago.

[BNaylor]

Made in China rotors and too much metallic in the pads. Garbage! Right Bo (HotZ28)?

[HotZ28]

Originally Posted by C man

I installed durlast rotors (autozone) and pads about 4 months ago and I just installed weaver drums (advance auto) and duralast shoes a couple of days ago.

Exactly what I thought! Duralast rotors are POS Made-in-China JUNK! Take the rotors & pads back and get a full refund, then go buy some Raysbestos PG Plus, or Bendix rotors @ Advanced. You will have to pay about 15-25 bucks more per-rotor for the Quality brands, but you will be glad you did! If your rear shoes/drums were worn, or not making good contact, that put an extra burden on the front rotors and may have contributed to early heat-warp. Normally Duralast rotors will last 6-12 months before warping!

[C man]

Thanks for the info. I'll probably have to deal with it for a while, don't have much cash, because I just got my a/c fixed. Will the durlast pads warp the Bendix or Raysbestos PG Plus rotors?

[HotZ28]

Get a refund for the pads and rotors; they have a 2-year warranty on the rotors and lifetime on the pads. Duralast pads are junk! Get either Raysbestos or Bendix pads matched for your driving needs. Never install used pads on any brand of new rotor!

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by HotZ28

Never install used pads on any brand of new rotor!

Excellent advice Bo.

[C man]

Thanks for the info, I'll deal with the problem a little longer, I usually drive on the interstate (10-15 mile trips in one direction) and travel between 70mph-80mph , and brake hard sometimes, which pads would be the best between the two u described. I think I made a boo boo. I just changed out somebody's rotor last week and used duralast rotors and kept the same brake pads . It was a small car so it might not be to bad. I figured that duralast brake pads were crap because if the can offer a lifetime warranty they had to be to hard. The rotors I thought would be okay. Even my teacher talk bad about them.

" Some of us have just have to learn from experience"

[imidazol97]

Originally Posted by HotZ28

Exactly what I thought! Duralast rotors are POS Made-in-China JUNK! Take the rotors & pads back and get a full refund, then go buy some Raysbestos PG Plus, or Bendix rotors @ Advanced. You will have to pay about 15-25 bucks more per-rotor for the Quality brands, but you will be glad you did! If your rear shoes/drums were worn, or not making good contact, that put an extra burden on the front rotors and may have contributed to early heat-warp. Normally Duralast rotors will last 6-12 months before warping!

Are the Raybestos rotors made in US or China? I was trying to find out on their website and it sounds like the company is owned by another company now--they have a different website and they don't talk about the source of the product.

I did find on Bendix's site that their top line rotors are made in US/Canada.

What about the Wearever pads and rotors from AdvanceAutoParts?

I've been shopping rotors and pads myself.

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by imidazol97

I was trying to find out on their website and it sounds like the company is owned by another company now--they have a different website and they don't talk about the source of the product.

That is true. Affinia Under Vehicle Group, Brake Parts, Inc. located in McHenry, IL. The Professional Grade and Advanced Technology rotors are supposed to be Made in USA but you never know for sure. I had some old Raybestos PG Plus boxes but I threw them away. Also, Raybestos makes many of the OE rotors for GM/AC Delco.

[imidazol97]

There's a possibility here that hasn't been mentioned for C man.

When you did the rotors and pads, how did the calipers slide? Did you disassemble them and replace the rubber buffers the metal slides move on and lube them with silicon?

I wonder if C man has a caliper that's not working right , either the piston and seal or the slides for the pins is dragging and has overheated the rotor. I had a caliper when my 98 was relatively new that caused the rotor to heat up and I got the warped sensation. If it wasn't dragging that day it didn't seem to have a bad rotor. But the hot rotor and the pads hitting it really emphasized the feeling.

I suggest replacing both calipers with remanufactured. I just used two from Advanced Auto and the rubber slides, pins were all there new and were lubed with silicon. They were about $30 each.

I'd get new rotor from somewhere to replace the one that's been over heated.

[maxwedge]

Another issue common in my area of the country is heavily rusted wheel mount hubs, put on new rotors without cleaning them properly and you have huge runout problems no matter whose rotors, BTW most PG rotors are Canadian.

[BNaylor]

Also, improperly torquing the lug nuts. Should be 100 lb-ft in a star pattern. The worse tool to use is an air impact tool like the tire shops. Always over-torquing from my experiences.

Plus hitting hot rotors with water like during a car wash doesn't help either. That will possibly warp good name brand quality rotors.

[C man]

I changed the brakes the shade tree mechanic way. I just put new rotors and brake pads on without any grease (trying to be cheap). The calipers don't seem to be bad. I never have the the pulling to one side braking as if one of the calipers is stuck. I wish I could remember if my car has always had the steering shake when braking at high speeds. I don't think it did when I first got it (1.5 years ago),but I can't remember when it started before I changed the rotors and when it started again after i changed them . I looks like I need to do a whole front end brake job.