Brake Vibration Malden MA

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Reader Question

First I want to start off that I am ase certified tech that has been in the biz for about 20 years, but I am semi-retired now.(I just work out of my home garage now). My problem is with my own truck that i have owned since its been almost new.

Its a 1994 Chevy Silverado 4x4. It has about 160,000 very reliable miles on it. The problem started about 2 years ago and I have sort of been putting off the problem with it since its not my daily driver anymore I only use it to tow my trailer with atv's now. It had a horrible vibration when braking that I would normally associate with bad brake rotors. If I got over 50mph or so and hit the brakes it would shake and vibrate just like any other vehicle would with warped rotors.

About a year ago I replaced the front rotors and pads and it made no difference. You dont really feel it in the steering wheel or the pedal(maybe a faint feel in the pedal). Its actually hard to tell where its vibrating from, at first I assumed it was coming from the front but its very hard to tell. So at this point I figured the rear brakes and drums might be the problem and it wouldnt hurt changing them out anyway since the rear drums were original with over 150k miles on them. I changed the drums, shoes, wheel cylinders. The problem was still there.

It was actually getting a little worse. I kept driving it here and there for about another year. Finally about 1 week ago I decided to change the front rotors again and really investigate the whole front end.

I put new calipers, pads, and rotors on the front of the truck. I buffed down the hub to make sure there was no rust behind the new rotors, and I made sure the wheels were perfectly straight and seated when I put them back on. (I also rotated the tires). I took it out and while the problem is I would say 70% better the shake or vibration is still there. Its still very annoying, but i would defintely say its better than before. The truck has nothing loose or broken on the front and everything is tight(pitman arm, tie rod ends, etc..) The truck is smooth as silk on the highway, no vibration at all when driving(I just took it on a 700 mile trip). It still feels like a warped rotor, even though I put brand new ones on it TWICE. Nothing really in the steering wheel and only a faint almost like pulse in the pedal.

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