Braking problem on Ford Taurus

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Front end shimmies BADLY when brakes are applied after they warm up. Pedal pluses and steering wheel shakes. Ford says “don’t know” Midas says ditto.



Can anybody help?

2

Have the dealer and the brake shoo been able to reproduce the problem?

You might try rotating the tyres, although in this case I don’t really think that is it.

Does the steering wheel shake or does it move back and forth?
3

Have these places looked at the car, or is their diagnosis done over the phone.

I suspect warped brake rotors, but I don’t know why they have to be “warm” before this happens.

4

It shakes. Almost out of my hands

5

Not warped rotors…well the Ford shop said it could be a number of things…they just wanted to replace everything. Not bearings, not a bad rotor and it does not shimmy when the brakes are cold

6

Does your car have ABS?
If so, do you have a brake warning light?

7

[b]If the brake pedal pulses during braking, it’s a rotor problem! Plain and simple!

Have a new set of brake pads and rotors installed, and break in the new brakes properly, and bet your problem goes away.

Tester

8

The light comes on ,rarley but it does come on.

9

I would suggest turning the brake calipers. If the brakes are applied for a long period they overheat and warp the calipers. This can happen on any vehical. It is not expensive to replace them if you prefer. I think the calipers only run about $50 each. You should do both in front. Check the brake pads and calipers while you are at it.

10

Certain year Taurus/Sables (1992-1993) have been notorius for warping rotors. In the 94 model year Ford changed the rotor design to address this. Also, if you had cheap Asian made rotors (Autozone Value craft brand etc. )installed at your last brake job, they are more likely to warp.

Did the dealer and Midas objectively measure the rotor run out with a dial indicator. If they did, they should be able to tell you what they measured. There is a published spec for rotor run out. Look it up for your model year.

Warped rotors are the most common cause for what your problem is. I would not rule it out until you have the run out measured and it passes the Ford spec.