Steering wheel vibrates when i brake

[carczar]

So about 2 years ago I changed all the rotors and pads on my car. About 6 months later I felt some pulsation in the brake pedal and steering wheel when I would brake. So I used a runout tool to test the two front rotors. I discovered the passenger-side rotor was the culprit and changed it. I also noticed the piston was a little difficult to get back in the caliper. Now I feel the same pulsation. Do you think I should just change the caliper? My car has 90000 miles on it.

[crock]

sounds like someone needs to balance his tires..... possible

[BillBoost37]

^^ Uh...WUT...lol

If the caliper was hard to push in and it's only one side that warped the first time out. I'd have changed it then. Because if you warp both..that means you heated both equally from hard stops etc. If only one warps, then it's typically a caliper or ....more often the rubber hose leading to the caliper.

The layers of hose come apart inside with age and constant moving (strut/bumps etc) and they act as a check valve to hold fluid in the caliper. Hoses are typically about $12 each.

[vincegpking]

^^ Uh...WUT...lol

If the caliper was hard to push in and it's only one side that warped the first time out. I'd have changed it then. Because if you warp both..that means you heated both equally from hard stops etc. If only one warps, then it's typically a caliper or ....more often the rubber hose leading to the caliper.

The layers of hose come apart inside with age and constant moving (strut/bumps etc) and they act as a check valve to hold fluid in the caliper. Hoses are typically about $12 each.

Its more often a caliper seizes than a hose goes bad. But if your using a c-clamp to push it in and its tight then id say solve the problem and buy a caliper and a hose

[carczar]

Thanks for the info. I would have changed the caliper and not ggiven the hose a second glance. Now I know.

[carczar]

Thanks for the info. I would have changed the caliper and not ggiven the hose a second glance. Now I know. Btw...a friend told me that after I change the caliper the rotor will even itself out. That sounds farfetched, but what do you think?

[matt5112]

How cheap are the pads?

[BillBoost37]

Its more often a caliper seizes than a hose goes bad. But if your using a c-clamp to push it in and its tight then id say solve the problem and buy a caliper and a hose

If you say so.. anything over 5-7 years and the hoses are pretty common in my experience. Either way though..it's easy to test.

If you loosen the bleeder when a caliper seems tough to push back slowly and it gets easier. Then it's likely the hose. If nothing changes, it's the caliper.

[vincegpking]

Thanks for the info. I would have changed the caliper and not ggiven the hose a second glance. Now I know.

Just an idea but make sure when you are pushing piston back in that your hose is not kinked or twisted I've been fooled by that a couple times on customers cars. If its twisted or kinked it'll pinch the hose an restrict fluid flow

[carczar]

Just an update:

I checked the hose and it was good. A matter of fact the caliper itself is good. The piston went in like butter. Maybe I was just weak last time...lol... Weird... Anyway I changed the rotor and the pads. And the only thing I can think of is perhaps the first rotor was really warped to begin with, and when I changed it the 2nd time and didn't change the pads, maybe those pads caused the second one to warp. Right now the car stopping smooth. It started raining, so I didn't change the pads on the driver-side. Do I need to being that the driver-side is fine???? This time I bought semi-metallic pads, but the driver-side has ceramics.

[matt5112]

your pads MUST match on an axle basis.

And the better pads must always be in the front.