Steering Shake

[Isyron]

Hey guys - I've got an 01 HL v6 2wd Auto w/ 81/82k miles on her.

I've noticed when I brake my steering wheel shakes pretty rough in my hands. This is my first FWD vehicle, so i dont know if it's simply the way the vehicle operates, but it's not something i recall experiencing when i drive another vehicle (like the dodge caravan I recently had to rent).

I hear brake squeeks and have touchy brakes when it's just rained, but outside of that nothing too out of the weird with them.

It's towards the end of my stop that it occurrs. I can't recall the mph right now, but i'll check next i feel it.

It's not so violent I have trouble controlling the car, but i want to make sure this isn't going to amount to that. -- My car was just recently aligned at the shop, but the problem existed before the alignment as well

Thanks guys

[dominor6]

From your description it appears your front rotors need to be inspected and likely replaced. I had this issue before and it was resolved by replacing the rotors. My mechanic advised against re-cutting the original ones because it will just make them thinner and thus more susceptible to getting warped again which was the issue to begin with. This was around 20,000 miles ago. Also have the front tires inspected for uneven wear, that also contributes to steering shake while braking.

[ddvk]

New rotors and brakes. If that doesn't solve, you will need new axles. That will solve the problem.

[LifeTech]

Rotors for sure in my opinion.

But I have seen where someone had aftermarket cheapo semi-metallic pads put on and they Glazed out the rotors in no time and got very touchy and sensitive when Hot or Wet like yu describe.

Many people mistake Warped rotors for what are actually Glazed Rotors and pads. This happens when yu have a bad match of pads to rotors. And there are many cheapo brakes out there. Some times a poor brake pad replacement can contribute to this by not cleaning the caliper pins and not using properbrake grease at the correct locations. Then the pads don't "float" well and evenly.

There is much controversey over whether rotors actually "warp". Glazing occurrs when pad material builds up on the rotors unevenly. This would simulate a "warped condition" but is not a true description of what occurrs. Sintered Iron alloy Rotors do not by itself warp. But may go out of round if the lugs were incrrectly tightend with an impact gun (some lugs over and under tightened). Depends on the vehicle and design.

Honda had a recall on this issue. They were doing rotor replacements under warranty like crazy some years ago. But it was determined that to prevent this ...yu always hand tighten the lug nuts by using a Torque Wrench with proper OE setting. No impact guns should be used.

All my lug nuts get torqued to 76 ft pounds. Always.

I would replace with OE rotors and OE organic pads.

Or yu can even get a set of quality aftermarket ceramic pads with an appropriate matching rotor.