tomf

I'm getting a pulsing/shuddering when I brake hard. I initially thought it was warped rotors. So I replaced front rotors and pads. I still had the pulsing. I replaced the rear pads even though they were not severely worn. I still had the pulsing. I Jacked up the front end and checked for movement in the wheels. No excessive movement. So I think that eliminates the ball joints and tie rods. Anyone have any other ideas. Thanks. Tom

mattdoc

Are the lug nuts properly/evenly torqued? If not, that can cause warped rotors. If they're just loose, that can cause your pulsing.

tomf

I always use a torque wrench to tighten my lug nuts and I tighten in a criss-cross pattern.

Whenever I used to take one of my other cars in for work that required the removal of the wheels the mechanic would always over tighten the lug nuts. Then when I had to remove them the studs would break before the nuts would loosen. This happened on multiple occasions. When I questioned them about it they denied over-tightening. Needless to say I stopped taking my cars there. This was the initial reason I began doing most of the repairs on all my cars. Plus I realized I could save a boatload of money doing my own repairs.

Like I said in my first post I replaced the front pads and rotors, and the rear pads. The pulsing was the same before and after the change.

giovany24

check your ruber bushings. i had a vw once that did the same things and that was the problem.

OceanView

Lower Control Arm?

worldforgo

I second that.

Specter

ABS ?....Aren't they supposed to do and feel like that ?....

tomf

Not the ABS. ABS has not been functional for 10+ years. I too was thinking it might be the control arms. What else is there? What about the ball joints? Would worn ball joints cause this problem? They do have 190K miles on them and are 15+ years old. Except for this problem the car handles and drives like its brand new. I'm amazed every time I drive it. Now its a school car for my son and I only drive it occasionally.

I guess I'll look into changing the control arms.

I'm still open for more suggestions.

I'll update once the problem gets solved.

tomf

Problem solved. I eventually replaced the rear rotors. They were the cause of my pulsing brakes. I didn't expect that, but considering that I don't think those rotors had ever been turned or replaced, I should have replaced them when I replaced the pads. Pretty good for 15 years and 190K.

Along the way, I replaced the control arms, the ball joints and the front sway bar links. What a pain. It ran good before, now it runs great. Just like new.

When replacing the rear rotors I noticed the sway bar was loose. So I replaced the bushings and the links. Now a very annoying clunk from the right rear is gone. I should have done this years ago. Previously I had replaced the bushing but not the links. Still had the clunk so I resigned myself to a life of clunks. Anyway, now no clunks. I'm thinking I should take the car back from my son who I'm letting use.