Any ideas what can cause a slight judder while driving which turns into a nasty judder when under braking?!

Both bottom arms are ok as 1 is new and the other seems fine and was only replaced a while back, steering rack was new for MOT and checked both arms and seems to have very little play, plus track rod ends were new. Ive changed the passenger hub for an RS turbo one as a while ago the wheel nearly came off and the vibration from it being driven for a while seemed to have damaged the hole where the bottom arm ball joint sits in.
Also shouldnt be the brakes as i fitted some escos calipers to it with some 2wd cossie discs which were skimmed ages ago and never used, the pistons seemed ok too in the calipers ie free moving. Plus the gf said it was juddering before i did the brakes.

Can a driveshaft cause it?! never had one do it on me personally so cant tell.

The car is getting dangerous to drive now, really is a nasty judder from the whole front end when braking from anything over about 30odd mph

Cheers for any help boys otherwise its going to have to go into a garage asap.

 

I had a shaft go on me (M6 - 70MPH!) Sounded like a helicopter was under my gearstick!! Lost braking on the front, but dont remember a shudder. Just remember ripping up the handbrake in a hard shoulder lol

Considering all this work has been done, you havent once mentioned tracking or wheel bearings. The judder sounds like one of them really. To me anyway.

 

tracking was done on the MOT mate when the rack was changed so shouldnt be that.

The wheel bearings were the ones that came in the turbo hub i fitted but seemed ok and theres no play in the wheel when its jacked up, would it really cause a violent judder under braking thou?! obviously dont know how many miles the bearings in the hub have done or what it was like before.

When ive had bearings go on me before its normally a constant whine/grind/groaning noise rather than a nasty judder, even makes the wheel shake till u get it down to about 30mph!!!

Have got another 3i sitting on the drive so if it comes to it will swap the hub over off that and change the shafts etc and see what happens but its alot of work if its not gonna be those things!!

 

when the bearing gets too worn, it will knock and you'll hear/feel it in the footwells.

So youve had it in the air and checked both wheels with the classic 'shake test'?

Maybe an idea to take it back to the MOT garage (or another close by one) and get them to get it on the ramp.

 

you've had the disks skimmed? i'd check them with a DTI

 

Yea had it in the air and cant feel any play, when u say you hear/feel the knock would it be constant or under braking like i said?! there is it slightly when driving but not too bad, but you can deff feel and hear it when the brakes are on!!! all the way till about 20-30. Only reason i wasnt too sure if bearings would cause it cos like i said when mine have gone its been more of a grind/groan/wine than whats happening!

Only thing i didnt do is change them when i did the hub so its a posibility i guess, dont remember it being like this before i changed it but had been a while now and neither of us can remember what it was like

The discs were skimmed many years ago as a mate who was a ford master tech had them kicking about from a customer who wanted new ones fitted even thou they were ok so he said just get them lightly skimmed just to clean them up a bit, guess would be adviseable to check them really just to be safe too but dont have a dti myself.

But shes sure it was juddering really bad before i changed the brakes for cossie ones which is why i dont think its them, obviously they brake a shit load better as the old ones were pretty crap so it would make it judder more!!

 

The bearings go in different ways. Driving mine from 0-30 mph would sound like its going over a train track, but past that it would be quiet/not felt. Under breaking it would wobble/judder.

I'd change it just to be sure... change them both. You say that the bearing was in the hub you fitted, which means secondhand, true? How old was the bearing in the hub? My guess it was old and had been sitting around for a while.

 

Are the turbo hubs any different out of interest?! Noticed the shaft the hold for thewheel bolts are different (3i ones are a circle the turbo on is different) but other than that look identical!

Prob gonna take the hub off the other 3i sitting on the drive and poss change the shaft as shes been told that could cause it too, but yea the hub was 2nd hand and god knows how old the bearings are althou did grease them up again first so wernt dry!

 

Warped brake discs

 

As i said the car the discs came off had a very minute judder that was hardly noticeable but the bloke still wanted them changed so a mate who worked at a ford dealers gave them to me, they had a light clean up skim a while back and never used so very much doubt their warped.

Plus the gf said it was juddering before i changed the brakes for escos ones......

 

"fairy nuff"

I know thats where I would start with a slight judder that gets alot worse when BRAKING.

It's a dam sight easier to do than all the stuff you are contemplating.

Second hand discs that you fitted were replaced because of a slight judder to start with, nuff said imo.

 

Check the disc face that mates with the hub face is flat and vice versa, ive had it before where the screw to hold the dics had snapped off and been left, and if this sticks out slighly from the hub face it will throw the disc out!

 

You know what never thought of checking that mate cheers, i know its done it since i changed the hub on passenger side with both the 3i calipers/discs and the cossie calipers/discs so it could well be something as simple as that. Will give them both a look over if the rain holds off tomorro evening The cossie discs dont have a screw hole so its not like i could just let whats left snapped in poke thru that.

Prob wont be that simple thou knowing my luck


tiddler normally i'd agree with u mate a judder like that i would usually suspect the discs and change them specially due to their background but the gf is adament that it was still as bad with the xr3i calipers.discs on so its deff gotta be something else, but since changeing the hub by all accounts!!

 

Hubs faces, check, but I would still go with warped discs.
A lot don't beleive in skimming discs ie that it doesn't work, as it leads to dtv, disc thickness variation, if at all it was done it would defo need backskimming to stand any chance of it working.
tabetha

 

right had a look today and its not hub faces a broken securing screw doh lol.

But i put the old discs and calipers and althou their shite and dont stop very well and there is still a slight judder its nothing like with the escos calipers so may be the discs after all (judder with them could be slight warping frmo the disc where it was juddering with the damaged hub before had), only way really i guess is try and get some other cossie discs to try on it and go from there.