Can worn tension rod bushes cause intermittent steering shake under heavy-ish braking.

Last night when I was thrashing my car around, the brakes were taking some stick & I was getting some real apparent steering shake when braking. The pedal was NOT pulsing.

Tonight, lots of sensible driving, not a hint of shake even when braking hard.

Strange. Warped discs - can't be cos the pedal would pulse and it would shake all the time?

My bushes look OK and are currently OEM ones.

Any thoughts guys?

Cheers....

It still can be warped discs or discs with pad marks on them. The surface can heat unevenly when really hot and then the warp or high spot or high friction spot is evident. Even air temperature has an effect and when the weather is really warm then the disc temp is those few extra degrees hotter.

 

The zeds calipers (probably any at 16yrs +) are known for sticking pistons especially on the inner side. The failure mode is piston dust seals perish, moisture gets in, the bit of piston sticking out rusts and seizes in the cylinder. Effect is maybe only 2 of 4 pistons are actually applying braking effort and if the two are only on one side of the disc the heating effect on that one side of the disc creates the stress that warps the disck and causes the shakes under hard braking.

 

You can now get some pretty low cost replacement discs for zeds. If all you want is to replace the stock ones they can be worth a try.

This is exactly what I had when my T R Bushes went and also the upper H arms (not sure on the proper name) needed to be replaced at the same time, If you stick your head under the car can you see if the bushes are leaking at all?

 

Thanks

 

Paul

I have very recently overhauled the braking system. The tension rod bushes aren't leaking either & look ok.

The front discs are around a year old, but are cheap crap from ebay....

Can tension rod bushes be knackered without leaking??

Cheers for your replies guys....

just had my discs replace due to very harsh brake judder of the 150 miles of driving so far are seems good. As above tension rod bushes can cause this too I had this on my last car but was no where near the judder I had with warped discs the harder the braking was the worst the judder. Nothing at low speeds or moderate braking and no the pedal wouldn't pulse either just the steering wheel shaking like f##k

Edited August 21, 200916 yr by 8ace

Tension rod ??? Do you mean torsion bar, if you do, no, they don't leak as they are rubber items, no fluid involved, just rubber mouldings between torsion bar and chassis.

The only leaking thingy on the suspension is the shock absorber, all suspension joints are rubber bushes. Kits available in most mags, don't consider it unless you have a bench press or you can handle a large vise and various sized sockets.

Tension rod ??? Do you mean torsion bar, if you do, no, they don't leak as they are rubber items, no fluid involved, just rubber mouldings between torsion bar and chassis.

The only leaking thingy on the suspension is the shock absorber, all suspension joints are rubber bushes. Kits available in most mags, don't consider it unless you have a bench press or you can handle a large vise and various sized sockets.

 

dunno if its the same thing but these http://www.zcentre.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=21_28_58&products_id=315 are good replacements IF you oem are buggered and causing the problem mine this time round was warped discs though

The front discs are around a year old, but are cheap crap from ebay....

 

You trust the only thing stopping you from smashing into every Tree, River and house to Cheap Ebay Crap?? Your either very silly or very brave :tongue:

 

If you know they are cheap ebay crap and all else looks fine i would say Look There! Turbo Spec Disc n pads are only like 200quid

Tension rod ??? Do you mean torsion bar, if you do, no, they don't leak as they are rubber items, no fluid involved, just rubber mouldings between torsion bar and chassis.

 

The stock Tension rod bushes are fluid filled.