I have a ford taurus SW, 2002. The last few weeks, if I drive over 60 the whole car feels like it’s shaking. Any ideas? Then when I start braking to slow it down it feels like something is tapping on the brake pedal. I’m afraid it’s going to be something insanely expensive to fix. I want to be prepared with some ideas before i take it in to the shop.
Assuming this happened suddenly I would guess a wheel weight came off and now on wheel is out of balance. However, there are a number of other possible issues.
I suggest starting with a trusted tyre shop and have them check/balance the wheels.
How old (miles) are the tyres and what is their condition? Maybe it would be a good time for replacment.
Let me second Joseph Meehan. Your problem could be caused by a lot of things – a lost tire balancing weight; maybe an underinflated tire; loose lug nuts; a broken steering component. Lots of these are cheap to fix. Some aren’t. But most of them (other than the lost weight which really will not cost much to fix) have one thing in common. When they get worse, they may do so suddenly and you may find yourself short a front wheel or with broken steering while travelling at highway speed. This will be an enlightening, but not necessarily enjoyable experience.
You may think car repairs are expensive. And you’re not wrong. But have you priced funerals lately? There are lots of car problems you can ignore without excessive risk. This isn’t one of them. If the repair turns out – as it could – to be expensive and not a real safety issue, that’s the time to procrastinate.
$10 bucks and a Coke says you’ve got some warped brake rotors. Been long since the car’s had a brake job? The shaking at highway speed could be a lot of things that previous posters have covered, but that combined with pulsing pedal under braking is classic warped rotors.
You could still have a tire/wheel issue, or as was suggested maybe even a steering component that is worn (most likely inner tie rods), but I’d start at the brakes because they’re cheap, easy, and a common cause of a problem like this.