Man it seems like I am seeing nothing but brake rotor concerns in the past few days on the boards. Maybe it is weather related? Unfortunatley, this time I am not the advisor but the advisee... please read on, I need a little help in diagnosing a problem...

OK. Wednesday I went out with a few friends to go bowling. (I won, but we all suck, so no scores ) On the way to and back from I kept hearing a shuddering noise when decelerating. The ONLY time I hear this sound is when no brake is applied and the car is "coasting" - meaning not under throttle. There is virtually no feedback of this problem through the wheel or chassis. It happens at any speed from 5-80mph. Also, there is very concerning popping noise occasionally when moving from a dead stop .

I think I have isolated the problem to the passenger front wheel. I think that rotor is now damaged in some way. This does not concern me too terribly much because brakes was always high on my list of mods, I just wanted to hold out until next Jan/Feb for financial reasons. Braking performance is unaffected and I do not associate this sound to the typical worn out rotor judder.

So, my questions are these:

1) Am I on the right track?
2) What else could it be? Wheel bearing? Strut/Spring? (I just added the Maxspeeds 3 weeks ago...but the noise doesn't happen when the shocks are active, like they are over bumps or sharp turns)

That's basically it. If it is the rotor, I do not want to screw around with waiting it out as is seems to be getting a little worse. I will likely be in the market for a good set of replacement rotors (front and back), pads and possibley SS lines (though those can wait.) I will check the Parts for Sale list in the next day for some good deals but any advice is appreciated.

Thanks for the help guys and gals...

 

come on, little help here...

 

Cupped or scalloped wheels (due to bad alignment) can cause this problem. However, typically if this problem is very pronounced you would also feel it in the steering. I'd be tempted to say rotate your tires but since you don't have any steering issue than you wouldn't see any change. You could still check the tires as the problem should be visible. Hope this helps.

 

Well...
Since I DID install new springs about 3 weeks ago I guess I could be misaligned. I figured that i would feel an alignment problem before hearing it and have been very conscious of the way the car feels in the past few weeks...

Hmmm...