On my '93 Coupe, I had a slight shimmy in the steering wheel when applying the brakes. The brakes were pretty old so I replaced the rotors, calipers, and pads (EBC) but I still have the same problem. If anything it's a bit worse. It occurs on light to moderate braking. It doesn't pull left or right. Just has a shake in the steering wheel. Can something in the ABS be causing the problem? Any idea what else could cause this?.

 

Subframe mounts, alignment. Etc? Jack up the car under the frame and give everything a shake, youll be able to hear/see any wheel bearing issue and note abnormal tire wear.

I've had all those issues cause shaking etc (how ever you describe it in various degrees.

 

Tried pulling and shaking. Didn't see anything obvious.
Guess I need to bring it to a front end shop.

 

Hi Petemohr

Maybe its something simple like your front wheels need re-balancing

 

You need to check the run-out of the brake rotors with a dial indicator. Measure on the face of the rotor, about 1/2" in from the outer edge of the rotor. You should have no more than .002" run-out when you rotate the rotor thru 360°; this figure is good for most cars. If you do, take the rotors off the hubs and clean both mating surfaces thoroughly of any rust. Check the run-out of the hub itself in a similar manner. Given the smaller diameter of the hub, any run-out at all there will be magnified at the larger diameter of the rotor. Reassemble, and recheck run-out. If you still have excessive run-out, you probably have a bad rotor.

On another car I have, I found the hub was bad with lots of run-out. I changed it out and the shake went away.

 

Thanks for the replys. I'm now thinking it's something in the steering and/or front suspension. It's not speed dependent and the amount of shimmy varies. It is minimal when braking in a straight line but gets much worse when breaking on a curve. It's not acting like an unbalanced tire or bad rotor.