My car vibrates when braking

Temperature differences in discs can cause them to warp

I don't understand it. The car's brakes aren't very old, and when I brake, the whole car vibrates. I don't understand what's happening… I'm sure many of us have thought this at some point. Worn brake pads aren't a very common problem , but it's one we notice immediately and it's quite annoying.

The brake discs on our car can warp for two main reasons: overheating or overheating . Let me explain: if the brakes are cold, barely used, and we brake hard, they overheat and can easily warp . Another cause is having hot brakes and driving through a large puddle of water; this causes them to cool down rapidly , with all the consequences that entails.

One way to check if your car's brake discs are warped is with a brake tester (for example, at a vehicle inspection station). This machine measures the braking force and any oscillations when you brake gently , allowing you to determine if the discs are defective.

This time the damage is done, and we need to take it to a garage to fix it. If the brake discs aren't badly damaged or worn , instead of replacing them, they can be resurfaced . This involves removing a small amount of material from the disc's surface to even it out and restore its original shape. This task is quite simple and shouldn't take more than two hours for the front wheels.

We can check if the brake discs are bent

Another solution, if the previous one is not viable and certainly more expensive, is to replace the brake discs with new ones ; this way we shouldn't have any problems with the new ones and, depending on the vehicle, their price can vary widely.

Once we've been to the garage, we need to break in the brakes a bit to prevent the same problem from happening again. For the first 300 to 500 km, we should use the brakes gently to allow the pads to bed in and adapt to the discs.

More information – Common brake problems and their possible solutions

More information - 10 tips to take care of your brakes


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