[Shop-talk] Pulsing brakes

[Jim Franklin]

On Jun 21, 2011, at 1:08 AM, <jibjib at att.net> wrote:

> I have an interesting issue puzzling me.  My 2006 Chevy Malibu is about
> ready for brakes, which I will be doing shortly.  The biggest issue is a
> pulsing from the left front wheel.  The pulsing is very mild for all
> driving, almost indiscernible.  When I am driving down hills, even when the
> brakes are dead cold, the vibration has gotten moderately severe; to the
> point that I'm thinking it might be more than just the rotor.  I did the
tie
> rod ends at 78k miles and now we are at 118K.


I had this on my Subaru. After a long highway run it would make the car almost
undriveable, the shaking was so violent. It was a warped rotor compounded by a
sticky caliper. The caliper wouldn't retract when the warp came around, so
things just got hotter and more warped, and more grabby.  If those calipers
are original, might want to go ahead and rebuild/replace them with the
rotors.