Cars are vehicles that represent an increasingly important budget in our daily lives. In addition, they are now equipped with real microcomputers, which does not risk reducing the number of potential breakdowns and your hassles ... Fortunately, all the problems you may encounter are not catastrophic and will not cost you hundreds of dollars. 'euros of repair.

Today we are going to discuss braking and tackle a problem that happens to a lot of us, a brake pedal shaking on his car. We will try to answer all your questions around this concern. To do this, first, we will list the reasons that can cause a brake pedal to vibrate on your vehicle, then, secondly, how to solve a brake pedal problem that shakes when braking.

Why is my car's brake pedal shaking?

brake pedal shaking on my car

As we told you in the introduction, you can have a lot of minor problems with a car, especially if it is modern. However, some safety devices should be monitored more rigorously than a problem with the ceiling light that no longer comes on, or an electric window that has difficulty in raising. We are now going to help you understand why do you feel tremors when braking with your car?

You should know that if you experience sensations that you are not used to and that worry you about your brake pedal, it is most certainly your braking system that is faulty. This is not necessarily a vital concern, but we advise you to worry about it without waiting otherwise you will find yourself again with worries during the next braking.

Faulty brake discs causing vibrations in the brake pedal of my car

First of the causes which causes sensations of vibrations at the level of the brake pedal during braking. It's the brake discs, and yes, there are two main components that ensure the quality of your braking, your discs and brake pads! The discs are, as their name suggests, thick metal discs that will act as a surface that the brake pads will pinch to slow the vehicle. These are wear parts, and, like all wearing parts, over time they will undergo deformations or cracks that can cause these tremors.

Most often it is a disc veiling which is at the origin of your problem, because of heating during braking and its pronounced wear (becomes thinner and thinner) the disc can be deformed, warp, and therefore generate these famous vibrations when you press on your brake pedal and therefore pinch it with the pads.

You should know that this kind of worry will affect a user disc and not a new disc. If you experience these worries right after buying and fitting new brake discs and / or pads to your car, it is the fitting that needs to be questioned. It sometimes happens that the mechanics forget to clean the wheel hubs on which the discs come to rest and that the contact is not made correctly, your discs will therefore have an inclination and not be perfectly in the axis.

Feeling tremors when braking because of faulty brake pads on your car

Second possibility, if your discs are not the cause of your brake pedal problem, the pads can also play their role. It is less common but it can happen that due to the wear of the pad lining, some parts of your pads are cracked or detached and thus the support they come to exert on the disc is no longer linear, hence these vibrations.

Finally, they may also have been incorrectly placed during a replacement, in particular at the springs, which may be the cause of your worry.

Drum brakes that become oval

In general modern vehicles are equipped with disc brakes at the front, but some cars are still equipped with drum brakes at the rear. These brakes use a different system, they are the jaws that apply pressure by "expanding" against this frame and slow the vehicle. With wear, the drum may deform and become oval which will cause tremors when you brake.

A fault in the ABS can cause a brake pedal that vibrates a lot.

Finally, the last possibility is the ABS sensor which is faulty or incorrectly connected and causes an untimely activation of this anti-blocking system of your wheels. If you have strong vibrations in your steering wheel and in your pedal during hard braking it is normal, the ABS will lock and unlock the wheels several times per second to prevent your car from slipping. On the other hand, if it is during light braking, in this case, the ABS may be at fault ...

How to solve a brake pedal problem that vibrates when braking?

fix a brake pedal shaking problem

Now is the time to give you the solutions for your brake pedal problem that shakes when you brake. You will understand, there are different possible causes for your concern. However, you will be able to quickly rule out possible causes, so we advise you to proceed as follows:

  • When did you change your pads and discs? This is the most important, if you arrive close to the recommended wear mileage, change the, it is necessary and it is certainly the cause of your problem
  • If you have just changed your discs or pads return to the garage that made the change to check the quality of the assembly
  • If you have some drums, have them checked for wear, they are also consumables, and even if they are changed infrequently, it is necessary to do it from time to time
  • If you have eliminated the rest of the causes, you will still have to go see your mechanic, because as we told you any problem with your brake system is possibly dangerous, he will certainly find a problem related to the ABS.