5 months ago I had new shocks and struts put on and got the alignment done as well as brand new tires. Shortly there after, I had a creaking/popping noise start coming from the front end. I also started having other problems with the front end. The van developed a shake on the front end while braking from roughly 50mph or greater. I thought I had brake problems and/or rotor issues. I had new pads and rotors put on. Things were great for a day or two then they started squeaking again. Then the shaking started again. I don't do much highway driving and getting up to higher speeds does not happen much so I was not worried about the shaking issue. I still had good braking with no fade so I thought maybe I was getting unusually high amounts of brake dust on the front end. Since that initial change out, I have had 3 more sets of pads and another set of rotors. The old set up rotors were setup on a lathe to check for warping and there was only the tiniest bit there. I took the van in again a couple of weeks ago for another alignment, wheel balancing, and a new tire. I was told that I had a bad outer tie rod on the driver's side. I went home and replaced this and came back the next day. They did the alignment, put on the new tire (that wasn't in stock the day before), and balanced all the wheels again. The tire was replaced because the tie rod was bad and the tire was wearing really bad. The shop told me that my shaking problems were probably coming from the bad tie rod. They were wrong. They told me that they went through the whole front end and could not find anything else wrong with the van. So I go to my mechanic, and basically beg for help at this point. Ten minutes after my arrival the van is on the rack and 1 minute later I learn that I have a bad motor mount in the front-center. We order the part, but it is the wrong piece when it arrives. On a side note, they delivered the tranny mount and when we were comparing them, we discovered a nice crack in that one as well. However, all of the material is still present, so it is not anywhere close to what the front motor mount is.
I have been told by the shop that did my tires and stuff that I probably have bad brake lines, caliper's, and possibly the master cylinder as well. They also mentioned that a guy from a driveline specialists shop has said that they encounter unbalanced axles (half-shafts) in the DGC's. Specifically, my model year.
Being as this is a transverse mounted motor, couldn't my shaking issues and such be caused by the motor mount problem? And as for the brakes, why do I got through a set of pads every 45 days or so?
In complete exasperation, Don Manning