Suspension help please: rack and pinion ?

[dukesboy88]

I own a 98 lsc after replacing front rotors a few months ago with premium napa parts, all was well. just recently, while under braking, i'm getting a slight wobble in the steering wheel, like bad rotors would do. while making a sharp turn at slow speed in reverse in a parking lot today on dry ground, the front end slipped like it was going over wet parking lot stripes. does the description make any sense? both upper and lower control arms and ball joints

 

[Sapperfire]

sharp reverse turns can sometimes cause the front tires to slide, making it feel as thou there is someting wrong when in fact its normal.

you have either warped the new rotors or you have other hub related issues, check your bearings, however, if your old rotors were warped, and all you did was replace them, and not actually fix the problem that causes rotors to warp, binding hardware and calipers will cause a rotor to warp rather quickly if they get too hot.

in my professional experience, most other auto-places think that just replacing brake pads and rotors fixes brakes problems, this is not correct

 

[dukesboy88]

i forgot to mention that i also hear a popping noise while driving in reverse along with the slippage but if im driving straight it seems ok. I had an alignment done after i changed the lca's about a month ago. about a week after the alignment i started to feel wobbling coming from the front right side when i drive, checked it out and the bracket that the brake caliper sits on was loose. i tightened that up and also replaced the upper control arm on that side. Could that have damaged the rotor? And i'm still hearing the popping noise when i make a sharp turn in reverse along with the slippage

 

[chris2523]

have the alignment checked. if its out of whack, it will do all kinds of crazy things. i had similar problems, alignment fixed it.

 

[LaserSVT]

The poping noise is one of the front joints, ie; tie rod, end link or ball joint.

As Sapperfire stated, warped rotors is sometimes (usually) from drag. If the pins are not lubed or are bent, if the fluid has water in it from being old or if the piston itself is worn then the pads will drag and warp the rotors.

Did you seat the pads before stopping hard?

 

[Sapperfire]

the pistons are steel in our cars, you wont damage them unless the brake fluid is so old that they have rust pits. in alot of the newer cars the caliper piston is phenolic, which should be replaced about every 40K mi... but thats about time for damn near everything to be replaced anyway

i suggest a full brake bleed, this can be done by yourself with the aide of gravity.

please keep in mind that this is a machine, and 40K is a LONG way.. immagine what kinda of shape you would be in... if you had to walk it

most people neglect the brake system on a car, your fluid should be flushed every 20K/12mo

there is a square cut seal in the caliper that is designed to "roll" with the piston just a tad, which aides in retracting the piston when you let off the brake pedal, however, its RUBBER, so when it gets hot, it deforms and wears down and does not function as it should, youll notice the signs of this happening by monitoring your inner brake pads, if they are slightly more worn than the outter, then the culprit is usually the caliper binding, if the outter pad is worn more than the inner, then you likely have a hardware (guide pin) issue