Crawdaddius

Hi folks, first time poster here. I'm having an issue that I'd like some opinions on.


I recently purchased a '12 V6 Premium that needed a brake job. Lots of vibration/pulsing when braking, along with the typical mushy feeling. I purchased a front and rear set of Raybestos rotors and Hawk HPS pads, and changed them out myself. It wasn't my first brake job, but I'm no expert. I then had the alignment and balancing done. Everything was great for about 3k miles, until I hit a chunk of blown tire on the interstate.


I noticed a very slight vibration in the steering wheel after that, and it becomes worse when applying the brakes. I took it back to the shop when I had the alignment done, and they checked it again, along with the balancing. They said that everything was still perfectly aligned and balanced, and could offer no other opinions.


So, what steps should I take next? There didn't seem to be any visible damage from the tire chunk strike, and the new pads/rotors have about 4k miles on them now. Perhaps the rotors are crap and this has nothing to do with the tire chunk strike? I've used Raybestos before with no problems. Maybe the tire itself was damaged/warped somehow? The car came with new tires, but they're the cheap Fuzion brand.


Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Z28KLR

Likely one or both front rotors are warped again. Sucks to do the job a second time in such a short amount of miles but it's still the most likely possibility IMO. Depending on where you got them, warranty on the rotors and their approach to customer sevice they may be willing to work something out with you.

If it were an issue with the tires, the vibration would likely be present at all times above a given speed.

Crawdaddius

That's a bummer. It's hard to believe that one or both of those rotors could crap out after such a short amount of time, but it makes sense in light of the symptoms. I got them through CJ Pony, so Ill give them a call soon and see what they say. Thanks for weighing in on this.

88 orangepeel notch

If all was good until you hit the tire chunk, then that alone wouldn't warp the rotors again. I'd inspect the tires very carefully, looking for internal damage to the cords. Or rim damage that the shop missed. Something took a hit and is out of balance now and is causing the vibration

Where do you feel the vibration ? Steering wheel, brake pedal, or entire car ?

Crawdaddius

Good idea, I didn't look at the tires themselves too closely. I feel a VERY slight, steady vibration in the steering wheel when cruising, but I can feel the pulsing/vibrating in both the steering wheel and brake pedal when braking.

Derf00

Yep, a split or broken band in the tire would cause what you're describing. The tire will be balanced but the messed up cord will throw off the feel of it when driven on.

A dedicated tire shop like Big-O or Discount Tires can usually spot them better than a more general repair shop. All they do is tires so they can tell often by looking at the wheel/tire off the car. At worst they'll put it on the balancer and watch the tread for signs of a split/break.

Crawdaddius

Good idea, thanks for the advice. I probably just need to get better tires anyway. Those Fuzions aren't exactly awesome.