Well, you did say most, so obviously not all has been checked or replaced.

Specialist suspension places checked my front end as well, and couldn't fault it. Specially the bushes.

And I had the same problems.

Half the time my drive would be fine, other times i'd be thinking about driving the car into the nearest concrete barrier and just being done with it.

Speeds it happened were anywhere from 70 to 120km/h. Anywhere upto 70, it would always be perfectly behaved.

Most people say the solution to this problem is adjusting the booster piston shorter to take some of the preload off the calipers. But thats one thing I never did.

Just trying to point out there is a massive variety of causes to solve what seems to be a common problem.

Have a look on AFF, one poor guy has spent thousands on trying to figure it out. Been through everything listed here and more. Ended up going to Jax Quikfit for a certain type of wheel balance and the problem went away.

For me it was rooted bushes and a host of loose and sloppy steering components.

Well everyone, I thought I would wait several weeks before reposting to seee if my problems had gone away.

After all my problems, and swearing, I wasn't overly convinced that replacing the rotors was going to solve the problem but i can confidently say that i haven't had a wobble since. The original rotors were on the car for about 85000kms and were machined several times with no sucess.

The mechanics showed me the warn rotor-completely stuffed- I think that there may be some merit to previous postings stating that the pads/callipers stick onto the rotor and won't release. This would obviously heat the rotor and warp the disc. My old rotor was that bad that it looked like it had been gauged.

In the end 2 new rotors ended up being a relatively cheap fix- just a shame that every other potential remedy tallied up to a small fortune.

Good luck to every one else with the same problem.

^^Just bought a BA Fairlane Ghia. Exact same problem....



grrr.

all pads touch the disc to some point, they're floating calipers, too much clearance will make them rattle. It appears cars these days are much more sensitive to maintainance. adjusting the booster is the last thing i would do.

Yes... All pads touch the disc. But its also the job of the disc give the pad/piston a little push back into the caliper.

If there's too much preload on the master cylinder and the line pressure a bit high, those pads aren't going to be knocked back like they should, and they will constantly drag.

I thought i'd jump on here as well guys,

I have a BF with the same issues - brakes drag around 60-70km/h, but only does it occasionally. If i attempt freeway driving the car gradually works its way up to a violent vibration, all the way up the column and through the floor, steering wheel shakes from side to side in quick succession.

I've had new rotors front and back, new pads, my mechanic had a look at the steering and some other bits and pieces and couldn't find anything wrong. He had a mate at Ford and asked him about it and we got this sort of information - however he was advised that apparently standard practice at ford is just to wind in the push rod running between the master cyl and booster. If you're not under warranty, they'll replace the master cylinder and booster anyway..

Whilst this is what we were told, we've wound that rod in twice to the point where it should be within the right levels, and still no avail. I'm just driving the car 20 mins to work and back at the moment, the problem only presents itself if i drive longer. It's going back in on Friday, should i get him to look at the booster? Cause i'm really sick of having a car i can't drive anywhere. It's ridiculous.

Thanks in advance for any replies guys.

Hi All, It has been a while & this thread may be a bit stale but I thought an update to those with the hair pulling brake issues was in order.

My BF brakes are.. wait for it.. FIXED!

OK the booster seems to be an issue, test it on the bench all good, put in car and it slowly applies pressure (not that you can feel it), rotors heat and here come the wobbles. I had it rebuilt much to the arguement of the mechanic, but been a few months and no problems at all.

My 04 xr6 does exactly the same thing, i was about to replace all the front end bushes back in august but it stopped wobbling so i didnt bother. last weekend i was driving up the hume a got a nastly puncture. my tyres were worn low so i bought two new ones and they where balanced and fitted on the front, now the wobble is back. i pulled the wheels of re-tightened myself still the problem exists. i hate it!

Its really bad going through the eastlink tunnel for some reason...

i love my car but i would love it more if it didnt wobble... i miss my old eb it never did any of this crap!

