[xothermic]

I have an '04 Forester XT with 90k miles. I bought it last summer with 80k. I recently replaced the tires and ever since then, sometimes there is a shudder when braking. It seems random and at times can be enough to make the steering wheel shake pretty violently.

The car has a slight alignment problem, pulling just a bit to the right. I'm thinking this may be related, if the previous tires were worn funny because of the alignment, maybe the rotors would have worn funny as well? Or, if discount tire didn't torque the lugs correctly, is it possible that could cause it?

I was thinking I'd replace the rotors/pads up front and make sure to torque the lugs correctly to start, and I'll check the wheel bearings while it's up. How do you know if you need new rotors? Should I do the rears as well?

What else should I consider?

 

[The Black Box]

Or, if discount tire didn't torque the lugs correctly, is it possible that could cause it?

Yes. The important part is to torque them evenly to allow the wheel to center itself on the hub.

How do you know if you need new rotors? Should I do the rears as well?

When they are within the spec written on them. Before you throw money at it, try making a few hard stops from 50 or so down to 15 to clean off any uneven pad deposit. Stock brake pads are crap.

 

[xothermic]

I tried stopping hard 3 or 4 times from 65 down to 15 and that didn't seem to make any difference. Got it up on jack stands last night and the front end all seems ok. It does have a rubbing sound from passenger front when spinning the wheels, sounds like it might be coming from the rotor.

Think I'll start with new front rotors/pads.

 

[The Black Box]

Could be a sticky caliper or bad tire? Try rotating tires to see if that isolates the problem?

 

[xothermic]

Could be a sticky caliper or bad tire? Try rotating tires to see if that isolates the problem?

I don't think its a bad tire, they are brand new and look OK all the way around. Suppose it could be the caliper.

 

[The Black Box]

I meant rotate to isolate any mounting issues or imbalanced tires.

 

[xothermic]

I meant rotate to isolate any mounting issues or imbalanced tires.

ah, thanks.

 

[Wormguy]

If you have rear rotors, make sure to check them too. They frequently get deposits that cause steering wheel shaking during braking (really!) - it's not the front rotors. When this happened last, I changed out the front rotors and the problem was still there, but when I changed the back rotors the problem went away. So check them too. [Presumably the vibration from the back wheels transmits to the steering wheel through the F/R differential?]