I have the following syptoms with my car. A mechanic has said its probably in need of new front discs and pads (he diagnosed it without taking the wheels off), but im unsure. New ads and discs cost £140. For information, the discs and pads look fine, with plentey of life in them.
1. When braking I get a judder through the steering wheel. The steering wheel judders up and down. Its especially noticable when going from 40mph to 20 mph. Above 40 and below 20 it still judders, but not to the same degree.
2. The juddering is much worse if i am braking on an incline, e.g approaching a roundabout. Sometines feels like the steering wheel is about to come off in my hands.
3. Whilst driving on a smooth surface, going straight, my steering wheel constantly rotates left-right-left very slighlty.
4. When driving 'enthusiastically' on B roads, when going round a left hand curve, i get a strange feeling trough the steering wheel, I can only descibe it as 'scratchy'
Does all this point to something specific?
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I've just had similar trouble with my Xantia. I was sure the discs were shot, or a CV joint was away. However, on inspection, one of the front tyres had a very odd wear pattern on it, so I suspected it was out of round / balance. Had new tyres fitted, and all symptoms have gone. It's difficult to believe a bad tyre could cause so much grief, but it did!
So, I'd start with the cheap things first - jack it up and spin the wheels to see if one of them is out of round, and get the tyres balanced. See if that improves things.
To me it sounds more like the tyres or a CV joint.
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Whilst badly out of true discs can cause minot wheel wobble when not braking what describe appears to be a wheel balce problem which is further excited by braking. I would inspect closely the front rims and tyres and side walls for any sign of irregularities and if all OK get the front wheels balanced properly. Get the garage to spin them up with the weights on first and see if they are out, then rebalance and refit. Check all steering ball joints and bushes for wear. Regards Peter
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I am doubfull that it is the tyres. I had 4 new tyres put on approximatly 2 months ago. The problem was apparent with the old tyres as well. The problems I describe have progressivley been getting worse over time.
But to make sure I have checked all four tyres for defects, and have found none.
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Could this possibly be caused by worn front suspension bushes?
I had a problem once on a car which was rather like this. At the time I was absolutely convinced that it was due to poor wheel balance, and, as a result, had the wheels rebalanced at more than one place. It all made no difference.
In the end, in sheer desperation, I took the car to my favorite garage. After a thorough examination they told me what the problem was. Worn track control arm bushes!
I had them carry out the required work and car was good as new afterwards.
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A bit of a pain, but change all wheels round and see if the problem changes. If not then you have proved it is not the trye/wheel related (Even just to check your wheel bolts are torqued up.) Buckle in one wheel?
I would have also thought it could be tyre related, a lot of these type of problems usually are.
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Can't remember about my old Golf (mk2), but my Dad's VW (transporter) had the wheel bearings as integral into the disc.
If this is the case, and the wheel bearings are loose (worn or just badly adjusted), this will be a cause of vibration.
Lift the wheel up, hold top and bottom, and try to waggle it - should be the bearest bit of play I think (my golf mk2 had a bit of float in the bearing I recall).
Wheel balancing (to me) has always manifested in vibration at 60-80ish, and not just when breaking.
I would have said warped discs straight off - can you try and test them for true? (with wheel off, fix something solid against part of the disc, then rotate the disc. Any warpage will be shown up by movement to or away from this marker.)
Discs can warp quite easily if calipers are sticking, or if they've been used heavily without the chance to cool down.
As for the £130, you should check out brakesinternational.com, £22 or £34 per disc (depending on year) and £25 for pads. Or eurocarparts.co.uk perhaps, which is very similar.
hth
Ian
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I think your mechanic is right, it needs new discs and pads. Sometimes you can see blue spots on the discs known as hot-spots. Long, hard, continuous braking causes the pads to get hot and the resin in them to come to the surface. They become brittle and damage and distort the brake disc over time. This will be unnoticeable to the eye but you can be sure it's what your problem is, and classic symptom is violent brake judder through the steering wheel.
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Thank you for all your replies on this. I have the car booked in to have the pads and discs changed in a couple of weeks, hopefully this will cure the juddering.
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