What does it mean when you brake and the steeringwheel shakes. I looked at my brakes and they are good. Does anybody have any suggestions?

 

Generally, it usually means that either your brake rotors are warped, or they have glazed spots on them that either offer more or less braking than the surrounding area.

A warped rotor creates pulses through the brakes that is felt through the steering wheel under braking, as the rotor pushes back against the pads.

The glazed rotor creates pulses as the pad goes from areas of low to high friction, which creates added stopping momentarily.

To determine which it is, a warped rotor will be more obvious under light braking, or when the rotors get hot, while the glazed rotor is more pronounced under hard braking than light.

 

Usually warped brakes but it can also be front wheel bearings going out. If your car is high mileage I would check that out also. The wheel will be loaded with the weight of the vehicle while you are going down the road. The driveshaft goes through the inner and outer wheel bearings. If the bearings are worn, the weight tends to put the weight on the upper part of the outer bearing and the lower part of the inner bearing. This causes the rotor to be tipped at a slight angle. When you apply the brakes the pads try to pull the rotor back to straight up and down. This unloads the bearings and allows them to wobble. This only happens when they are getting fairly worn (high mileage). Check the rotors first.

 

and have thought it was probably warped rotors. I was thinking other possible causes may be bad strut bearings or worn tie rods....??
Anyways, my car is in the shop right now so i should know for sure real soooon....

 

ok, mine was doing this, but about a month ago i replaced my rotors and amazingly it has stopped granted i get shake at higher speeds sometimes 60+ which i've heard all first gens have, anyway back on topic.... i just went to advance and got 2 new rotors for about $40-45 which is pretty good for rotors around here. trust me, it's probably the rotors and if it isn't, that's one thing you've eliminated that it could be lol

 

I've never had a problem either with brake shake. The only shake I have ever gotten is from flat-spotted tires (most not mine).

Never noticed any problems with repeated stops from 80-95 to 40-50 on a lapping day (with two drivers--over 150 miles over two days).

 

maybe your wheels need balancing???

 

no its not the wheels, i just had it rotated and balenced about a month ago.

 

maybe it is the rotors though, i will try that and see

 

I have done the Advanced Timing Mod and tested it for 2-3 months. Noticed that the ride was not as smooth as before and noticed that my steering wheel shakes when i brake hard. I thought it was because of my rotors warped, but recently I put timing back to default. Now the braking is perfect and the engine feels smoother. But i miss the extra couple of horses it gave me.

Anyone know why this is?
Would upgrading the engine mounts do anything?

 

I seem to always get steering wheel shake, even after I have the rotors turned or replaced. Super frustrating.

 

It can also be worn out shocks in ur suspension, or the wheels werent balanced

 

99% of the time, a shaky pedal when braking means your brake rotors need resurfacing or replacing.