My 99 Max got brake shake at 50 k miles new discs and now again at 75k miles again (not driven much). tires and rims are round.
No teenagers, no riding the brake, no towing, no hard driving ( Im older) no mountains etc.

What the He$$ is causing this?

My buddy just bought a NEW Max - 07- he's getting the same problem at less than 5000 miles.
What are the top 5 possible causes. My last two Yota and Honda went over 100k without brake problems - 125k on the toy with the original pads! Rotors even longer- 94 camry and 91 and 93 Civics.
Is this a problem with our maximas??
Help

 

Maybe your rotors need to be refaced or just buy new rotors?

 

He said he got new ones at 50K and now at 75K it's happening again. Balance the wheels, maybe recut the rotors... Check pads. It's starting to happen to me as well but only when braking at high speed. So check the tire balance and rotors to see if they're warped, if not... I can't help you, I need to do the same.

 

Oh..I thought that he meant 'discs' as in 'pads'...read it too quickly.

 

it depends on the brand of pads/rotors being installed. If the cheap kind are being put on they wont last that long.

and 25K in miles is roughly 2 years. maybe a little more. . . make sure they are being installed properly too.

 

yes but what keeps causing the problem?

 

get the tires rebalanced on a road force machine. If the pads and rotors look good, then that could be the culprit. An alignment check wouldn't hurt either.

 

Generally, it's caused by not properly breaking in the pads. You're supposed to do something like 10 hard stops from 60-10 mph, then drive for as long as possible without hitting the brakes hard to cool the pads down completely. That should get your pads worn evenly and eliminate shaking.

 

incorrect. care to explain?

to th OP,
what brand rotors did you buy? Those cheap $20 rotors are poorer quality and will warp faster.

 

How is that incorrect? I've heard it from several different sources.

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp...rakedisk.shtml

"In fact every case of "warped brake disc" that I have investigated, whether on a racing car or a street car, has turned out to be friction pad material transferred unevenly to the surface of the disc. This uneven deposition results in thickness variation (TV) or run-out due to hot spotting that occurred at elevated temperatures."

"There is only one way to prevent this sort of thing - following proper break in procedures for both pad and disc and use the correct pad for your driving style and conditions. All high performance after market discs and pads should come with both installation and break in instructions. The procedures are very similar between manufacturers. With respect to the pads, the bonding resins must be burned off relatively slowly to avoid both fade and uneven deposits. The procedure is several stops of increasing severity with a brief cooling period between them. After the last stop, the system should be allowed to cool to ambient temperature. Typically, a series of ten increasingly hard stops from 60mph to 5 mph with normal acceleration in between should get the job done for a high performance street pad. During pad or disc break-in, do not come to a complete stop, so plan where and when you do this procedure with care and concern for yourself and the safety of others. If you come to a complete stop before the break-in process is completed there is the chance for non-uniform pad material transfer or pad imprinting to take place and the results will be what the whole process is trying to avoid. Game over."

 

Pads are glazed or rotors are warped or both. I have many DD as well as mountain/autoX miles on my pads/rotors/calipers and even though they have been very hot at times there is no shake under braking at all. Do you happen to leave your foot on the brake after a hard stop? What brand rotors?

More than likely it is only your fronts if it is that pronounced.

 

That doesn't really apply with OEM or lesser brakes. Performance brake pads, yes. Regular street pads don't generate a transfer layer on the rotor and therefore need no bedding in. Especially if you're dealing with new pads and rotors.

I have heard a theory that overtightened lugnuts contribute to rotors warping. Also cheap rotors will not be as dimensionally stable and rotors with better material and heat treatment. This is why I only buy brembo blank rotors (good but affordable), and use a torque wrench to retorque all the lugnuts after the car has been out of my hands. Most of the time when I get the car back from a garage I find they are way overtorqued.

Dave

 

I did the road force -tires , rims ok.
rotors have died at 50k miles and at 77 k miles what causes that?

 

Had a similar problem with my 97 honda civic. Every 25k to 30k it would shake. Had to resurface the rotors every 25k to 30k. Went through 4 sets of rotor and who knows how many brake pads. I bought this car brand new. Dealer doesn't know what the hell was going on. I didn't know what the hell was going on. All I know is that the rotors become warped after so many miles everytime. Finally replaced the brake caliper (only thing left that touches the brake) and that seemed to have solved it. I'ved check and rechecked, for sure the original calipers are functioning properly. The sliding pins and the pistons move very smoothly. Oh well, one more goes into the mystery book.

 

yes - this is very true. over-torquing, on uneven torquing will cause rotors to warp. and yes, 99% of grease monkeys will put a high power air impact to your lug nuts and wrench the h*ll out of them in no particular order, striping the lug nuts and warping the rotors. happens ALL the time. one of the reasons I hate taking my car to a shop.

just look what brakes-plus in Phoenix did to my in-laws wheel lugs...
(had to snap all 5 to get the wheel off)