Hi everyone, i am a fairly new volvo owner and i'm trying to understand this incredibly vast and different world than my previous automotive world. Jeep. So that being said, i have a "guess the problem" question for you all that may be very basic, but i'm so new to this type of car (sedan) etc that i think i am over looking something basic.

i have a 97 850 sedan glt, and ive been going nuts trying to figure out a shuddering problem im having with it. When i brake, the car shudders or rumbles at an exponential rate that is comparable to the speed in which i am slowing down. So if i brake slowly, it shudders worse and worse at a slower rate (only stopping when the car fully stops). if i brake quickly the car shudders much harder faster. My ideas were an alignment, and i replace all the brakes and rotors, and got a shop to look at it (they replaced the control arms, and "tightened up things" according to them). the problem still happens now.

its almost as if the abs is screwed up, but i cant see how that would have happened. anyway, if you could all be so kind as to just throw out some ideas to the new guy, i'd really appreciate it! thanks

 

Welcome to the forum.

It sounds like the rotors are still warped.

 

Hello amd18,

Welcome to the forum, I hope you find it helpful & enjoyable.

As to the problem, I concur with Tech's reply. When you did the brakes, did you/shop use OEM parts? If aftermarket parts were installed, they could give you a number of headaches, and Volvos are extremely choosy when it comes to the quality of parts. In general, trying to save $ for lesser quality parts ends up in more repair bills later so watch out. If there is a shop that specialises in Swedish/European makes near you and if they are willing to accept parts from customers, try browsing the following vendor, which many of us here use:

http://www.fcpgroton.com/volvo.htm#850

If the rotors are warped, the pads may also need replacement. Alignment problem should not cause the kind of problem you have described.

>"tightened up things"

This should be done by a technician who is privy to Volvos. Lately, many modern vehicles come with lock nuts that have to be tightened to the specified torque, plus specified angles (degrees). This procedure requires torque wrench + angle gauge (the latter is not an absolute necessity, if you can eyeball it[8D]). Simply grabbing a box-end wrench/socket and tightening wouldn't do. However, if Tech says it's all right, then it should be all right.

I hope this gets you started.


JPN

 

well thank you very much for the quick and helpful replies! I agree with both of you that it does seem like it is a warped rotor problem, based on passed fun with bad rotors. And it is true that i did not get the new rotors from an oem dealer, so the likelyhood of them being defective is certainly higher.

One thing i did fail to mention though in my previous post, was that after the car went into the shop, the problem was nearly fixed. Only after driving the car a few times did i realize that the problem was resurfacing. It came back slowly but it is now (3 weeks later) getting back to be as bad as before. To my understanding the shop simply aligned the car and tightened up the steering (the place is a certified volvo tech etc, my parents have taken them volvos for years with no problems yet).

so while i do believe it could still be the warped rotor theory, i am baffled by the slow reoccurance of the issue and am curious as to what could possibly either 1. warp the new rotors that fast, or 2. loosen up in the front end so easily to result in this problem again so quickly?

thanks again

 

Call this crazy, but it is a possibility as it happened to me before. Did you check to see if you have a partially sticking brake caliper? The reason I say this is that if you do, the brake pad would never fully release from the rotor, and over the course of driving, the light but constant friction would heat up the rotor possibly warping it over time. That would explain your symptom of the problem being "almost gone and then coming back 3 weeks later".

Anyway, it is a thought as I too am leaning toward warped rotors being the issue.

Good luck,

Glenn