shaking is back at highway speeds - argh!

Last summer I had a problem where the car was shaking when I was driving at highway speeds. I found that the guide pins for one of the front calipers lost grease. I re-greased and the shaking went away.

Well, it's back now. I checked the guide pins and one side had lost grease. I re-greased but, this time the shaking is still there!

I believe it's related to the brakes because when I stop driver's side caliper is *much* hotter than the passenger side - plus the smell of burnt pad. The weird thing is that I can be driving on the highway for minutes and no shaking. After a few minutes the shaking will build to a point and then stay like that for a while. Then after a few minutes it will stop. I can't figure out what's making it stop.

 

I checked the other postings and things I think it might be:

1) (sometimes?) sticky caliper piston

2) crud under the rotor

 

I think I can rule out:

1) unbalanced tire

I changed to new set of tires and the car still shakes intermittently

2) worn wheel bearing

I had both fronts changed 2 years ago.

 

I had both font calipers replaced 5 years ago. Would they fail so quickly?

I have no idea and not much money left - thoughts?

Depending on how often you drive it, 5 year old calipers could be sticking again. If it sits for large periods of time they can build up rust that doesn't like to come off and will exhibit those symptoms.

 

-Mike Paisan

 

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One thing I've discovered is I might have installed the brake pads with the spring clip on the wrong side. I think it should be on the bottom (input side), I installed them on the top (output side).

 

Should the caliper guide, slide pin with the rubber, boot, sleeve go on the bottom or top caliper mount point?

 

Thanks,

Brian

After checking for a collapsed brake line, my mechanic said it was a sticky caliper. He recommended I replace both (front) sides: calipers, pads, and rotors. Argh, that's twice in 5 years! This time I'm ordering Centric calipers from RockAuto and see if it makes a difference.