Steering Wobble Under Gentle Braking

[Decender]

As above, over the last week I have started to notice wheel wobble under gentle to moderate braking. Rather strangely it does not happen under heavy braking and only happens at speeds below 60mph.

 

Is this likely to be caused by warped brakes or something else?

 

The car has recently had:

New wishbones and bushes

New N/S Wheel Bearing

New Front ARB Bushes

 

In the last 3 to 6 months:

New Coilover Suspension

New Droplinks

New Top Mounts

 

Also the brakes that I currently have on are less than 12 months old.

 

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Cheers

[IulianE]

9 times of 10 are the brake rotors

[darrylg]

Mine always does this.  I believe that it's the discs.  When they were brand spanky new it didn't do it, now it does.

Did the same with the previous discs too!  I have a habit of buying poor discs, or bad driving, not sure.

[emch4mmer]

Mije did this till i put new discs and pads on

[emch4mmer]

Mije did this till i put new discs and pads on

[IulianE]

very important before putting new didscs clean the hub and lube it with a thin layer of cooper grease...the disc will stay perfectly flat and won;t wobble

[trundlenut]

Try some enthusiastic braking, say 6 times stop 60 to 20 as hard as you can. I'm pretty gentle on the brakes and used to get a build up of crap on the discs which cause a wobble like you describe and such treatment would sort it.

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[meaty101]

What brand of brake disc did you use? I once fitted some brand new EBC discs to my vectra and those were warped.

[Decender]

Thanks for the comments guys. At time of changing the discs and pads last I was a bit strapped for cash and bought Drivetec discs with Mintex pads from my local CES. I will try giving them a clean up and see wot happens.

Just find it a bit steange that it only happens at lower speeds and more gentle braking. If it comes to it I'll just change the brakes for OEM.

[Decender]

Thanks for the comments guys. At time of changing the discs and pads last I was a bit strapped for cash and bought Drivetec discs with Mintex pads from my local CES. I will try giving them a clean up and see wot happens.

Just find it a bit steange that it only happens at lower speeds and more gentle braking. If it comes to it I'll just change the brakes for OEM.

[meaty101]

So its not juddering braking from say 60mph? If the discs are warped it should actually be worse at higher speeds.

[mac11irl]

are the pads seated properly? might be a tad loose in the carrier, so at low speed gentle braking you can feel the wobble.

heavier braking is pushing the pad in fully and holding it solid...

[Decender]

So its not juddering braking from say 60mph? If the discs are warped it should actually be worse at higher speeds.

Yes thats right. No vibration from higher speeds with either light, moderate or heavy braking.

 

are the pads seated properly? might be a tad loose in the carrier, so at low speed gentle braking you can feel the wobble.

heavier braking is pushing the pad in fully and holding it solid...

I will have the wheels off this weekend (weather permitting) and take a look

[Turbobanana]

Interesting, this.

 

I recently (about a month ago) had a reputable specialist put new discs & pads on mine. Initially the car felt great and would stand on its nose when braking. I have just got back from a 2 week holiday touring through France, 4-up, camping gear and roof box on board and the discs appear to have warped already: 2,000 miles.

 

I will admit that the discs & pads are Mintex and the specialist fitting them did suck his teeth when I told him that, but even so - 2,000 miles seems very low to have warped a large vented disc (312mm) without especially hard use, ie not track work. I am not as hard on brakes as the chap in the Corsa on the M1 yesterday who braked every 10 seconds, whether he needed to or not, because I read the road ahead and I was carrying my young family. My old Audi A6 did the same trip twice on one set of discs & pads and the brakes still felt strong.

 

Is it just the fact that I chose Mintex or am I missing something?

[meaty101]

I dont know about the quality of mintex tbh but I know I wouldnt use EBC again. I used oem discs and pads on the octavia with no trouble at all.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Brake discs (99.99% of the time...) don't 'warp.'

 

Read this article: http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/-warped-brake-disc-and-other-myths

[mac11irl]

I got Pagids for my Octy, about 8 months ago - 8k up on them and still all good...

Got them as they were relatively well priced and very recommended around here.

[Decender]

Im going to get a few things checked out in more detail this week. I have also noticed that sometimes when turning fairly sharpish corners I get some wobble through the steering there too. Im starting to wonder whether it's possibly an out of shape tyre? Going to get the brakes properly checked out too with a view to replacing if need be with Pagids and Ferodo.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Im starting to wonder whether it's possibly an out of shape tyre?

 

It's possible. But out of all the tyres I have bought in my life (and it is a LOT - especially when I was racing motorbikes!) I've only ever had out of shape tyres twice.

 

Once, a front tyre fitted to a motorbike had a bulge right in the middle of the tread. As soon as I rode it, it felt like I was going over a bump in the road every two metres!

 

And once on a car, I was talked into buying some 'non mainstream branded' tyres, after the bloke explained how they're made in the Pirelli factory but sold cheaper with a different brand name. Well, I was young and stupid! But one of the tyres was also out of shape, resulting in some very similar behaviour to what you have explained. Once I went back and he replaced the offending tyre, all was well.

 

So it can happen...but it is unusual.

[mac11irl]

 some 'non mainstream branded' tyres,

 

is that a PC way of saying cheap 5hit ditch finders?

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

is that a PC way of saying cheap 5hit ditch finders?

 

Yep. They were solid plastic, slip-matic, traction-less tastic, ditch-finding, hedge-seeking death tyres from hell. I have, and only will, make that mistake once, and only once.

 

The fact of the matter is, high-quality branded tyres are the way to go. Cheap tyres are a false economy.

 

I've run nothing else but Michelin Pilot Sports on all my cars for years now. Fortunately I have a mate at a tyre fitters who does me a set of PS3's on my Octy for £400 fitted.

 

I NEVER get ANY problems. They're perfect, behave predictably, give prodigious grip in wet and dry, are quiet, and best of all, last very well.

 

Also, strangely - yes, I admit that some monster bit of roadway detritis would puncture ANY tyre, but....since using these Michelins, I have never suffered another puncture either. A weird co-incidence? Or proof of superior construction? Who knows!

[trundlenut]

Pure luck. I punctured 2 Michelins in 3 weeks in my old car.

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[mac11irl]

Yep. They were solid plastic, slip-matic, traction-less tastic, ditch-finding, hedge-seeking death tyres from hell. I have, and only will, make that mistake once, and only once.

 

The fact of the matter is, high-quality branded tyres are the way to go. Cheap tyres are a false economy.

 

I've run nothing else but Michelin Pilot Sports on all my cars for years now. Fortunately I have a mate at a tyre fitters who does me a set of PS3's on my Octy for £400 fitted.

 

I NEVER get ANY problems. They're perfect, behave predictably, give prodigious grip in wet and dry, are quiet, and best of all, last very well.

 

Also, strangely - yes, I admit that some monster bit of roadway detritis would puncture ANY tyre, but....since using these Michelins, I have never suffered another puncture either. A weird co-incidence? Or proof of superior construction? Who knows!

 

 

well now you jinxed it....

 

I've been using Cooper Zeons for the last couple of yrs and find pretty decent all yr tyres and good price...