HELP: 93 Toyota Corolla vibration problem! (2025 Update)

I'll have to take your word for it since I don't go to Wal-Mart or K-Mart for tires.

As I said, the WHEEL bearings are sealed.

Neither do I, but I know people who have. Had a neighbor who worked for Wal Mart - did a brake job - got Wal Mart sued big time.

Ray, I had them do this. The problem still persists. Could it be a brake booster problem?

The tire shop showed me how the wheels turn on a machine. There is a small bit of run-out. But it was slight. Also, wouldn't run out cause a constant vibration?

The rebalanced when they put new tires on under waranty. The vibration still intermitently.

My mechanic says that when a bearing is shot, you can wobble the wheel when it is on the lift by pulling on it. The wheel didn't exhibit this behavior.

Rotors are 3k old. Never turned before.

Mechanic says he checked thoroughly through all of them...

Yes it could if the problem is on both sides. If I recall you said one wheel is getting hot the other isn't. that seems to make it pretty clear that the brakes are dragging on that one side. It is unlikely that the wheel bearing is the cause of the hot wheel after 5k miles a bearing getting hot would be seized by now. So something is wrong with the brakes on that side. Maybe time to have another mechanic look at it.

-jim

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Well, at one point like the rotors were bluing like 1000 miles ago and I replaced them. The hoses were replaced 3 days ago, this did not fix it either. The calipers are 3k old. Could it be the brake booster since the problem is intermitten and only shows up once in a while?

Also, could the vibration be caused by the hot wheel overheating the tire? How warped would a wheel have to be to cause this? There is only vibration when the brakes are dragging. The other day i drove to the airport (60 miles with no traffic at 3AM) and it only did it once for 10 miles. I did not have to use my brakes at all for the entire highway portion of the trip, but it still started to drag and then vibrate half way into the trip. Please notice that i said it drags THEN vibrates. You can feel that you need more gas pedal effort to move the car and then the vibration starts gradually shortly thereafter and builds up in intensity. Does this extra info help you?

I replaced the brake hoses. Problem still persists. But please notice that in my story about my trip to the airport, I did not use my brakes for like 30 miles of hte trip since there was no traffic on the highway at 3AM. But, at one point, without using my brakes at all, the problem started. It starts as you notice more gas pedal effort needed to move the car (dragging), then the vibration starts gradually and builds up in intensity. I can only assume this might be caused by the wheel getting hotter and hotter and eventually heating up the tire.... does this make sense? could it be a brake booster problem?

-Jon

Yes, that is certainly a possibility. If you did something to the brakes, then things started heating up, then chances are something that you did to the brakes caused the problem.

Jeff

That's going to be my next test. The mechanic will replace that caliper under warranty. Then I'll see if the problem persists. that will be Thursday.

If it's only one wheel, I'd strongly suspect the hose. Second choice would be frozen up mounting hardware causing a single piston caliper not to float freely. A booster, master cylinder, or pushrod adjustment issue would show up on at least two if not all four wheels.

nate

Hmm. disregard my last post then. Did you thoroughly clean the mounting hardware (esp. sliders) when you replaced the calipers? Assuming, of course, that these are single piston type with sliders.

Do you have any noticeable play in that wheel bearing? I can't see how that would cause the brakes to drag/rotor to overheat, but it seems like you've covered the likely culprits already.

nate

Yes

A bad bearing will not always have play in it but it should be noisy. I have never seen a bad bearing cause a vibration.

Even thought the rotor is fairly new if it was warped from the brakes being applied it needs to be machined or possibly even replaced.

You stated that it is only one front wheel that is getting hot so it would have to be the caliper, pads, brake hose or steel line going to that particular wheel.

could a bad booster cause it?

No. A bad booster would affect all wheels. When a booster fails it will generally make the brake pedal hard to depress.

Good point, but that would also imply that the self-adjusting hardware was frozen up on at least one rear wheel. Not impossible, but would imply two simultaneous problems. That said, it might not be a bad idea to check anyway, since the OP has apparently tried all the obvious stuff.

nate

No

No

How warped would a wheel have to be to cause this?

Extremely warped.

There is

Then your problem is with the brakes.

The other day i drove to

Right, the brakes drag causing the rotor to get hot and warp which causes the vibration.

You can feel that you need more gas pedal effort to

Not really, you have covered this at least a half dozen times already.

Bad point. A bad CV joint WOULD NOT cause the brakes to lock up.

Lets start from the begining. If I understand correctly you replaced the front calipers first. Why ? Were the brakes acting up before you replaced the calipers. You then replaced the brake hoses and this did not correct the problem. The right front brake is the one getting hot, correct ? Are you doing the work or are you taking it to a shop ?

I replaced the calipers because the brakes felt "soft" and i was not getting good stopping power. The replacement cured it. But shortly thereafter this problem occured. And I was not sure of the cause because i replaced the calipers and tires at about the same time. So after the vibration started, i brought it to my mechanic who found that the rotor or rotors were blued and replaced them. Obviously he cured the symptom and not the disease at this point. Then i replaced the tires under waranty because i thought they were defective. After this, i noticed taht one wheel was getting hotter than the other. I then replaced the brake hoses on both sides. This still did nothing. Now I am going to try the caliper since it may have been a defective one.

So now with the complete picture it looks like the cause is the new caliper. You may need to replace that rotor again if that got fried again.

-jim

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