Must be the time of year for brakes

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Keith McElroy

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Well, I am coming up on 33K on my '04 ST and I have developed a shaking in the front end. At first I was thinking it was the tires, but I rotated them and the shaking is still there. I started doing experimentation on my daily drive to work and realized that there is a slight pull to the left as I drive which gets worse when I brake. The brake pedal doesn't throb as I push on it, but as the truck is already shaking, I might be missing it. Seems isolated to front left. No grinding noise from the bearings in either direction so I ruled them out - I would be surprised at 33K that they would be bad (if so, they are Ford's problem).



I am about to order new rotors and pads for my ST (Easier than getting them turned) and wondered if there was anything I was overlooking? The symptoms seem to point to the brakes as I tested the ball joints and tie rod ends when I was rotating the tires.



Sound about right?
 
IS the truck vibrating when your on the brake pedal or just driving???...

It could be 2 different issues...

Todd Z
 
It vibrates from 20 MPH all the way to 70 MPH and the vibration frequency increases with speed. The vibration is there on or off the brake pedal.



The other option I was considering was dropping by my local garage and having the alignment checked.
 
It sounds like a bad tire, rim, a bad suspension part or bad wheel bearings.... IF it was the rotors it would do it only when stepping on the brake... and the steering wheel would shake side to side...

Todd Z



 
Moving the tires did not change it in the slightest, so I doubt it is the rim or tire. I'll have the mechanic I usually use measure the difference in sound between the left and right front bearings to see if one stands out.
 
And have him check the ball joints and do a complete front end check too...

Keep us posted.
 
Must be that time of year. I was hoping not to have to do a brake job before selling the ST, but after a hard stop on the e-way yesterday, it sound slike I'll have to.



I have a metal on metal sound now when I'm NOT on the brakes. It's definately coming from the front driver side tire, can't tell if it's doing the same on the front passenger side.



When I apply the brakes, it mostly goes away, but I can "feel" the grinding. Prior to all this, I was getting a slight pulsating when I was stopping.



I'm going to try to get just new pads.... I don't see the need to spend money on rotors if I'm selling it.
 
Before I forget (I've spent too much time on the jetskis), the source of my shaking and shimmying was found. Both of the BACK brake rotors were warped, one more than the other. I replaced the rotors and pads and the shake is gone as well as the wandering to the left. All of the suspension is still tight.



This explained why the problem persisted while turning, running straight, and got worse after braking. The pads were pretty worn down but not to the metal.



Just thought I would follow up on it.
 

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