Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting brake shuddering resolved (I think)

My brakes have shuddered on and off for the past couple months. Sometimes they worked just fine, other times the whole car would shake.

I was ready to buy new rotors but as a last resort, I decided to re-torque my wheels, step-by-step by the book leaving nothing to chance. I jacked up each wheel, then set it down with barely enough pressure to hold it (a 2x4 or brick would have been better but I had neither). I then torqued the lugs in 20 ft-lb increments in the proper criss-cross pattern. As in, first each lug is torqued to 20 ft-lbs, then again to 40 ft-lbs, all the way up to factory specs.

Results: most of my shuddering is now gone. On some stops it still shudders a little but much much less than before. I'll give it some time before a final verdict, but if you think you have a brake warping problem, check the torque first!

Depending on the age and condition of your rotors, you should be able to have them turned/resurfaced. Usually about $8/disk at AZ or other auto parts shops.

They cant turn the rotor if its warped.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD YOU POSTED!! i have bad shutter ever since my brake job. lacking the proper tools i did not torque. i had installed all new rotors with this job so i was fairly sure it wasn't warping but couldn't put a finger on the cause. i now know what i must do.
thanks.

tim.

They can and they do, but I've already had them turned once. Turning them again would put them close to minimum thickness, so if it came to that, I would have just replaced them.

Warped rotors, once turned, will warp again.

Could also be a variation in rotor thickness (is this a word?). I have experienced this & trueing the rotors does cure the problem.....

Thanks for the reminded, I knew there was something this ORF forgot.
Louisw is the same guy who helped me figure out or burp the cooling system several years ago.
That's what I like about this site.
thnx
Paul
I had the originals turned and the Autozones, it does seem to matter what you do they all seem
to warp, so what ever the best bang for the buck at the moment.

You may want to put on your flame suit before reading this.

BS

You don't know what you are talking about. Get a clue. Don't go spreading this kind of manure around when you don't understand!

Maching rotors to overcome warpage is nealry always a permanent repair. The exceptions are if the rotor was too thin after turning, the wheel lugs were unevenly torqued, or very abusive driving.