Vibrating / pulsating in steering wheel while braking?
Vibrating / pulsating in steering wheel while braking?
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Discussion

AlpineWhite

Original Poster:

2,164 posts

224 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Hi all. just back from a trip on the motorway and felt a vibration in the steering wheel when braking from speed.

It's not the time of day to start inspecting things, so any ideas as to culprits are welcome!

Front discs and pads haven't been changed for two years. That said, there's plenty of meat left on them - I'm quite a light braker.

Front bushes do need replacing.

Zad

13,007 posts

265 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Was it a regular "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" kinda thing? Or more a rapid WobbleWobbleWobbleWobbleWobble?

The former sounds more like your ABS was cutting in, but is usually felt through the brake pedal most. Knackered bushes would certainly cause the rapid wobbling, like the steering is trying to get away from you. Get it to a local trusted garage and get them to have a look.

Is this the Ibiza Cupra Sport?

Benni

3,713 posts

240 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Could be warped disc(s), sometimes one "hard" brake manouvre (without ABS kicking in) can ruin them,
happened in my company car (Peugeot Partner).

AlpineWhite

Original Poster:

2,164 posts

224 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Zad -
Definitely not the abs. its the wobble-wobble-wobble you described. And its on a mk1 Fabia vRS - the Ibiza is long since departed!

Benni -
Did wonder about warped discs. Only one hard braking event of late, with 4 passengers, but only from about 30mph. hmmm.

DanielC4GP

2,792 posts

180 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Sounds like warped discs. If you brake hard and use the brakes a lot (like a lot of people do in Automatics in traffic) and then keep the brakes applied while stopped the area where the pads are applied stays hotter than the rest of the disc which causes the warping.

Pints

18,451 posts

223 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Another vote for warped discs. As a poorly student, it happened to my Ford after a moment of driving brilliance rolleyes

Turns out a £3k hatch is not built to the rallying standards you'd expect it to be. hehe

Toaster Pilot

14,863 posts

187 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Could also be a dodgy front caliper (this was aparrently what was wrong with my Laguna when it did this when I picked it up)

AlpineWhite

Original Poster:

2,164 posts

224 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Might try a new set of discs then. Arse! One other bit of info - it seemed to get stronger through the drive. There was the odd bit of dual carriageway before / after.

Edit. Toaster Pilot - what was wrong with the caliper?

Edited by AlpineWhite on Sunday 4th December 06:49

Si_steve

1,189 posts

219 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
It could very easy be the Bushes...Equally, incorrect tyre pressures have been know to cause similar symptoms, Just some things to rule out before replacing parts.

Edited by Si_steve on Sunday 4th December 06:56

Toaster Pilot

14,863 posts

187 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
AlpineWhite said:
Might try a new set of discs then. Arse! One other bit of info - it seemed to get stronger through the drive. There was the odd bit of dual carriageway before / after.

Edit. Toaster Pilot - what was wrong with the caliper?

Edited by AlpineWhite on Sunday 4th December 06:49
They said it was sticking however they were a complete bunch of cowboys so I wouldn't take everything they said at face value.

Superhoop

4,913 posts

222 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Unlikely to be warped discs - an often used, but normally incorrect phrase as it only really occurs on track due to constant heavy braking

More likely is disc thickness variation, which accounts for both judder through the steering wheel and the pulsation of the pedal

DTV occurs, as mass produced parts that rotate a very rarely true. As the disc rotates, any rotational runout (there will be a small amount) causes the inner and outer faces of the disc to contact the pad once per revolution - over time, this causes thickness variation of the disc

Getting the discs skimmed on the car will not only get rid of the thickness variation, but will also compensate for runout, which should prevent it reoccurring rom happening again in the future.


AlpineWhite

Original Poster:

2,164 posts

224 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
toaster pilot - Ah, fair enough. Cheers.

-

I did wonder whether it might be a wheel balance problem... but as I only e experience it under braking, it seems unlikely to my mind.

Will check pressures though, did it the other weekend but the car's done 1500 miles since then!

-

Superhoop: is it something that can become apparent relatively quickly? I.e. fine for thousands of miles (I've done 40k on them) but it suddenly becomes noticeable?

Edited by AlpineWhite on Sunday 4th December 09:07

Superhoop

4,913 posts

222 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
It's something that normally shows up with heat - the hotter the brakes get, the worse the judder becomes.

I think you said in your OP that you were coming off the motorway with passengers in the car? Braking from high speed with additional weight in the car = higher braking forces than normal = more heat

morgrp

4,128 posts

227 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Sounds like warped discs to me. One classic cause of warped discs is slowing from high speed to say, a set of lights I.e. comIng off a motor way up a slip road then sitting at the lights with you foot on the brakes rather than using the hand brake.
Some cars are prone to it. Volvo had warping problems with some of their c70s. Their solution was to fit larger diameter discs.

shovelheadrob

1,564 posts

200 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
Superhoop said:
Unlikely to be warped discs - an often used, but normally incorrect phrase as it only really occurs on track due to constant heavy braking

More likely is disc thickness variation, which accounts for both judder through the steering wheel and the pulsation of the pedal

DTV occurs, as mass produced parts that rotate a very rarely true. As the disc rotates, any rotational runout (there will be a small amount) causes the inner and outer faces of the disc to contact the pad once per revolution - over time, this causes thickness variation of the disc

Getting the discs skimmed on the car will not only get rid of the thickness variation, but will also compensate for runout, which should prevent it reoccurring rom happening again in the future.
This, EBC advise to have discs skimmed once fitted to eliminate this, it can be caused by hub run out or even a tiny amount of dirt on the face of the hub when the discs are fitted, new discs will be a temporary cure which will return with mileage.

SuperVM

1,098 posts

190 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
It can also be caused by pad residue on the discs. I had this with some EBC Bluestuff NDX pads on D2 discs. Might be worth giving skimming a go before getting new discs.

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

275 months

Sunday 4th December 2011
quotequote all
SuperVM said:
It can also be caused by pad residue on the discs.
This is the most likely cause by far - warped discs are one of the great PH myths but are very rare outside of trackday abuse. Very often the residue on the disc will clean up in normal driving. If you go around slamming the brakes on that will only make it worse.

Manufacturers go to a lot of effort specifying an appropriate brake pad for their cars. Use of non-standard pads can increase the likelihood of this problem occurring.