Hey whats up, I think I have a problem with my front driver brake, but I am not sure because I have not popped off the wheel to take a look at it but here is to low down. Ok, 1st of all the car seriously vibrates on the driver side when braking, unless put under a really hard braking situation. This all started when I got my front tires changed, a couple of weeks ago.

Then tonight when i was cruzing arround in the rain I was noticing that the front driver side was locking up quite easily while the other were still way far from doing so.

Any suggestions regarding what it may be. I am thinking that when my buddy swapped the tires he may have gunned on the rim a little too tight and warped the rotor, any other suggestion, and anyone have any past experiece with this before I take a look at it??

Thanks

 

Need more info.. taking off a tire is pretty quick and painless...

First off did you get new rims, 15x7 to 16x8/vice versa?
Are you sure your tires are balanced?
Were the tires torqued up to spec or overtorqued?
Are the brakepads going?
Are they warped?
Is there grease/fluid on them?
Is your car aligned?
Does this happen on a level surface?

There are many explanations for braking vibration, just have to figure out which one is the cause and nail it before an accident happens.

A good look at the rotors is a start, from there you can determine what's wrong simply by the way it looks and feels and rotates.

 

Let me try and supply some of the information that you sort of asked for below.

The Rims are the same ones which were on there before, stock 16/8 iroc rims

As far as I know the tires/rim was ballanced and there is not any vibration when driving the car, only when the brake is applied, so I dont think it is a balancing problem.

The car was aligned last year, less than 5,000 km ago and I know I havent hit any curbs or major pot holes etc.

I am not 100% sure but I dont think he torqued up the wheels, he took the lazy route and just Gunned them on (Ususally my buddy is really good with this, using the torque wrench on the lugs, but I was rushing him because i had to split).

Pads and rotors are good when I looked at them last year and still should be since I dont drive it much (good in terms of lots of wear left on them)

Not sure if the rotor is warped, have not pulled off the wheel yet, but I am thinking that somehow the rotor got warped, this is sort of what I think is wrong

And it happens on all surfaces, flat, incline, decline, right turn, left turn, etc.

Suggestions as to what to look for to isolate things when I pop off the wheel? Uneven wear on the rotor, etc?????

 

Well a warped rotor will do it, but also check how the brake pads wear. If it seems like the front of the pad is thinner than the rear of the pad, your pads were put on incorrectly/your rotor was uneven to begin with. Spinning the rotor should give you a good idea if its even when you look at it from the vent. Brake fluid is also a concern... if it is uneven/small airbubbles/water in system can do those effects as well. The only thing that urks me about 16x8's are how much they love to follow the road... its such a pain when stopping and they follow the grooves in the road...

 

Slade, thanks for the suggestions, i should be checking it this weekend so I guess we will soon find out what the problems with it is. Thanks

 

Definately sounds like warped a warped rotor. Definately do what Slade said about turning the rotors around while the cars in the air and you should be able to tell at that point if they are warped. It may also be as simple as removing the wheels and putting them back on using a torque wrench and proper torque spec.

Slade: Following the grooves!...I totally know what you are talking about. Very annoying...especially travelling east bound on the Gardiner coming into the city.

 

I've been doing that gardiner trek every morning for almost a year straight now... but this year was the first time I did it with 16x8... all I can say is man my arms are getting a nice workout lol