My 2006 Honda Odyssey has begun to experience shuddering when applying the brakes. Sometimes the shuddering is more pronounced than others. A mechanic at the dealers says it’s warped rotors but couldn’t explain why it was worse at some times than others. I have no indications on the dash of ABS problems but wonder if an ABS malfunction could cause this
If there were a problem with the ABS, the ABS light would turn on.
You describe the classic symtom of warped rotors. You need a brake job.
Tester
I agree with him it would not be an abs malfunction and the reason ot could be more pronounced than others is that the rotors are warmer and when metal heats up it expands so it would make them grab more.
It’s not the ABS, it’s the rotors. They’re warped.
Don’t let anyone resurface the rotors. They should be replaced with new ones.
Resurfacing the rotors makes them very thin and prone to warping again very quickly.
Isn’t that a little extreme? Resurfacing rotors many times makes them thin, yes, but this vehicle is only 4-5 years old.
If it were me, I’d check the rotor thickness first before automatically replacing them. If they’re still pretty thick and the warping is slight, I’d try resurfacing first.
Rusty Rotors…I bet they’re not warped at all…same cure…replace them; they’re cheap…aftermarket anyway.
You can resurface a rotor that has minimum wear with minimum run-out. But what cannot be duplicated when resurfacing a rotor is the original friction surface of a new rotor. The friction surfaces between the new brake pads and the resurfaced rotors can impede the proper embedding or the break-in of the pads to the rotors. This can result in unwanted brake noise.
I always install new rotors just for this reason.
Tester
There you go, jesmed. It’s not extreme.
Read Tester’s post and learn.
I was trying to prevent the OP from having the same problem a month or two after having the rotors turned.
If you’re working on your own car it’s your call, but we’re not working on our own cars here.
Replace rotors with new ones they are not expensive and get a goos set of ceramic brake pads
If you have disc brakes on all four wheels and you want to find out which one is causing the problem, you could try this trick which even works now and then. Look for the most chewed up rotor or the most worn pads. That could tell you if a caliper partially siezed and caused the warpage. The trick doesn’t always tell you anything, but if a left rear brake is way different than a right rear, it could help you find the culprit.
The shuddering can always seem intermittent and no explanation is possible.