Reference that ford wheel wobble. I do not know if this has been posted before but here it is again. I have a Ford Falcon BA XT and had a terrible wheel shake and judder whilst driving and when I came to a braking halt. I took the car to mechanics and had all of the many things changed at great great expense including the warped front wheel rotors. The problem cleared up for a while because of the rotor change but soon came back. Then I read on another Ford blog site a solution that I have just carried our to solve the problem for no dollars and no cents! Here it is.
The problem is due to the rod that passes through the brake booster from the brake pedal to the Master Cylinder. Over time it goes hard up against the Master cylinder instead of there being a small space. Result is that your brakes are on all of the time! (no wonder the rotors warp by overheating!).
The solution takes just twenty minutes to resolve! Remove the two nuts holding the Master cylinder to the brake booster and move the cylinder it to one side without bending the fluid lines. Pull the rod out towards you (with its nut on the end) using your fingers until you can get a pair of mole grips onto the un-threaded shaft just after the nut. Mark the top of the nut and then -holding the rod shaft with the grips so it cannot turn- use an 8 mm spanner or socket to turn the end nut two full turns clockwise (your are effectively shortening the rod and so moving it away from the master cylinder). Now release the mole grips and the rod will move back slowly into the booster. Help it by pushing gently until it seats. Re-attach the Master cylinder to the booster, check the fluid lines have not come away from the plastic clips on the firewall, and now drive the car up the street to make sure the brakes work (which they will). Take your car down the freeway and you will have no wheel judder and you will also think you have a new car because you are now driving it without the brakes applied! (Here is hoping your front rotors are not warped through overheating. I was lucky after my fix because they had not warped).

Try this, sometimes you don't need to adjust the brake booster rod it may need a clean from all the scum and rust build up.

1) Undo the two nuts at the base of the master cylinder that hold it onto the brake booster. Once they are off you can literally just grab the entire master cylinder and pull it out of the booster enough to lower it with enough room to adjust the rod. Make sure you do it slowly and don't bend the brake lines too much. Just get the master cylinder out of the way just enough to adjust the rod.

2) Now that the master cylinder is out of the way you'll see a rod inside the hole of the booster where the master cylinder came out of. Grab the rod with your fingers and pull it out so it's past the flush point of the booster. You can see the top of it is a bolt head which screws out(left) to push on the master cylinder more or screws in(right) to push on the master cylinder less. You can see where the screw thread is so just below the thread where it screws in, grab some vice grips and lock them onto the part of the rod that is stationary where the bolt screws in. Once you're at this point your vice grips should be locked onto the shaft and pretty much resting on the booster as you don't want to pull it too far out. Now get an 8mm socket and ratchet. Mark the top of the bolt head and while holding the vice grips still, screw the bolt head in(right) until the mark goes around twice( two full turns)

3) Unlock your vice grips, put the master cylinder back in and tighten the two nuts that hold it on. Start the car and make sure the brakes are fine before you take off. Check the response of the brakes on a road test but I usually find two full turns is the average amount of adjustment. You may get away with just that and not having to machine your discs

See how you go with that. Any problems, let me know.

I've found, on-car wheel balancing, or a balance on a machine with stud fixing instead of through the center, is the only way to balance a factory b-series rim properly.

Having the same problem with my bf xr6,
bought it and had wheel shake like a flat tyre on the drive home stopped and it didnt happen again, trip to the mechanic and had the clippers cleaned, brakes machined, wheel balance and checked computer for faults logged.
Happened again at 100ks but not as bad took it back and had ball joints done and a tail shaft coupling or whatever its called replaced, kept happening and it occurred randomly, mechanics kept test driving it and it would never happen, took it back and they found the front brakes locked on. Replaced the master cylinder and it didnt happen for about a month. Now it's happening again at 100ks but only starts after driving for around 30-40 mins of driving.
Is now just a light shudder constantly at 90-100kmph why it decides to happen.
I touch the brakes to unlock the locked caliber if that is what it is but doesn't do anything but then it will stop after 10-20mins.
So annoying as I just bought e car and have already spent $1500 chasing this problem.
I nite the only thing u haven't fixed that the mechanics have found is e leaking power steering, could this be causing the problem.
Cars done 90000ks

This has all the symptoms of not enough free play on the rod in the brake booster causing 'grabbing' of the disc intermittently.

Had a similar issue with my BA Falcon ute (straight gas) brakes as well. Steering wheel wobble between 80-100 km. Adjusted the brake booster rod, which helped but still had issues. Found one side of the front brakes(RHS) would occasionally half engage, at low speeds around corners and create a lot of heat on the hub. In the end it ended up being a punctured diaphragm in the brake booster. After spending > $1000 on rotors/discs/ booster adjustments I was glad that saga was finally resolved.