I put a new set of EBS slotted rotors and RedStuff pads on the front of my car to try and get it to stop shaking hard on braking. It didn't fix it. Then I found out one of my front wheels (stock) was bent. So I bought a replacement and also put two new front tires on the car at the same time. It still shakes hard - I mean real hard, on braking. The shaking is at its worst as you slow down through about 35~25 mph. It shakes so bad that neither my wife or my daughter in law is willing to drive the car anymore, its that uncomfortable.

We have put the car up on a lift and looked at everything, joints, tie rod ends, just everything that moves and we can't spot anything obviously wrong. We have taking pry bars and put pressure on joints, we have grabbed and shook everything in sight, we have looked under every rock for the problem but just can't locate it.

Help!!!!!

 

If it has over 100K miles, I would check/replace the OEM radius rod bushings with Moog or ES aftermarket ones.

In addition, check/replace the inner/outer LCA bushings. The inners are a task to get to because they cannot be observed easily to notice wear; but, that could be a source.

https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-cl-2001-2003-50/aftermarket-radius-rod-bushings-poll-827945/

 

Another thing to try, and this may be a long shot, get up to ~35mph, put the car in neutral, then get on the brakes. If the shaking is gone, start looking at the engine mounts.

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'll take the car out in a bit and try putting it in neutral and see what that does. I guess I should add that the shaking is at its worst when the car is decelerating down from about 35 to 25 mph and also the shaking is a lot worse if I use the brakes heavily a couple of times first. Its almost as if the hotter the brakes become the worse it gets - but I'm not talking about getting them really hot, what I mean is that if I just brake aggressively from about 60 mph down to about 30 a couple of times first it will make the shaking worse; I don't know if its because the brakes are getting hot or if I've preloaded the suspension in some way with the initial braking, but either way its noticeably worse.

 

hi there - dude - what are other reason to suspect if i have a bad engine mounts ? -

 

If you have an automatic, you will get a knock or thud sound when you change from park to reverse or drive.

 

I tried braking in neutral yesterday, long down hill run, about 50~60 mph, I braked both moderately and then hard, no difference. There are no indications that the car has a broken motor mount and I've seen enough of them on various vehicles to know one when it is in front of me, so that doesn't appear to be it.

I'm starting to think it may be a good idea to take a long hard look at the rear brakes. Also, I still have the old stock front rotors here at the house. I'm thinking maybe I'll take them over to a friend of mine's place this morning and toss them onto his brake lathe and turn them just to see if they had any warpage. I am well aware that rotors don't actually warp, or at least they rarely do, and that what people call warping is actually build up of pad material imbedded in the rotor but if that was their problem it should be obvious by the sound and consistency of the chips that come off the rotor. Shit, at this point I'll try anything. The car is getting very close to undrivable and with it being over 100 miles to the closest dealer - and them being assholes to-boot - I'm not about to take it to them.

 

If your rear rotors look like that, it might be time for a change (my rear driver side rotor)



Im getting that fixed sometime this week, after I get paid... I will let you know what happens. In the mean time, I will check my own CL for a broken motor mount as it does clunk when I put it into reverse... then again, I am always slightly rolling forward when I do...

 

My rear rotors don't appear to be in as bad a condition as those you pictured. I believe that the stock-style front rotors that were on the car when I bought it were replacements. they had essentially no ridge and the pads were in relatively good condition, probably had 80% left on them. The rear rotors, on the other hand, do not appear to be replacements. I haven't taken the wheels off to get a good look at them but just reaching through the wheel slots I can feel a noticeable ridge, indicating substantial wear. The worn in area is relatively flat, no great gouges or hill/valley sort of contouring. I haven't checked the pad wear on the either, though I guess I need to.

The only other thing I can think of is if maybe one of the rear tires has a broken belt. That is not an uncommon thing to have happen around here, I just had to have one of the front tires replaced last week and that one was only a month old. I can't seen any bulge or lumps in either of them, not that that would mean much.

 

I know my rears are slightly warped. When I brake from high freeway speeds, the whole car would shake but not the steering wheel, that's how I know.
If you suspect the tires, get them balanced on a road force machine.