Hi Guys. I've got a Gen 3 2004 3.5 V6 LWB, and i am also battling with intense brake shudder in the front. I had the front disks replaced 3 months ago because i was told that they were on their way out, even though there wasn't any brake shudder at the time. The left front wheel bearing collapsed about a month ago and i had the hub replaced and shortly after that, the brake shudder started. Its progressively gotten worse and if i brake at anything over 50kmh, it feels like my brain is going to fall out of my head due to the shuddering and violent jerking! i have had the car looked at today, and was told that it MIGHT be the upper and lower ball joints,but the technician wasn't sure. Can anybody help me please?
Hi Blackman
Brake shudder is usually caused by a few things:
1. Varying brake disc rotor thickness (doubt it as it is new)
2. Excessive rotor/hub runout (not running true -wobbles slightly)
3. Binding of brake caliper slide/guide pins
4. Uneven wear of pads due to point no. 3 above (it happened to me)
5. Excessively loose guide/slide pins on brake caliper.
Also check the mating surface between back of the the disc rotor and hub face, it must be absolutely clean, no rust, dust or debris between them. This can cause issues WRT point no 2 above.
Did they replace your pads at the same time as replacing your discs, that is generally good practice. Also did they replace both disc at the same time?
Alternatively your hub might be a dud? Where did you get it and who fitted it? I also doubt it is the ball joints, they would just rattle a bit when going over corrugations and cause the car to wander a bit over the road if very bad...
Let us know if you come right!
Brake shudder is usually caused by a few things:
1. Varying brake disc rotor thickness (doubt it as it is new)
2. Excessive rotor/hub runout (not running true -wobbles slightly)
3. Binding of brake caliper slide/guide pins
4. Uneven wear of pads due to point no. 3 above (it happened to me)
5. Excessively loose guide/slide pins on brake caliper.
Also check the mating surface between back of the the disc rotor and hub face, it must be absolutely clean, no rust, dust or debris between them. This can cause issues WRT point no 2 above.
Did they replace your pads at the same time as replacing your discs, that is generally good practice. Also did they replace both disc at the same time?
Alternatively your hub might be a dud? Where did you get it and who fitted it? I also doubt it is the ball joints, they would just rattle a bit when going over corrugations and cause the car to wander a bit over the road if very bad...
Let us know if you come right!
Last edited by Nick Gibson on Thu Aug 07, 2014 10:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Nicholas Gibson
2005 Gen 3 Pajero 3.2 DiD Auto LWB
Mods:
ARB front bumper, OME, Lynx Bash Plate, Lynx Rock-sliders, Lynx rear steel bumper, Front Runner 40lt Long range tank, Madman EMS2 with EGT, dual battery system, 700FF spots
Corsa 1.4 Club (swambo)
Cape Town
"In my house I'm the boss, my wife is just the decision maker." - Woody Allen
2005 Gen 3 Pajero 3.2 DiD Auto LWB
Mods:
ARB front bumper, OME, Lynx Bash Plate, Lynx Rock-sliders, Lynx rear steel bumper, Front Runner 40lt Long range tank, Madman EMS2 with EGT, dual battery system, 700FF spots
Corsa 1.4 Club (swambo)
Cape Town
"In my house I'm the boss, my wife is just the decision maker." - Woody Allen
1. +1 for Nick's point 3.
It doesn't matter how good the hubs are to start with (OEM / Powerbrake), if the caliper assembly does not float properly then it will cause uneven wear.
2. Try not to use your handbrake when the rear hubs, which are part of the rotor assembly, are hot. That can also cause distortion / binding.
3. Sometimes doing a series of increasingly hard stops can help to clean up the discs - see the Powerbrake web site for ideas on how to bed new discs and pads in.
4. Check that all the pistons are moving freely in the calipers and that there are no leaks. At the same time check and if necessary replace the piston boots (in which case do a rebuild and replace seals etc - there are OEM repair kits with all the necessary seals and boots / grease etc.)
5. Be kind to your brake system and replace the brake fluid - that will get rid of any absorbed water etc.
6. And a last reminder. The rotors are held on by being sandwiched between the hub and the wheel rim. if the wheel nuts are not torqued properly then I suspect that that can also cause rotor run-out. Also per Nick's point, the outside face of the hub, the inside and outside faces of the rotor and the inside face of the wheel rim all need to be spotlessly clean to ensure that a "true" rotor does not rotate with run-out.
It doesn't matter how good the hubs are to start with (OEM / Powerbrake), if the caliper assembly does not float properly then it will cause uneven wear.
2. Try not to use your handbrake when the rear hubs, which are part of the rotor assembly, are hot. That can also cause distortion / binding.
3. Sometimes doing a series of increasingly hard stops can help to clean up the discs - see the Powerbrake web site for ideas on how to bed new discs and pads in.
4. Check that all the pistons are moving freely in the calipers and that there are no leaks. At the same time check and if necessary replace the piston boots (in which case do a rebuild and replace seals etc - there are OEM repair kits with all the necessary seals and boots / grease etc.)
5. Be kind to your brake system and replace the brake fluid - that will get rid of any absorbed water etc.
6. And a last reminder. The rotors are held on by being sandwiched between the hub and the wheel rim. if the wheel nuts are not torqued properly then I suspect that that can also cause rotor run-out. Also per Nick's point, the outside face of the hub, the inside and outside faces of the rotor and the inside face of the wheel rim all need to be spotlessly clean to ensure that a "true" rotor does not rotate with run-out.
