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Home / Symptoms / Shaking While Braking At High Speeds

Four common causes for a vehicle EVAP system leak and their related parts.

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Is Your Car Shaking When You Brake At High Speeds?

It shakes when braking at high speeds because of worn brake components like rotors, wheel bearings, or worn steering and suspension parts. This can also involve bad wheel torque, unbalanced tires, tapered brake pads, a faulty constant velocity axle, or a damaged brake caliper.

Addressing shaking issues immediately is crucial to avoid costly repairs and further damage. Taking your car for a vehicle health inspection can be a smart move. This action will help maintain your safety and the safety of others on the road. Don't wait; take action now.

Watch out: A car shaking while braking at high speeds is alarming and dangerous. This shaking often indicates a problem that needs attention. Besides being irritating, it can also impair your car's handling and performance, creating hazardous driving conditions.

Let's Get To The Bottom Of It!

Did the shake begin after you took the vehicle for a tire rotation?

The brake rotor is essential to your car's braking system. It's located between the wheel and the wheel hub, and it helps slow down or stop the vehicle when you press the brakes. Sometimes, when the tires are rotated or when the lug nuts that hold the wheel in place are tightened incorrectly, the brake rotor can misalign. This means it won't fit perfectly with the wheel hub, causing the car to shake when you apply the brakes.

Is the car only shaking when braking at high speeds?

When your car's brakes are working correctly, the pads that press against the rotors to slow down the car should wear evenly over time. However, the rotors can become warped when you brake hard. This can also happen if the brake pad slides become clingy. If the brake pads wear unevenly, they create a tapered shape. As the rotor turns, it pushes the caliper back and forth, causing your car to shake when you brake at high speeds.

Is the vehicle shaking when braking and accelerating?

The CV axle boot is essential to your car's drivetrain system. It helps keep the CV joint lubricated and protected, which connects the axle to the transmission. However, if the CV axle boot becomes torn, it causes CV grease to leak out and allow debris inside. This causes the CV joint to wear unevenly, making the axle lose shape. As a result, you may feel shaking when accelerating or braking.

Do you hear a clunk when braking hard?

The control arms are essential to your car's suspension system. They help keep the wheels and tires in a fixed position while still allowing them to move up and down as you drive. However, the tires won't stay still if the control arm bushings fail. This can cause a clunking noise when you tap the brakes because the control arm moves back and forth.

Does the vehicle shake even if you brake lightly?

Tires are an essential part of your car's wheels, responsible for keeping your car moving smoothly. They are round and have belts and cords made of rubber to maintain their roundness. However, if a tire gets damaged from road impact or normal wear and tear, the belts inside can slip or break. This can cause a bulge in the tire's tread and make it lose its round shape. Consequently, the car might shake when braking at slow speeds.

Is the car pulling in one direction when braking?

The brake caliper is essential to your car's braking system. It uses hydraulic pressure to push the brake pads against the rotor, creating enough friction to slow down and stop your vehicle. However, if the caliper slide pins get stuck, the caliper can only apply pressure to one side of the brake rotor. This creates excessive heat and warps the rotor, making your vehicle shake. Additionally, the vehicle may start pulling to one side while braking because the caliper favors one side, and side-to-side integral braking is impaired.

The most common causes of the car shaking when braking at high speeds

The most common causes for the car shaking when braking at high speeds:

Improper wheel torque: The wheels of the vehicle need to be tightly put. If, somehow, the wheels were removed and then put back but not properly torqued (not forced tightly), the wheel can become wobbly. A wobbly wheel causes vibrations whenever there’s extra pressure in the vehicle (such as the braking pressure).
Faulty control arm bushing: Control arm bushings are rubber “joints” between the wheels and suspension, helping to avoid friction and provide cushioning whenever the wheels are turning. However, if the bushings are faulty, the wheels start making more friction, especially during high-pressure situations like braking, causing excess vibrations.
Seized caliper slider: The caliper slider works with brake calipers, allowing them to move to the sides as the vehicle is braking; this ensures smoothness while the brake pads press against the rotors. However, if the caliper slider fails, the brakes won’t be as smooth, resulting in vibrations that can stand out during high-speed braking.
Faulty brake pads: The brake pad presses around the brake disc (rotors) and deteriorates due to friction while the vehicle slows down. However, since the brake pad contacts the brake disc, it needs to do so in a stable and safe position; if the pad is rusty, sticky, and full of debris, it’ll result in vibrations and grinding.
Damaged CV axle: The CV axle (constant velocity axle) is an axle that transfers power from the transmission to the wheels. The CV basically provides power to the wheels while allowing them to get the up-and-down benefits of the suspension. However, if the CV axle fails, the wheels might lose suspension cushioning and become too stiff, generating vibrations, especially when braking at high speeds.
Deformed tire: A deformed tire won’t spin as properly, leading to vibrations while driving. A tire deformation can happen for many reasons like hitting a curb, a pothole, or being in an accident. The tire deformation can vary from bulges to overwear, etc. The deformed tire receives more stress and weight from the vehicle when braking at high speeds, causing extra vibration.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Did the shake begin after you took the vehicle for a tire rotation?

The brake rotor is essential to your car's braking system. It's located between the wheel and the wheel hub, and it helps slow down or stop the vehicle when you press the brakes. Sometimes, when the tires are rotated or when the lug nuts that hold the wheel in place are tightened incorrectly, the brake rotor can misalign. This means it won't fit perfectly with the wheel hub, causing the car to shake when you apply the brakes.
Is the car only shaking when braking at high speeds?

