Just another brake vibration question.

I replaced my rotors and pads about a month and a half ago with centric premium rotors and stoptech pads on all 4 corners. A little before that I started to experience symptoms of a bad lower control arm bushing. The symptoms continued to get worse, specifically clunking and front end shake (especially under braking). I had the bushing's replaced with stock Subaru units. I thought that would fix the shake under braking but it seems to have gotten worse. They told me when I took it in that my endlinks seem to be going bad to but I don't think that this could be cause vibration up through the steering wheel could it? I really hope the rotors aren't warped already but I don't know what else it could be. They were bedded in properly when I installed them so that shouldn't be the problem. Could the shaking of the control arm/ steering knuckle have caused the rotors to warp?? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

This reminds me of the recent thread below that cites pad deposits on the rotors as the problem.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/warped-6-month-old-centric-w-stoptechs-210972.html

Check tie rod ends and ball joints. They can easily cause pulsating through both the pedal and steering wheel if either or both are bad.

This reminds me of the recent thread below that cites pad deposits on the rotors as the problem.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/warped-6-month-old-centric-w-stoptechs-210972.html

 

This looks like a great place to start. Guess I'll have to try rebedding and see if that helps. If that doesn't work I'll try taking the rotors somewhere and getting them spun.

 

I just had the car inspected too so I couldn't imagine that it could be the tie rods or the ball joints, I believe those are two things covered under the inspection (unless the mechanic did a shitty job). I'll have to jack it up later today and check for play in the wheels I guess.

Please keep us posted! I have an 08 Spec B with about the same mileage, experience almost identical issues. I have 2 brand new wheel bearings on the front, rotated the tires, and had it aligned...still have steering wheel shake. Feels like I am constantly driving on a gravel road.

My steering wheel shake seems to only be under breaking so I am not sure if we are experiencing the same issue.

 

I tried rebedding my brakes yesterday, didnt seem to help. I am going to try and again tonight and see if I can get them a little better. I think the hardest part about bedding the brakes is finding a good long road but that has a route home that uses minimal braking!! Found my self having to use the brakes a little after bedding. Engine braking doesnt work to well in these damn turbo charged cars! haha

I'm running the same pads/rotors and have the same issues. I find that I need to abuse the brakes to keep the deposits even enough. daily street driving doesn't get the rotors hot enough (especially in the winter) for me. I have long highway stretches and too much low speed city driving in my newl routine. it normally takes me 5-7 back to back hard stops from 100 to get rid of the shakes. next time around I'm going to get a lower temp range pad. don't get me wrong, the setup feels great when being driven in a consistently spirited fashion. Since I moved, I'm just finding that I don't get the rotors hot enough in day to day driving when slow traffic is involved.

Yeah I wish I had known about this issue before purchasing this set up because it frankly seems like a fairly common one, not sure how I missed the issues others were having in my research before I bought them. I received plenty of recommendations to use this combo but frankly I wish I would have went a different route. I understand that maybe my braking style isn't perfect but I don't think it's bad enough to where it should cause deposits like I'm getting. I've tried twice now to re-bed the pads and rotors and it hasn't helped the problem at all. I think I'm going to need to go get the rotors turned and then switch to some carbon ceramic pads ASAP. I'm getting pretty tired of the amount of dust thrown from these stoptechs too. Overall it's a good set up for braking power but this whole deposit think has really ruined this set up for me.

You need a good street pad, not a race pad. Find some Akebono front pads for it and you'll like them a lot. Akebono custom mixes the friction material by application and you'll also LOVE the fact that they produce a LOT less dust and the dust they do produce is a very light color.