Just too add to my post above, have you checked that the hub was torqued on correctly, to the spec in the service manual? Maybe the 4 bolts holding it on are a bit loose.
Nicholas Gibson
2005 Gen 3 Pajero 3.2 DiD Auto LWB
Mods:
ARB front bumper, OME, Lynx Bash Plate, Lynx Rock-sliders, Lynx rear steel bumper, Front Runner 40lt Long range tank, Madman EMS2 with EGT, dual battery system, 700FF spots
Corsa 1.4 Club (swambo)
Cape Town
"In my house I'm the boss, my wife is just the decision maker." - Woody Allen
2005 Gen 3 Pajero 3.2 DiD Auto LWB
Mods:
ARB front bumper, OME, Lynx Bash Plate, Lynx Rock-sliders, Lynx rear steel bumper, Front Runner 40lt Long range tank, Madman EMS2 with EGT, dual battery system, 700FF spots
Corsa 1.4 Club (swambo)
Cape Town
"In my house I'm the boss, my wife is just the decision maker." - Woody Allen
Hi Blackman
I manage a rather big workshop and have seen a few Gen3's (including my own LWB)and a Gen4 with a brake shudder issue and all of them turned out to be rear discs, some of the guys also replaced loads of components in the front to no avail.
Get a dial gauge on the rear discs, strangely all the above had an issue on the right rear disk, I had mine skimmed "on board" and the issue was resolved.
Hope this helps
I manage a rather big workshop and have seen a few Gen3's (including my own LWB)and a Gen4 with a brake shudder issue and all of them turned out to be rear discs, some of the guys also replaced loads of components in the front to no avail.
Get a dial gauge on the rear discs, strangely all the above had an issue on the right rear disk, I had mine skimmed "on board" and the issue was resolved.
Hope this helps
Hi Blackman
I manage a rather big workshop and have seen a few Gen3's (including my own LWB)and a Gen4 with a brake shudder issue and all of them turned out to be rear discs, some of the guys also replaced loads of components in the front to no avail.
Get a dial gauge on the rear discs, strangely all the above had an issue on the right rear disk, I had mine skimmed "on board" and the issue was resolved.
Hope this helps
I manage a rather big workshop and have seen a few Gen3's (including my own LWB)and a Gen4 with a brake shudder issue and all of them turned out to be rear discs, some of the guys also replaced loads of components in the front to no avail.
Get a dial gauge on the rear discs, strangely all the above had an issue on the right rear disk, I had mine skimmed "on board" and the issue was resolved.
Hope this helps
I understand poor quality brake pads are a major cause of brake shudder. Deposits from these inferior pads adhere to the disks, resulting in the shudder. Skimming the disk will of course result in a flat and true surface.
Has anyone set up a dti and measured the run out on a problematic disk before skimming ?
Has anyone set up a dti and measured the run out on a problematic disk before skimming ?
Hi Gents
I am experiencing exactly the same problem on my Gen4 2010 model. Replaced ALL the disks and pads at 45 000km, 90 000km and just had an in situ skim done at 110 000km - it is just getting worse every time.
Any pics or video available on how to do replacements? I am seriously considering Powerbrake's replacement potion in the front.
I am getting desperate as I want to tow my off-road caravan soon and at present it does not feel all that safe.
Oh yes - the one service agency suggested that we need to go a bit lighter on the brakes - our feet are too heavy.... Absolute rubbish.
I am experiencing exactly the same problem on my Gen4 2010 model. Replaced ALL the disks and pads at 45 000km, 90 000km and just had an in situ skim done at 110 000km - it is just getting worse every time.
Any pics or video available on how to do replacements? I am seriously considering Powerbrake's replacement potion in the front.
I am getting desperate as I want to tow my off-road caravan soon and at present it does not feel all that safe.
Oh yes - the one service agency suggested that we need to go a bit lighter on the brakes - our feet are too heavy.... Absolute rubbish.
trekker1 wrote:I understand poor quality brake pads are a major cause of brake shudder. Deposits from these inferior pads adhere to the disks, resulting in the shudder. Skimming the disk will of course result in a flat and true surface.
Has anyone set up a dti and measured the run out on a problematic disk before skimming ?
Gen 3 GLX 3.2 (Sold)
Gen 4 GLX 3.2
Toy Xtracab 3.0 4x4
Gen 4 GLX 3.2
Toy Xtracab 3.0 4x4
Good Morning Gents. How are you all? I hope that you had a great weekend and thoroughly misbehaved yourselves! Thank you very much for all the advice...i will be taking my vehicle to the doctor again today, and will present him with all the info that you have provided me with, and i will let you know what the final outcome is. Thank you all.
Cheers,
Nathi
Gen 3 3.5 V6 LWB Auto
Cheers,
Nathi
Gen 3 3.5 V6 LWB Auto
Good Morning all. How are you? I have had the rear pads on my vehicle replaced and it has reduced the brake shudder immensely, but it has not completely disappeared. The other problem is that we dont really have any experiecened Pajero technicians in the area, so they are basically going on what i tell them.@CJ Jonker: you said that you have a workshop...where are your premises...JHB? Maybe i should leave the vehicle with you for a few days and maybe you will have some joy? Please let me know.
Thanks.
Thanks.