anyone ever have this situation?

86GT351

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Just had a car here with a vibration issue. Needed tires but did not fix the concern. Next step we found the passenger side engine mount and transmission mount starting to collapse. This was causing drivetrain instability. Hence the vibration. replace all mounts problem solved.
 

darrens07gt

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Ok so I received the new rotors, pads, wheel hubs with bearings and axel spindle nuts. I then rented a big torque wrench and 36 MM socket from Autozone. So with all the parts and tools on hand I went to work.

I started out by putting the car up on jack stands and pulling off both front tires, both front calipers, both front caliper brackets and both front rotors. The rotors were really bad on the back side because the pads wore very unevenly. The front of the rotors were still smooth and had a third of the pad still left. The back of the rotors felt like cheese graters and the pads were worn down to the nubs.

I now closely inspected the wheel hubs. They both had no give, showed no signs of problems and spun freely and easily. So I was not optimistic that swapping them out was going to fix anything. But I had the new parts so there was no turning back now. I pulled them both off and installed the new wheel hubs (torqued to 221 ft lbs), new rotors and new pads. Now I installed the drivers side caliper and began to bleed the brakes.

Let me say right now that I know better then to make this rookie brake install mistake. Instead of doing one side at a time I forgot the passengers side caliper was still hanging from a bungee cord and not installed to the rotor. So while I am bleeding the drivers side brake I am pushing the cylinders out of the passenger caliper. Ooops. So I run to the autozone and buy the only caliper they had in stock for my car. Problem was the bleeder screw was stripped and would not tighten down. Now they had to order a new one which delayed me another two days.

So today the new caliper arrived and I properly installed both calipers and bleed the brakes one side at a time. Then I put the tires back on and put the car back on the ground for a test drive. I was not optimistic but once I got the car out on the road I found that not only was all the vibrating and excessive road noise gone but the car now shifts again at redline.

This is AWESOME! I don't need new motor mounts just yet and my car drives right again. Thank you guys so much for pointing me in the right direction.
 
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46addict

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Any ideas to why there was uneven pad wear? Were the pads tapered or just more worn on one side than the other?
 

darrens07gt

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Any ideas to why there was uneven pad wear? Were the pads tapered or just more worn on one side than the other?

I have no idea why the pads were worn so unevenly. But then again I never inspected the rotors when I got the car so who knows.

Also I spoke too soon on the car shifting easy at redline. That situation is not fixed and I probably need some new motor mounts. I have an hour commute so what I noticed is in the first 15 minutes while the engine and tranny are not fully heated up the car will shift at redline (6500 for my car). But after the car is nice and warmed up the 1-2 shift is nearly impossible at 6500 rpm. It doesn't grind but it doesn't go into gear either leaving stuck in neutral.
 

2526Bullitt

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I had a similar problem, switched over to Pennzoil syncromesh and has made the shifting noticeably smoother. regardless, these transmission aren't the best compared to other cars I have had in the past. the shifting ( high RPM) under hot weather takes effort from 2 to 3 with my car.
 

Totheboards

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For what its worth, when I switched to Amsoil synthetic ATF for the manual tranny oil, I noticed it shifts great at all temps and operating revs, except when it's cold. Before the trans warms up, on days below 65 deg, it's almost impossible to get into 1st gear at a full stop. If you really lean into it, it'll go, but I usually just toss it into 3rd to stop the counter shaft, then into 1st to leave from a stop light. Once the oil warms up, that issue id's gone.
Also, I have a 2010 and am not sure if the shifter is the same...
 

MjDubai

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my suggestion is to check the engine and transmission mounting.
 

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