I’ve been messing around with this for almost a year and I think I finally figured it out.
If everything else on your vehicle is solid—suspension’s good, wheels are balanced, alignment is on point—and your steering wheel still shakes or you feel a pulsing in the brake pedal when you hit the brakes, the problem might be uneven brake pad wear. I’m pretty confident in this after running tests using resin pads (which wear quicker), and I’ve been able to recreate the issue every single time.
Here’s what I’ve noticed:
If your steering wheel is shaking when braking, check your rear brake pads.
If the brake pedal is pulsing, it’s likely your front brake pads.
You can check the pad wear with a digital caliper. Take the pads off and measure the thickness at both ends—front and rear. For the front, the difference shouldn’t be more than 0.5mm. For the rear, no more than 1mm. The front calipers are more sensitive and will start causing problems sooner.
If the pads are still in decent shape, you can fix the uneven wear by sanding them down with 80–100 grit sandpaper. I usually go this route if there’s still plenty of pad material left—it saves me from having to push the pistons back in.
Rotors are more often the issue here—usually they’re warped.
Also, I think you’ve got it backwards. Shaking in the steering wheel is usually linked to the front brakes. The pulsing pedal can come from either front or rear.
If you feel the shaking in your seat more than the wheel, that’s probably rear brakes. Again, usually it’s the rotors, especially if they’re worn or warped.
@Marlowe
Nothing wrong with sanding pads and using a blade to clean out the grooves. Same goes for knocking off rust ridges on rotors. Just don’t breathe the dust in.
@Marlowe
My wheel shake around 72mph turned out to be the tie rod ends. Running Icon Stage 5 with 35s… figured it was just big tires being big tires, but nope—tie rods.
@Marlowe
Just bought a used 2021 ORP from Carmax with 44k miles. Didn’t see any pad work listed on the Carfax. I’m gonna try to set up an appointment since it’s under warranty, but yeah—it’s my first time hearing that noise so I got a little spooked. Thanks for the help!
Blaise said: @Marlowe
Had the same symptoms—turns out it was warped rotors. Replaced them and it was gone. Still not sure what caused the warping though.
A lot of people get told their rotors are warped when they’re not. Mechanics often don’t use dial indicators—they just eyeball it. In reality, all you probably needed was a fresh set of pads. Rotors rarely warp if they’re good quality.
@AloisSpewer
Rotors can definitely warp, especially in cold weather or off-road with a-track on. I’ve had seized pistons and worn rotors from that. Swapped rotors first, it helped for a bit, but I had to change calipers and pads too before it was actually fixed.
@Marlowe
I’ve measured my rotors and the total runout was only 0.001"—well within spec. Everyone assumes warped rotors because that’s what we’ve all been told, but I think a lot of these problems are actually from uneven pad wear. I’ve been able to fix shake and pulsation just by sanding pads. My 2011 SR5 proved it again and again.