When your car's brakes are working correctly, the pads that press against the rotors to slow down the car should wear evenly over time. However, the rotors can become warped when you brake hard. This can also happen if the brake pad slides become clingy. If the brake pads wear unevenly, they create a tapered shape. As the rotor turns, it pushes the caliper back and forth, causing your car to shake when you brake at high speeds.
Is the vehicle shaking when braking and accelerating?

The CV axle boot is essential to your car's drivetrain system. It helps keep the CV joint lubricated and protected, which connects the axle to the transmission. However, if the CV axle boot becomes torn, it causes CV grease to leak out and allow debris inside. This causes the CV joint to wear unevenly, making the axle lose shape. As a result, you may feel shaking when accelerating or braking.
Do you hear a clunk when braking hard?

The control arms are essential to your car's suspension system. They help keep the wheels and tires in a fixed position while still allowing them to move up and down as you drive. However, the tires won't stay still if the control arm bushings fail. This can cause a clunking noise when you tap the brakes because the control arm moves back and forth.
Does the vehicle shake even if you brake lightly?

Tires are an essential part of your car's wheels, responsible for keeping your car moving smoothly. They are round and have belts and cords made of rubber to maintain their roundness. However, if a tire gets damaged from road impact or normal wear and tear, the belts inside can slip or break. This can cause a bulge in the tire's tread and make it lose its round shape. Consequently, the car might shake when braking at slow speeds.
Is the car pulling in one direction when braking?

The brake caliper is essential to your car's braking system. It uses hydraulic pressure to push the brake pads against the rotor, creating enough friction to slow down and stop your vehicle. However, if the caliper slide pins get stuck, the caliper can only apply pressure to one side of the brake rotor. This creates excessive heat and warps the rotor, making your vehicle shake. Additionally, the vehicle may start pulling to one side while braking because the caliper favors one side, and side-to-side integral braking is impaired.

Typical fixes to address the cause(s)

These are typical processes and repair services that fix a check engine light issue

The most common cause: Faulty brake pads

The most common reason for a car shaking at high speeds is due to faulty brake pads. The brake pads are one of the vehicle’s components that most commonly require replacing. This is because the pads are designed to deteriorate due to friction and typically last around 30,000 to 70,000 miles. When the brake pads deteriorate too much, they’ll start having metal-to-metal contact, since the degradable material is over, causing grinding noises and vibrations, especially at high speeds.

Symptoms it causes: Apart from the vibrations when braking at high speeds you might notice longer stopping distances, squealing noises, vehicle pulling to one side, grinding sounds, etc.
High risk of priority: Worn-out brake pads can’t help your vehicle stop properly, resulting in longer stopping distances and bad brake performance. Eventually, the brake pads can cause too much metal-to-metal contact and friction, damaging brake rotors, calipers, degrading tires, etc.

How exactly do the brake pads degrade?

Brake pads naturally degrade as expected at around the 30,000 - 70,000 mile range. This is because they have a material that suffers friction every time the vehicle brakes. This material degradation is necessary so it absorbs the vehicle's force, helping to stop the wheels from spinning.

Go safe: Ask for a mechanic to inspect your vehicle’s tires, braking, steering, and suspension system to investigate if the brake pads are wearing out due to surrounding components and if there’s further damage to check out. Many shops do transparent vehicle inspections and lay out your options after investigating your vehicle’s conditions.

What’s a vehicle inspection? It’s “detective work” on your vehicle, checking its systems to see if anything prevents the car from working as expected. In this case, mechanics examine different parts of your vehicle to track if anything is causing the brake pads to wear out. They’ll also check the condition of components during their inspection, noting which are causing the problem and which got affected by it, recommending to replace them in order of priority.

Transparency example in a loose motor mount service

A brake, steering, and suspension system inspection is the most transparent process to understand why your vehicle’s brake pads are worn. This is because many components surrounding the tires and wheels can have a say in the issue, indicating the real culprits that caused it all.

Let’s read an example of how this kind of inspection helps to service a worn brake pad.

A customer reported a problem with their vehicle. The car vibrates when braking on the freeway. However, they didn't notice any shaking when driving slowly. When the technician took the car for a test drive, they felt the shaking when braking after a few stops.

The technician found that the front brake pads were tapered during the vehicle health inspection. However, the back brake pads were not tapered and still had 5mm of thickness left.

Tapered brake pads are worn unevenly, and one side of the brake pad is thicker than the other. This uneven wear can cause the vehicle to shake while braking.

To further investigate the issue, the technician used a dial indicator to check the runout of the front rotors. Runout refers to the measurement of the side-to-side movement of the rotor as it spins. The technician found the front rotors had 0.030 to 0.025 inches of runout, just below the minimum specifications. This runout can cause the vehicle to shake while braking at high speeds.

The technician determined that both the front brake pads and rotors needed to be replaced to fix the problem. This is because the uneven wear on the brake pads had caused excessive heat and wear on the rotors, which in turn caused the runout.

Tapered brake pads

In this case, the mechanic put the “Immediate Action” tag on the brake pads.

Similar Symptoms

Below are just a few examples of typical Symptoms and Fixes your car might be experiencing

Four common causes for a vehicle shaking while driving and their related parts.