S60 Brakes: Brake problems

[Michaelvd1234]

Hello everyone!

I own a 2001 S60 2.4 N/A petrol.
Last year, I replaced both front and rear brakes (pads and rotors). During this job I wire wheeled the hub surfaces, properly cleaned the guide pins and the surfaces that the pads slide on and properly lubed whatever needed lubrication using ATE plastilube brake grease. After a while (soon after I got my tires changed after having a blown tire on the rear), the car started to develop something that I am not sure how to describe.. At highway speeds, when braking, it seemed to shudder/vibrate and at lower speeds while braking it seemed to kind of rock back and forth, almost as if an area on one of the rotors has more friction than the rest of the rotor.

After I got the tires changed, the lug bolts were so tight that I couldn't for the life of me get them loosened and it actually required a 1 meter cheater bar and a lot of force to loosen them. So I thought, maybe this insane torque destroyed atleast one of my rotors. I decided to change the rotors and pads yet again (fronts about 3 months ago, rears last week). It seems to have fixed the vibration when braking at highway speeds, but the "back and forth" motion when braking at lower speed is still there.. It feels like the brakes are grabbing and releasing constantly, relative to vehicle speed.

Could this perhaps be ABS related? I don't have an ABS light or an ABS code stored, and I don't hear any ABS noise. I don't feel anything in the pedal either.

To rule some things out:
-Brake fluid got flushed about a year ago.
-I replaced the control arms, strut assemblies, inner and outer tie rods and ball joints at the end of last year, didn't make any difference other than the car handling way better when not braking (no suspension components were changed in the rear)
-It does not really seem like it wants to veer off to one side when I brake
-I checked for stuck calipers pistons, but all of them seem to move freely
-Rear parking brake shoes and retaining springs were replaced about a year ago too, and completely slackening the cable or tightening it does not seem to make a difference. The shoes on the right side seem to be a bit tighter while the parking brake is released though for some reason.

Or could it perhaps be tire/rim/lug bolt related?
I would really love to hear your opinions. I have no clue whay the problem could be

Cheers, Michael

[Simmy]

re check the parking brake shoes it has been known for shoes to de laminate if not dryed off after washing or going through deep water re check cables are correctly located in the shoe spreaders

[Michaelvd1234]

Originally Posted by Simmy

re check the parking brake shoes it has been known for shoes to de laminate if not dryed off after washing or going through deep water re check cables are correctly located in the shoe spreaders

I will check it out first thing tomorrow. Would this cause these kind of symptoms only when braking?

[stuart bowes]

What control arms did you use? Good quality oem, or a decent aftermarket item with polybush, or a cheap pair with standard bushes.. because it could be contributing to the issue if not the sole cause

What tyres are the new ones, did you get the wheels balanced and a full alignment done especially after all that suspension work

Also who fitted the new tyres because those tyre guys can get a bit carried away with the rattle gun; might be the simple reason for the over tight nuts

What discs and pads are you using

AFAIK there's not really much that you can do wrong in terms of fitting and it certainly sounds like you're the sort of person to do a job properly.. but component quality can definitely vary

[Michaelvd1234]

Originally Posted by stuart bowes

What control arms did you use? Good quality oem, or a decent aftermarket item with polybush, or a cheap pair with standard bushes.. because it could be contributing to the issue if not the sole cause

What tyres are the new ones, did you get the wheels balanced and a full alignment done especially after all that suspension work

Also who fitted the new tyres because those tyre guys can get a bit carried away with the rattle gun; might be the simple reason for the over tight nuts

What discs and pads are you using

AFAIK there's not really much that you can do wrong in terms of fitting and it certainly sounds like you're the sort of person to do a job properly.. but component quality can definitely vary

Hello, I installed OEM Volvo control arms.
The wheels were balanced after the new tires were installed (Michelin cross climate's) and an alignment was done after the suspension work. Although I feel like the alignment might've not been done properly, since the steering wheel seems slightly skewed to the right which I started to notice a short while after the alignment. I did not get an alignment report after I got it done which I found to be rather strange.. The front rotors and pads are Bosch, the rears are ATE.
The mechanic who installed the new tires must have used an air impact, I don't think there's any other way to get those bolts on that tight

[stuart bowes]

Well that all sounds good certainly, the only suspect thing might be getting a second opinion on the alignment maybe? Excessive negative camber can make cars feel unstable at speed that's one thing I've noticed on mine when I went for -1deg both sides, I've been thinking of going back to 0.5 but it can wait till the next time I do something on it

If both are sufficiently different though who knows what effect it can cause, not to mention all the other obvious alignment variables

No report certainly doesn't sound right, I would try asking them to do it again or at least if they have the record saved by numberplate and can they do a reprint

Second to that I might think about maybe one of the balancing weights didn't stick or was done badly?

Disclaimer I'm not an expert.. these are just my gut reactions and it could well be something totally unrelated

[Michaelvd1234]

Originally Posted by stuart bowes

Disclaimer I'm not an expert.. these are just my gut reactions and it could well be something totally unrelated

Well, atleast you don't say warped rotors instantly
All of the threads I came across are littered with "It must be warped rotors"
Thank you for the suggestions, I will for sure get a second opninion on the alignment. I still have another set of rims with old tires laying around, I think I will try installing these just to see if it changes anything at all. That way I'll know for sure if it's rims/tires related or if it's something else (not sure why I didn't think of trying this earlier )

I've also thought about out-of-true bearing hubs, but since I don't feel anything in the pedal and the car rocks back and forth instead of a "wobble" I don't really think that this is the cause of my problem.. Maybe I should order a runout dial indicator though

[stuart bowes]

It did cross my mind lol but you already considered that and replaced them. The previous ones could be machined I suppose which could save a few quid next time? I dunno how much that costs these days if it's still even worth doing

[barrybritcher]

on the pre facelift the brake pad retaining springs is like a wire. (thin)

its very easy to fit this incorrectly and can cause this sort of symptom

ill post a link

[barrybritcher]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=...AAAAAdAAAAABAG