Pretty good shake after tires installed and alignment when applying brakes

D

davemsc

Member
:
mazda protege5
Hey all,

Just had some used winters put on older steel rims and had an alignment done.

Seems to ride fine but now when the brakes are applied I get a pretty good shake. I'm assuming it's rotors.

A couple of things. Apparently some bolts were rusted (on the tie rod ends I think) and they used a torch to loosen them. Then did the alignment.

They also torques the lug nuts to 100 ft/lb. Is that in the ballpark? I think the P5 was 80 or something like that (but that is for the alloys).

ANyway, does anything they did sound like it would cause a very noticeable shake when the brakes are applied?

Thanks
 
There is something wrong with the rims or the wheel was not balanced correctly.

Rotors don't go bad when the car isn't driven and adjusting the tie rods won't cause this.
 
Last edited:
Hey Maroon,

I took it for a spin and it drives fine (no shake or shimmy)..but as soon as the brakes are applied is when it starts shaking. Could the lug nuts be too tight and warped the rotors?

If there was something wrong with the rims or they weren't balanced properly, wouldn't it shake all the time and not just when braking?
 
^yeah - if they over-torqued the rotors and/or did not torque them properly (i.e torqued the first lug allll the way down and then did the adjacent lug(not the opposite lug like you should...) you could warp a rotor.

Yes, it is the rotor - imbalance would be all the time...
 
P-Funk! said:
^yeah - if they over-torqued the rotors and/or did not torque them properly (i.e torqued the first lug allll the way down and then did the adjacent lug(not the opposite lug like you should...) you could warp a rotor.

Yes, it is the rotor - imbalance would be all the time...
Click to expand...

So my next question is is that reversible if I get them to loosen the lug nuts and tighten them to 80 or is the rotor already damaged permanently?
 
You are not going to warp a rotor (to a degree noticeable by the driver) by over torquing the lug nuts or torqing them in the wrong order. Regardless, if you're concerned, just retorque the lug nuts correctly. One lug nut torqued to 80 lbft, and four torqued to 5 lbft will cause vibration. But getting them all in the ball park is not going to cause vibration.

I can tell you from experience that an imbalanced rim, bent rim, or bad tire will sometimes only vibrate under braking. And this doesn't just apply to wheel components, it applies to suspension bushings and steering components as well. Also, any sort of front end vibration that can be felt at cruising speed will be exacerbated when the brakes are applied.

You changed the tires, rims, and alignment then the problem occurred. You should focus on these three things first. Are the tie rod nuts tight? Are the strut tower nuts tight? Did they mention anything about the rims being difficult to balance?
 
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Maroon said:
You are not going to warp a rotor (to a degree noticeable by the driver) by over torquing the lug nuts or torqing them in the wrong order. Regardless, if you're concerned, just retorque the lug nuts correctly. One lug nut torqued to 80 lbft, and four torqued to 5 lbft will cause vibration. But getting them all in the ball park is not going to cause vibration.

I can tell you from experience that an imbalanced rim, bent rim, or bad tire will sometimes only vibrate under braking. And this doesn't just apply to wheel components, it applies to suspension bushings and steering components as well. Also, any sort of front end vibration that can be felt at cruising speed will be exacerbated when the brakes are applied.

You changed the tires, rims, and alignment then the problem occurred. You should focus on these three things first. Are the tie rod nuts tight? Are the strut tower nuts tight? Did they mention anything about the rims being difficult to balance?
Click to expand...

Hey maroon
U certainly how the tie rod end nuts are tight. They used a torch to get them moving.... Maybe they damaged them?
No mention on balancing trouble.
I don't want to look like a full and demand them to retorque them to 80 if 100 is fine....
He said he would take a look tomorrow but he said there really isn't anything that they did that would cause that.......
 
I did a google search and the source I found states 65-87 lbft. Having all lug nuts torqued to 100 lbft is not going to cause this issue. Did you check to make sure all the nuts are tight?

There's nothing wrong with using a torch to loosen the tie rod nuts. I would inspect to see if either the castle nut or the jamb nut are loose. I would also push/pull on the tie rods to see if there's any play.

You didn't have this before any of this work? If not and it's as severe as you make it sound, then they screwed something up and you should take it back.
 
davemsc said:
Seems to ride fine but now when the brakes are applied I get a pretty good shake.
Click to expand...

Could one of the calipers be a little loose? Not sure how that would happen, but if it did, the caliper might jump around when it closed, with uncontrolled changes in grip on the disk, which would probably feel like a shake.
 
Maroon said:
I did a google search and the source I found states 65-87 lbft. Having all lug nuts torqued to 100 lbft is not going to cause this issue. Did you check to make sure all the nuts are tight?

There's nothing wrong with using a torch to loosen the tie rod nuts. I would inspect to see if either the castle nut or the jamb nut are loose. I would also push/pull on the tie rods to see if there's any play.

You didn't have this before any of this work? If not and it's as severe as you make it sound, then they screwed something up and you should take it back.
Click to expand...

I got them to look at it......they took me in and showed me what they did. Everything seems tight and solid. THey also loosened the lug nuts and re-torqued to 80....but like you said, If all were 100, that shouldn't matter.

Shake still there....oh well. It is what it is.

Thanks for the suggestions!
 
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