Front End Shake

[JExpedition07]

Reunited with the same old expy and its same old suspension problem, I guess I'm going to keep it so here we go. Long story short when I was driving it the last few months it had a shake when braking and the same shake at speeds in excess of 70 MPH on the thruway. Seemed to subside for a while but it was back again more recently. It almost feels like how a warped rotor feels when braking but it isn't only when braking but also at high speed just driving straight. I've pulled the front wheels off and can't find anything out of the ordinary and everything feels tight. Any ideas? The wheel will shake if I'm not holding tight when braking from higher speed as well.

 

[Habbibie]

Take the rotors off and see if they're wrapped...

 

[JExpedition07]

If it were the rotors I don't think it would happen driving with no pressure applied from the pads to the rotor though. Guess I should anyway just have a feeling I'm going to be wasting time.

 

[Habbibie]

Similar issue happened to me a few years back, the issue was the rotors were warpped so bad that they vibrated on the outside pad that constantly rides the rotor so even without brake applied I would feel the vibration at highway speeds, if you feel it would be a waste of time then don't do it

 

[JExpedition07]

Sounds very similar and makes sense if they are warped enough. thanks for the suggestion I'll get a look at the rotors then.

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

Does it feel like a wobble where the steering wheel moves back and forth? I'm thinking it might be a steering dampener that is going bad. They are designed to keep the wheels from trying to turn left and right when you are heading down the road and hit a bump - it dampens the oscillations.

 

[JExpedition07]

Andy If I let go of the wheel going straight and do it it tracks straight but the wheel will vibrate for a few seconds when I first brake. It's more of a vibration than a sloppy wheel. I probably should take it in for an alignment too by eye it looks a little off. If this helps: it doesn't do it gong over bumps in the road any worse than over a perfectly smooth road. Nor does turning the wheel seem to have an effect on it. My wheels were balanced when I had them install the new TPMS so I know those are kosher. BTW to anyone to needs new TPMS sensors buy the Airtex/Wells ones not motorcraft, I bought the Airtex ones for $12 each and they are stamped made by FoMoCo, found out they make them for Ford so by going to them your getting the exact OEM Sensor just without paying fords markup.

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

Andy If I let go of the wheel going straight and do it it tracks straight but the wheel will vibrate for a few seconds when I first brake. It's more of a vibration than a sloppy wheel. I probably should take it in for an alignment too by eye it looks a little off. If this helps: it doesn't do it gong over bumps in the road any worse than over a perfectly smooth road. Nor does turning the wheel seem to have an effect on it. My wheels were balanced when I had them install the new TPMS so I know those are kosher. BTW to anyone to needs new TPMS sensors buy the Airtex/Wells ones not motorcraft, I bought the Airtex ones for $12 each and they are stamped made by FoMoCo, found out they make them for Ford so by going to them your getting the exact OEM Sensor just without paying fords markup.

It is probably rotors then. If you replace them buy heavy duty ones and they will be less likely to warp. I always ask for heavy duty rotors, they are better at heat dissipation.

 

[Adieu]

Andy If I let go of the wheel going straight and do it it tracks straight but the wheel will vibrate for a few seconds when I first brake. It's more of a vibration than a sloppy wheel. I probably should take it in for an alignment too by eye it looks a little off. If this helps: it doesn't do it gong over bumps in the road any worse than over a perfectly smooth road. Nor does turning the wheel seem to have an effect on it. My wheels were balanced when I had them install the new TPMS so I know those are kosher. BTW to anyone to needs new TPMS sensors buy the Airtex/Wells ones not motorcraft, I bought the Airtex ones for $12 each and they are stamped made by FoMoCo, found out they make them for Ford so by going to them your getting the exact OEM Sensor just without paying fords markup.

Tire shops are scary sloppy, just because someone took your money to balance a wheel does not necessarily make it...actually balanced.

Just sayin.

 

[netdawg]

my daily commute includes about 3mi of hill driving (down in the AM and up in the PM) at 45-55mph speeds but with about 3 or 4 stop lights and decent traffic. I've noticed that downhill breaking causes me a lot of heat on the front end and I go through rotors quickly if I try and buy the cheap or even OEM grade pads and rotors. I've upgraded to Bosch rotors and high end non-ceramic pads and haven't had issues since (over 2+yrs) which used to only last me ~12mos

 

[JExpedition07]

My truck is going in to the mechanic tommorow at 3 for front end work. It needs an alignment and rotors. I'm having the wheels rebalanced as well.

 

[ExpeditionAndy]

My truck is going in to the mechanic tommorow at 3 for front end work. It needs an alignment and rotors. I'm having the wheels rebalanced as well.

If your shop offers it, ask them to do Road Force Balancing. With road force balancing they do the high speed spin balancing but they also add the weight of the vehicle to the wheel and tire and that changes the way the tire acts. It acts more like it does when you drive down the road. I always have my tires road force balanced it makes a huge difference going down the road. I get no vibration in steering wheel at highway speeds. It is worth the extra cost to do it. You won't be sorry.

 

[JExpedition07]

They do offer it, that's the plan to get done.

 

[USMCBuckWild]

Good advice with the road force balancing. Is there any chop or odd wear on the tires? Anything indicitive of bad balancing or alignment?

If you are constantly warping rotors I would look at the brake hoses. If one or both of the hoses are internally collapsed it will maintain fluid pressure on the caliper even if you aren’t pressing on the brakes. This causes premature wear of pads and rotors as well as warping rotors from constant heat.

 

[cibalo]

I had a similar issue in one of my other vehicles. Turns out that the alignment was bad on one front wheel and I have uneven tire wear. The tire would not standup on its own it was so bad. After I got that fixed the vibration went away.

 

[NASCAR Mike]

I had the same exact issue on my 2008 Expedition. Ford used the band type TPMS sensors on 08 models where the newer Fords use the valve stem type TPMS sensors.

The band had loosened on the rim and the TPMS sensor moved creating an imbalance. After two trips back to Goodyear to rebalance the tires, the last tech noticed that he couldn't get the wheel to balance at all even after adding multiple weights. He removed the tire and noticed the TPMS band was loose on the rim.

He installed a new band for the TPMS sensor and no problems since.

 

[JExpedition07]

I just had all my TPMS replaced and reset about a month ago I'd say. The problem existed prior to it and still.

 

[NASCAR Mike]

I purchased 20" rims from a 2012 F150. I had the TPMS sensors moved from the 17" rims to the 20" rims. I needed new TPMS bands but I was able to reuse the TPMS sensors.

One of the bands failed and it allowed the TPMS to spin around freely thus affecting the balance of the rim causing vibrations above 70MPH

 

[JExpedition07]

They are keeping it at the shop overnight. Ill update when it's done tommorow. I'm hoping it's as smooth as silk when I get behind the wheel. Driving the Super Duty in the mean time

 

[david_jr]

I had a similar problem on my 08 so I replaced the pads and rotors even though they only had about 5K on them. Then on a trip after several hard stops on a 55 MPH road with lots of red lights, my brakes felt like they were locking up so I pulled over to find smoke billowing out of my new brakes. Ended up being the bearings. They were shot. Had the bearings replaced and good as new. Just a thought to keep in mind if it turns out its not the brakes.