Anyone else have a good ammount of shake in the steering and seat while braking? My 09 has started to shimmy and shake when braking from highway speeds. It seems to last from about 50 to 35 MPH. The steering wheel shakes and you can definitely feel it in the brake pedal and seat. Has anyone had this issue and taken their truck in to get it fixed?

 

I aint had a warped rotor problem but i did have to do a quick slow down from about 80mph to almost zero the other day and i could smells my brakes burning up big time but they still run as they did before. Might be another problem. Take it into the dealer and get them to check it over.

 

I am a little fearful of the stealerships... my '08 had this problem last year about this time... took it to the dealer, they started replacing parts, balancing tires, etc. eventually they hosed up the front end so bad they bought the truck back. I definitely don't want to start that mess again.

 

I don't blame you for your fear of the dealer. Go buy yourself a runout guage( i think that is what they are called). It will attach to your caliper and a needle will rest on the rotor. Spin the rotor around and watch the guage.

If you come to a hard stop in your truck remember to roll forward a few feet afterwards. This will help the heat disperse evenly and prevent warping.

 

Thanks Broncobran. Good info. I will let you know what I find. I am thinking about just living with it as it's not all that bad... but gets worse as the brakes heat up (after a few stops). I just don't want to mess up my front end by driving with choppy or warped brakes.

 

if its under a year old and 12,000 miles its covered by warranty...I had to have all 4 rotors and pads replaced on my 2004 F-150 Scab @ 6k....my 2007 SCrew has had no such issues...

 

i warp rotors on everythign I've owned but thus 09 so far so good 20000kms

 

There's two big factors causing rotors to warp. The largest of the two is too much torque on each wheel stud; each stud being torqued to a different amount, normally accomplished by using an impact wrench. Basically, each of the wheel nuts exerts a varying amount of force onto the hat of the rotor. This varying amount of force induces flexure (mostly not visible) onto the hat and with time, the flexural forces affect the plane surface of the rotor. In other words, too much torque on the wheel studs causes rotor warping. The other contributor is splashing cold water on hot rotors but this isn't anywhere as significant as using an impact wrench.

Given you have warped rotors, the best action plan is to have the dealer either re-surface the rotors (with rotors still on the truck; make sure the final thickness is still within specification) or have the rotors replaced with new. Always ask the mechanic hand tighten and hand torque the wheels - no impact wrench - whenever removing or rotating tires.

 

I have to agree BIG_ole_TRUCK -

I learned my lesson years ago with "mechanics" and their impact wrenches.

Had the rotor warp problem with both my '03, and our '99 VW turbo diesel - started going through rotors once a year. Finally came to realize the shop where I was taking my vehicles to for state inspection was really wacking the lug nuts/studs on with their impact.

Also had the same issue with my John Deere dealer - their top "tech", when I asked about torquing the wheels when he had to take them off for a warantee repair, responded with....."I've never used a torque wrench in the 8 years I've been working here"......

I now either supervise, or actually bring my own torque wrench when getting anything done that involves a wheel being removed.

Lesson learned!

[edit] I know this goes off topic a bit, but here is a wheel from one of our backhoes that was not properly torqued - this machine had less than 200 hours on it...

 

That's a crazy pic... talk about some torque being applied to those lugs. In this case, I haven't had my tires rotated yet so they are torqued to factory spec still. Although, I have just over 6000 miles and am due for my first rotation. I will probably let Ford handle the rotations for 36k miles so that they can't blame someone else. Wish me luck when I ask my dealership for help. I am going in for the SYNC update anyway, to add 911 assist and engine health reports... so I suppose I can try to get this looked at too.

 

I think you are doing the right thing by having the dealer do your rotation.
Also good that you tell them about your problem - even if they don't fix it right now, at least you will have the problem documented in case it gets worse later on.

Edit - actually in the pic I posted, the lug bolts were not torqued enough - worked themselves loose - just an example of some mechanics who think they can "feel" the right torque with an impact wrench.

 

Some of these impact wrenchs they use in these places cant even TQ the nut/botls to the correct TQ. The guy who done my truck was using the same makita impact wrench i have and it's lucky to get 100ft/lb's let alone 150ft/lb's. Most of the other guys in the shop had dewalt ones that were even less powerful than the makita model. I always test everyone when i get my truck back from them messing with it.

 

Barritia...if you use a torque wrench to test, it may not do much. If the mechanic over torqued the nuts to say 180 ft.lbs and you use 'test' it using your torque wrench set at 150 ft.lbs, nothing is accomplished. Obviously, if the nuts are under torqued, you'll catch it with the torque wrench.

For the past 8 years, I have always asked the shop to make sure the nuts are only removed and tightened with hand tools. It's never been a problem and it's usually noted and highlighted on the work order going to the mechanic. No extra cost. As a sign of goodwill, I usually chat with the mechanic afterwards and tip him a little so he'll remember me the next time my truck is in for tire rotation.

 

I can test them to see how tight they are as my TQ wrench is the digital type. But i have yet to have them over tightened so i aint even been able to test them for that yet lol

 

I promised an update... took the truck by the dealer today, asked for tire rotation, the upgrade for sync, and about my brakes. I explained my anxiousness about having the wrong things replaced before and all the issues it caused. The foreman went on a test drive with me, he acknowledged "some brake chatter" but he said if it was up to him, he would just drive it like it is since it is minimal rather than machine the rotors as this would make them more succeptable to warping again in the future. He did say that if it gets worse to bring it in and he will machine them under warranty. I guess I am happy with this just so long as having them chatter now does not lead to some bigger problem in the future. We'll see if I can just tune them out... but like many on here, I am fairly OCD about my vehicles.