If your car quivers when you come to a halt, there are several possibilities. Perhaps you feel it in the steering wheel or brake pedal on your morning trip to work in Newport Beach. Perhaps it’s violent enough to make you wonder if something is about to fall off the car into the street. It could be that your brake rotors are warped, or that your tires are out of alignment. You might also be dealing with more serious drive line vibration problems. So, why does your car shake when braking? We take a look at all of the most common possibilities below.
If your car trembles while braking, the most likely culprit is warped or damaged brake rotors. Most modern cars are fitted with disc brakes at all four wheels, where the rotor is squeezed by brake pads inserted inside a hollow caliper attached to the wheel hub. Sometimes, especially when you first begin to apply the brakes, you can feel a shudder through the brake pedal or steering wheel. This is often a sign that the pads are grabbing unevenly on a warped rotor surface.
Warped rotors are not only annoying, but potentially dangerous, because they usually vibrate more and more severely as your speed drops during braking. They also heat up more quickly under hard braking, which can lead to brake fade or complete loss of stopping power.
Check your tire pressure and condition if your car is shaking when braking. Low air pressure and uneven tire wear can cause your brake pedal to pulsate when you try to slow the vehicle. The same factors may also cause your steering wheel to shake while braking.
Additionally, if your tires are out of alignment, they will not track properly with the rest of your wheels. This will make diagonal shudders through your car while braking. You’ll also notice that your car pulls more strongly to one side than the other while you drive on the roads of Irvine and Corona Del Mar.
A vibration in the steering wheel, brake pedal or floor of your car when the engine is running might be telling you that there’s a problem with something in the drive train. The drive train starts with the transmission and continues along with an array of components that transfer power from the engine to the wheels.
In these situations, you might notice that your car shakes almost all the time, and not just while braking. A drive line vibration can be caused by a variety of factors:
Replacing brake rotors is a simple task, and fixing uneven or misaligned tire wear is also far from difficult. The issues associated with a drive line vibration can be more significant and time-consuming to repair.
No matter which of these issues you’re facing, scheduling service at our dealership should be your next step. Our technicians will inspect your vehicle and let you know what needs to be done, and how much it’s going to cost. We offer parts and service specials to help you save.
