Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Shakes in my brakes ...

Don't know why but this suddenly cam on about a month ago. When alowing down from anything over 60km/hr ( ~35mph ) I get the shakes in the steering wheel something fierce. ROtors appear to be in good condition and I can visually see that I have tons of pad left. Where do I start ?

yeah, i have vibration too, my friend says everytime i slow down it feels liek my car is gunna stall, so when my finances allow i'm getting new pads and rotors all around.

It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. The rotors and pads were new when I got the car in September. Both my wife and I are really easy on the brakes. I wonder if a clip or spring or something else broke off. Guess I'll have to take the wheels off to look ...

You can't really tell if your rotors are warped just by looking at them. That said, make sure that the lug nuts are torqued evenly.

Also, check the caliper pin bushings. According to the BAT site, that can be the problem.

More than likly your rotors are warped. They may "look" good.. but it's not hard at all to warp a set of factory rotors. Where to start? Well, to fully determine whether it's the rotors or not, does the brake pedal "pulsate" at all? If so, will it slighlty do it at a slow crawl with the brake pedal partially pressed down? If so, thats the rotors. If that is not the case, I'd start looking at a possible bad wheel bearing of bad CV joint as they can loosen up and cause this, if my mind serves me right.

Rotors can get warped VERY easily by hard heavy breaking followed by stopping and holding the brakes down hard (actually bakes the brake residue onto the rotor). Also, washing your car when the rotos are hot (y'know, that common "sizzle") will cause cheaper brand rotors to distor and warp.

Are they chocolate shakes or strawberry shakes in your brakes?

Mmmmmmm chocolate shakes ....... Well I will be leaving for work soon and I'll try the "tests" and let you know what I find out. I don't recall any pulsing in the brake pedal ( or very much ), but will verify today. As far as CV joints and bearings go. I know that the passenger side are fine. Just did the CV in the spring and the bearing was fine. I also have no tell tale signs of impending bearing or CV failure.

Well I just read the FAQ and I didn't see anything there, but can I run SVT rotors in the front ? Do I need to change the caliper or will the extra 18mm in dia. make a huge difference ? The only reason I ask is 'cause I found a great deal on all 4 rotors, but they are for an SVT.

You need different caliper brackets to use the SVT rotors. It is a worthy upgrade. The brackets you need to use the SVT rotors with your calipers are the late SVT brackets which are also the same brackets used on most 99 and later Cougars. Try a wrecking yard for the brackets. I have heard of them going for as little as $35.00 US from the wreckers, but from the dealer they are aroung $175.00 US.

As far as I know, the SVT brakes will fit under any factory 15" wheel. Your spare will not fit over them though, so in case of a front flat you will need to put the spare on the rear and move the rear forward. You could also snag the spare from the appropriate Cougar at the wrecking yard where you find the calipers.

No other modifications are needed.

Have to keep that in mind. Well last night I did the "test's" and it would appear as though the rotors may be the culprit. Just for the hell of it, I tried a "panic" stop ( just to see if there maybe carbon resudue or something on the rotor, faq mentioned this ) There was no shaking in the steering wheel or the brake pedal at all at full stop. Hmmm ... either I removed what was on there, or its a moderate to light brake pedal that makes the shakes show up. WHen I pulled in my driveway ( after an appropriate amount of driving to cool the brakes off ) the shakes seemed to be reduced. I'll try again tonight and see. Maybe there was just something stuck onthe rotors ??