Car shuddering under breaking

Could be a lot of things. Tires out of balance, worn or damaged suspension or steering componenents, bent rims, misadjusted wheel bearings, warped rotors, bad return springs in rear drums, loose or incorrectly installed lug nuts, etc etc etc etc

It's dangerous to drive it until you know for sure. But, you knew that, of course.

-- Mike Harris Austin, TX

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sounds mighty like overheated (too thin?) rotors which have become warped, thus the pads are not contacting the rotors uniformly, causing the shudder. (I had the same problem on an '86 Mercury Cougar, going downhill. Turning the rotors made all the difference.)

Mack,

As I stated, that's certainly one of the possibilities. However, many of the other possibilities that I mention can be fatal if not corrected.

Were it my car, I'd rule out major wear or damage to suspension and steering components, for safety reasons. Once I knew that those were OK, I'd check rotor runout.

I can't diagnose mandie's car over the internet, but if he or she has replaced the pads and still has the problem, with apparently no idea whatsoever of what it could be, I'd suggest - again for safety reasons - that a knowledgeble mechanic examine the car before playing "swap the component" in the braking system.

-- Mike Harris Austin, TX

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Agreed, Mike. The car (especially the components you mention) should be checked out before it's driven further. Better safe than sorry! Thanks.

One often overlooked cause is due to the tire wear caused by not rotating them. The front tires eventually get out of true from wear far enough to be felt at the brake peddle during braking. Might also make noise under hard braking.

To test for this problem rotate the tires.

Dan