So my car shimmys when I hit the brakes. Just slightly. Not rough..more on the mild side, but enough to annoy. I remember this being a common brake problem, no? But i came remember what causes it? Is this somthing I can take car of myself? I just got my axel replaced the thought of spending more money makes me cringe. (this was happening before the axel replacement).

thanks

 

this is a common sign of warped rotors;
It would be helpful to know what year your macktruck is !
You can have the rotors resurfaced, on car brake lathe required for certain years.
usually under $100 for a resurface

 

okay..Quick edit. I got my axel replaced today, and from the time I wrote the first post (about 20 min ago) to now, I drove home and noticed my car doing the same shimmy, while driving...AND braking. Is this problem still rotors? I don't think the car was Shimmying while driving before the axel replacement. It also is pulling a tad to the right? IS this alignment? IS this a DIY thing or no?

thanks again

1996 Ex Coupe

 

You might have a tire with a bad/broken belt in it.
oneway to test is to idle along a smooth parking lot and see if the steering wheel bumps or shifts as the bad tire rotates, if its on the rear you might feel it in the seat.
Shake-n-Brake from warped rotors is usually more pronounced at higher speeds 40+mph.

 

my best guess is warped rotors... time to get them turned if you can otherwise if you get them replacedat a shop it is going to be big$$ (96 rotors are pressed on hub design)

 

I'm guessing this is the problem. I was told I have a screw lodged in my tire. I haven't seen it yet, however I honestly didn;t assum that this could make the whole car shimmy. I'm in the city and tends to happen well under 40mph. I need to check it closely. Could the screw alone cause this to happen.

 

could be any number of things...the most common is rotors and bad tires, also could be bad struts, bad tie rod ends, bad wheel bearing, ball joints as well.

 

If it does this when you're NOT braking, that pretty much rules out brakes as the cause.

Some rebuilt axle assemblies can shake. First you said it did this before the axle replacement, then you said it didn't... Either way, you could check out the axles.

Pulling to the right sounds like alignment. Maybe you have a combination of things.

I had a tire with abad belt & the shaking could come & go, it was very confusing until it got bad enough to see the wobble.

 

Yeah, I realize I sound a bit all over the place. I Did notice some slight shaking before the axel replacement, while coming to a stop, I assumed it was due to the faulty cv joint..I hoped. The shaking while driving (again, it's slight) seemed to have occured post axel replacement. On a side note, the screw in my back right tire is stuck in the groove, below the tread line. So I don't think that is playing a role. That tire, however, seems a bit flater than the rest. My alignment is definitely pulling slightly to the right too. Can I fix alignment?

thanks for all the help

 

if you have low tire pressure one one side or just one tire it can make it pull pretty drastically in some cases... try that slow parking lot test and see if the car shakes... a low tire makes the car just "feel" funny all around.... start there, then parking lot test, do full circles slowly in both directions and listen for a clicking noise (to test CV's), and if none of that fixes it you may need an Alignment, Check the DIY section for a page on how to check/test your alignment....