Car Shudder while braking

[David]

Hi Guys,

I have an 05′ Honda CRV and at the moment, when braking, usually at a higher speed (60km/h+), the car shudders and the steering wheel wobbles left/right. Some people have told me it’s warped rotors, though tonight I removed the front wheels to inspect, but they don’t look warped.. how can I tell if they need replacing ?

[EDIT] One thing I should mention, when braking.. I don’t really feel any shudder/pulsing in the brake pedal.. majority is felt in the car & steering wheel..

I removed the brake pads too, they seem ok, plenty of meat left on them.. though just wondering, can anyone tell me what the grooves down the center of them are for?

LEFT PADS

RIGHT PADS

I’m also considering getting a wheel alignment done, not sure if that’ll help or not.. my last car I never had it done (98′ Hyundai accent/excel) and never had a shudder issue when braking.

Any suggestions would be super, 🙂

Topic

[Greg]

Sounds like warped rotors to me. If you have a dial indicator you can jack up your car and take off a wheel and measure the run out.

The line in the pad looks like a line that was in the pad from being Manufactured and is just worn down from use.

[Richard Kirshy]

Warped rotors are most likely your issue.
To check them correctly you will need a dial indicator.

As to the grooves in the pads:
A slot that is ground down into the pad usually in the center is used to prevent cracking, reduce tangential stiffness, reduce fade, and clean corrosion off the rotor.

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[David]

Thanks guys 🙂 .. someone said it might also be “Upper control arm Bushes”.. in-case it isn’t the rotors, is there anything else that can cause the shudder ?

[Greg]

Without personally inspecting the vehicle it is hard to say if it is something else. Warped rotors is the most likely cause.

[Mike]

I’m going to take an opposing viewpoint here. In my experience, something like a warped rotor will be felt through the brake pedal, which you claim isn’t the case.

Feedback through the steering wheel and a shuddering body tends to point to looseness/wear somewhere within the suspension and/or steering system.

[Shaun Flichel]

Ti-rods, ball joints, axels, bad tires. Replace the rotors first and report back. You can not visually see a warped rotor

[Author]

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