Brakes still uneven/pulsing

[robhurlburt]

When I first bought my T4R the brakes would "grab" on the rotors on certain parts making the braking not smooth at all. I replaced the calipers/rotors/pads and all was well for 30K mi. It started to happen again so I first replaced the pads with OEM. no luck. then I replaced the rotors, no luck. then I replaced the calipers and got the rotors turned and it still does it.

I'm lost here. Could the rear brakes be causing the pulsing feeling? it doesn't happen on every stop, about 50-60% of them.

 

[Greydog]

Yes. The rears can definitely cause pulsing in the pedal/chassis.

If the pulsing is not really felt in the steering wheel, it's probably the rears.

 

[djlandkpl]

+1 on the rears. I had the same issue. New rear rotors and pads fixed it.

 

[robhurlburt]

+1 on the rears. I had the same issue. New rear rotors and pads fixed it.

you didn't replace the calipers? my gut is telling me that the problem would just return if the calipers were sticking in the rear causing this in the first place. or is something else causing this?

 

[djlandkpl]

My rear calipers were fine. The backside of the rotors were destroyed but the outside looked fine. My grabbing feeling was during light and moderate braking.

 

[Robs08Runner]

I would have all rotors checked for runout first.

 

[gshadow325]

When my truck was doing crap like this. I vowed to eliminate the problem for got by changing front and rear rotors and all the pads and parking brake shoes.

 

[slammers]

I've run into this same problem on a friend's vehicle. Like you say even after replacing pads and rotors, it still did it. I removed the front rotors and had them turned, but the problem persisted.
I removed the rear rotors in anticipation of having those turned as well. When doing so I found one of the pins holding the parking brake shoe in place was missing which allowed the shoe to rub the inside of the drum. I bought a parking brake hardware kit and plan to do the repair tonight. I strongly this is what was causing the shuddering/pulsating effect when stopping.
I should know for certain tomorrow.

 

[bpowa]

I've run into this same problem on a friend's vehicle. Like you say even after replacing pads and rotors, it still did it. I removed the front rotors and had them turned, but the problem persisted.
I removed the rear rotors in anticipation of having those turned as well. When doing so I found one of the pins holding the parking brake shoe in place was missing which allowed the shoe to rub the inside of the drum. I bought a parking brake hardware kit and plan to do the repair tonight. I strongly this is what was causing the shuddering/pulsating effect when stopping.
I should know for certain tomorrow.

FYI.. some rotors come warped from factory. Especially cheap ones. You will need to get them recut on a brake lathe. They can actually do the innitial fast cut and show you warped areas. I worked at shops prior and cheap rotors almost always come slightly warped. Fome companies stack them ontop of each other on the shelf which will cause them to warp. I bought brembo blanks from ebay and still have slight warping. :doh:

 

[kacper]

buddy check rear calipers ! I had same story and my rear caliper on passenger side wasn't working properly . Both slide pins were full of rust and won't move like should

 

[RPS13]

Definitely can be the rears.

I think the OEM pads actually tend to unevenly transfer material, and you have to rebed them every so often. Pretty odd for a vehicle like this, but maybe they were shooting for super low dust and a long life?

I replaced my rear OEM pads with some surprisingly cheap Centric Posi-Quiets, and they're actually much better all around. Better initial bite, better coefficient of friction, quiet as you'd imagine by the name, dust seems the same (basically none).