What Causes Brake Pedal Vibration?
4 Answers
Brake pedal vibration is caused by the following reasons: 1. Damaged shock absorbers. If the shock absorbers fail, the impact from the road surface to the tires will be transmitted to the car body without attenuation, causing vibration of the entire vehicle. 2. Tire balance issues. Situations such as after tire repair, rim deformation, abnormal tire wear, large nails puncturing the tire, or large stones stuck in the tire can disrupt the tire balance. 3. Half-shaft resonance. This is usually caused by bending of the half-shaft in front-wheel drive vehicles or the drive shaft in rear-wheel drive vehicles. The bending disrupts the dynamic balance of the drive shaft, leading to resonance during driving. Vibration typically occurs at certain speeds and disappears when the speed is increased or decreased beyond that range.
Last time when driving on mountain roads, I stepped on the brakes and the steering wheel shook violently, which scared me into getting it checked immediately. It turned out that warped brake discs were the culprit. The mechanic said frequent hard braking can cause the brake discs to overheat and warp, resulting in uneven surfaces. Another possibility is uneven wear of brake pads trapping metal particles, or loose wheel hub bearings causing wheel wobble. I tried sanding the brake discs myself with sandpaper, but it only made the shaking worse. My advice is don’t follow my example of reckless tinkering—it’s best to go straight to a professional shop for disc resurfacing or replacement. After all, driving safety is nothing to take lightly. Remember to have the mechanic check the brake disc flatness with a micrometer during regular maintenance to catch issues early and save yourself trouble.
My old car has been shaking all over whenever I brake recently. After a thorough inspection, I found the suspension system is acting up. Worn ball joints on the tie rods create gaps, causing wheel angles to shift during braking. Also, deteriorated lower control arm bushings can easily induce vibrations. The most overlooked issue is wear in the inner CV joints – they transmit particularly noticeable shakes during hard braking. Yesterday, I jacked up the car myself and found slight play when wobbling the tires by hand. I recommend focusing on steering linkage and driveshaft inspections for similar cases, especially for vehicles over 80,000 kilometers – pay extra attention to these wear-prone components.
Last week, I just dealt with the issue of brake shudder and would like to share some experience: The most common cause is the failure of front wheel dynamic balance, especially when dynamic balancing is not performed after fitting new tires. When braking above 60km/h, the steering wheel will shake. Another common cause is wheel rim deformation; hitting potholes without slowing down can easily make the rim out of round. I personally experienced a situation where the mechanic forgot to install balancing weights after a tire repair, and the issue was resolved by redoing the dynamic balance. Also, a reminder for friends who modify their wheel rims: incorrect ET value or mismatched center bore can also cause shudder.
