Last ditch effort to eliminate dreaded brake 'chudder"

[TurnAround]

Originally Posted by JCL

I wouldn't be looking to the brakes at all, but rather to the front suspension. Something is loose. The brakes are simply setting it off. The shudder is in the suspension or steering linkage.

I really like and trust my indi mechanic. Of course, there's no way to tell for sure if he's just shining me on, but he assured me that he inspected and then torque tested all the suspension components and couldn't find any significant wear... except in those front struts. I guess I could take it back.

Since they were just replaced, its too late to go with the heavy duty rubber bushings. Although that's a great find. I'll keep that in mind... as I had hoped to keep this car for another 8-10 years.

I just seems to me that slotted and cross drilled rotors would introduce enough surface differentiation in the rotor that the pads would be less likely to 'dominate' with uneven deposits. I realize it wouldn't 'clean them', but still, there'd be less surface area to develop deposits on, right??

[JCL]

Originally Posted by TurnAround

I really like and trust my indi mechanic. Of course, there's no way to tell for sure if he's just shining me on, but he assured me that he inspected and then torque tested all the suspension components and couldn't find any significant wear... except in those front struts. I guess I could take it back.

Since they were just replaced, its too late to go with the heavy duty rubber bushings. Although that's a great find. I'll keep that in mind... as I had hoped to keep this car for another 8-10 years.

I just seems to me that slotted and cross drilled rotors would introduce enough surface differentiation in the rotor that the pads would be less likely to 'dominate' with uneven deposits. I realize it wouldn't 'clean them', but still, there'd be less surface area to develop deposits on, right??

I wasn't promoting the HD bushings as much as showing how many other people had very similar symptoms due to looseness in the suspension. Personally, I would use OE bushings, but I am sure the HD would work fine.

The suspension holds the wheel in position, and a small deposit variation on the rotor (which only takes a few months to form) sets off the vibration when braking at highway speeds. Unless you have a heavily pulsing pedal at parking lot speeds, I would just focus on the suspension a lot more than on the brakes. That said, braking hard and late isn't easy on the brakes. You can get them hot enough that any pad contact while stopped can lead to more and uneven pad deposition. Given that driving style, a rotor that gets hotter faster because it has less thermal mass (ie a drilled and/or slotted one) is a step in the wrong direction. I would use OE rotors and whatever pad works for you. I would also look at the control arms, and would likely replace them just to see if it helped.