I have a 2001 vw Jetta with a manual transmission (just over 155,000 miles). My first set of front brakes lasted to about 135,000. After they were replaced a shimmy started to appear when braking a few thousand miles in. At about 8,000 miles the shimmy became so bad that I brought the car back to the dealer. They said the rotors were warped. The pads and rotors were replaced again and in about 5,000 miles same thing. The pads and rotors were replaced again at no charge and it is now about 5,000 miles later and the same thing is happening again. Any ideas?
When this starts happening with brakes the first thing to check is the condition of the hub bearings.
Tester
Try a couple of hard stops from 60-70 mph. Don’t lock up the wheels, but just short of that and don’t come to a complete stop. This will often clear up the shimmy.