Steering wheel shimmy after rotor/brake install

[draxxus131]

How's it going everyone, I seem to be in a bit of a predicament. Installed a set of cross-drilled and slotted rotors with performance pads, and now we're getting a shimmy in the wheel DURING BRAKING. I've looked it over and can't see anything wrong other then a caliper pin that slightly came out and made light contact with the front pads, pushed the pin back in some noise did go away that we originally were hearing after the install.

But according to my mother (who drives the car like a bat outta hell), moving at 65mph then braking caused a steering wheel shimmy.

Are there any ONE TIME USE parts within the calipers, this is a NON-BREMBO Mustang GT, purely base model.

Any advice is appreciated!

:shrug:

 

[draxxus131]

Hopefully a brake guru will chime in.

 

[Paul.]

All of your lugnuts tight? Hubcentric rings installed (if applicable?) Rotors aren't warped?


Reinstall old rotors and see if the problem goes away.

 

[draxxus131]

Oh no the problem was never present with the stock units, but that is a good idea to do I will check that. Could you explain when a hubcentric ring is needed? These are brand new rotors btw no warping, just bedding them in past maybe 70 miles.

 

[ajpturbo]

New rotors may have poor machining....Not uncommon...Are they cheap? I've seen plenty of new rotors that aren't true...That's what it sounds like to me....Not much can cause a shimmy or vibration felt in the wheel other than a rotor that isn't true.

 

[ajpturbo]

hubcentric rings are used when using wheels that have a different bore than the hub lip on the car. They center the wheel on the Hub. Usually used with aftermarket wheels that are non specific to a particular car.

 

[dead man walkin]

My first suspect is the rotors, have them checked for warping, even in the best company and quality control mistakes happen. But first.. take the wheels off.. or at least loosen each lug nut then re torque each lug nut to the listed torque using the proper 1, skip 1, method. . Honestly this will solve a lot of these cases

 

[scott9050]

If someone over torqued the wheels it will warp the rotors.

 

[draxxus131]

If you still have the stock wheels but you upgrade the rotos to drilled and slotted, do you need to re-use the rotor retaining clip rings?

 

[Jabooh1]

Does it do anything when coasting? Or ONLY when brakes are applied? If only when brakes my vote is rotors.

 

[bdcardinal]

I bet it is the cheap cross drilled rotors. There is no advantage to cross drilled or slotted rotors unless you are doing heavy tracking, and at that point you only use either Brembo or Baer single, or a high quality 2 piece rotor.

 

[F.D.Sako]

If you still have the stock wheels but you upgrade the rotos to drilled and slotted, do you need to re-use the rotor retaining clip rings?

Nope, retaining clips are used during manufacturing to hold everything in place until calipers are mounted. It's basically there to save time on the manufacturing line.

 

[draxxus131]

passenger side does NOT have one, I wonder if this could be a cause to the wheel shimmy.

 

[draxxus131]

Does it do anything when coasting? Or ONLY when brakes are applied? If only when brakes my vote is rotors.

It does it when coasting back down below 65mph and accelerating, even just cruising at 60-75mph it has a wheel shimmy. When I brake it doesn't get excessive, it does it whether braking or not which really sucks. The stock wheels have been balanced and are completely fine.

 

[dirtyd88]

You did properly bed the new performance brake pads, right?

 

[bdcardinal]

passenger side does NOT have one, I wonder if this could be a cause to the wheel shimmy.

The little retaining clips should be thrown away. I was cruising the FSM on my '14 today for torque specs and it said to remove and throw those away when servicing. I took all of mine off the first oil change.

 

[kingnut]

if it's during braking then it is definitely warped rotors.