I've noticed that when I start braking from anything over 60 mph the steering wheel trembles. I used to think this was a problem that started occurring when the brakes were starting to go.

But I've only got 10k miles on my 05 and don't do a lot of heavy braking. I do a lot of city driving so the brakes do get used a lot, but I don't 'slam' on the brakes a lot. So I wouldn't think that the brakes would be starting to wear thin at only 10k.

Has anyone noticed anything like this or heard about this? I tried searching but didn't find anything.

 

It sounds like you have minor rotor warping and need to turn (or truing) your rotors to smooth out the brake pad contact with the rotors. Have someone check out the rotor/pads to make sure they are wearing evenly/flat (no ridges on pads/rotors). Sometime rotor warping can be caused by rotors cooling off too quickly after braking (braking before hitting a puddle of water on the highway). Sounds like normal wear/tear; but, you need to get it fixed because every pulsating shimmy is a loss of a little braking traction.

 

As per many previous posts, my guess is that there is pad deposits on your rotors from the ghetto OEM pads. Replace your pads. Try searching for: brake shaking or something

 

That happened to me to at around 25k miles. I replaced my brakes with Power Slot rotors & Hawk pads (front and rear) at about 28.8k and I haven't experienced the problem since. I'm at just under 30k now.

 

There's you problem right there. A lot of people have the misconception that you shouldn't use your brakes hard when in reality, people who are too gentle on their brakes often end up with deposits that build up on the brake rotor surface as a result of the brakes not being applied hard enough to sweep the rotor surface clean.

Before you go switching anything, try doing a series of hard stops (from about 50 mph to 10 mph and repeat a few times), but do not engage the ABS. Then drive the car around for about 20-30 minutes with minimal use of the brakes. The idea is to help use the pads to forcefully remove most of the deposits on the rotor surface. Then, by driving without using the brakes, this helps the rotors cool down and, hopefully, when you're finished with this, your brakes have returned to a more normal braking sensation.

 

Thanks for the tip CGTSX. According to that article from StopTech that was posted earlier, it's in line with how they recommend breaking in new pads and they also reiterated what you said about how the pads will clear off any deposits on the rotors during the process.

Now I just need to find someplace in NNJ where I can pull this off safely. I was thinking of a closed mall parking lot.

Hopefully this will do the trick and save me the money of having to have them resurfaced already.

Thanks.