Brake pedal chattering

theywatchintv

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Jun 9, 2021
7
Covington, VA
i’ve noticed when coming to a stop in my tb the brake pedal shakes and groans, has anyone else had this same problem? every once in a while the abs light will come on the dash and when it does, the pedal acts as it should when depressed. i’ve pulled the abs fuse and it stopped the chatter but does anyone know if driving this way is dangerous?
 

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Dec 5, 2011
574
Central Pennsylvania
i’ve noticed when coming to a stop in my tb the brake pedal shakes and groans, has anyone else had this same problem? every once in a while the abs light will come on the dash and when it does, the pedal acts as it should when depressed. i’ve pulled the abs fuse and it stopped the chatter but does anyone know if driving this way is dangerous?

Yes... this can be dangerous.

My experience pulling ABS fuse.

Cleaning your ABS sensors can be helpful... it can also be temporary or do nothing. Depending on the miles on your vehicle, STRONGLY consider replacing both front wheel hubs. This sounds like an ordeal and can be for the unprepared/ill-equipped. But, with the right tools and a little elbow grease, it's not bad. It also doesn't have to be extremely expensive - new hubs can be gotten reasonably priced from RockAuto. I'm about to put on a new set of hubs myself.
 

6716

Member
Jul 24, 2012
821
I just fixed this by replacing both front wheel hubs.

Definitely before I fixed it my ABS light would come on ... and thus I didn't have any ABS, so in one quick-stop situation I did lock up the wheels and skid. Having the ABS light on and taking the ABS fuse out are effectively the same thing. So, yeah, it is a little more dangerous in that way.

The cool thing about replacing the hubs is that you get to bust out the 35mm socket and/or wrench, so I feel like a real mechanic or something.
 
Dec 5, 2011
574
Central Pennsylvania
I just fixed this by replacing both front wheel hubs.

Definitely before I fixed it my ABS light would come on ... and thus I didn't have any ABS, so in one quick-stop situation I did lock up the wheels and skid. Having the ABS light on and taking the ABS fuse out are effectively the same thing. So, yeah, it is a little more dangerous in that way.

The cool thing about replacing the hubs is that you get to bust out the 35mm socket and/or wrench, so I feel like a real mechanic or something.
Having known professional mechanics all of my life I can tell you... they rarely take as good of care of their cars as us non-professionals wish we could. The most egregious was an exotic auto-tech that worked at one of those combined Audi/BMW/Porsche (We're better than you) dealerships' service departments.... he would put the USED MOTOR OIL they drained from customers' cars in his own beater when he changed his own oil. Like, $300 oil change for an Audi and the oil went into his beater that bluebooked at probably less than $300 with a full tank of gas.

Changing the hubs is one of those jobs that sits almost at the edge of your standard do-it-yourselfers capabilities. If you have or can source a 35mm socket, you can probably do this - even if you need to borrow it and a breaker bar. Just follow good "backyard mechanic" safety rules. Don't over think it and don't rush.
 

Mektek

Member
May 2, 2017
656
FL
The used oil from a Porsche may not be a bad thing. It was probably a high priced PAO synthetic oil that could be good for 15k miles but the car came in at 2 or 3 k miles for a change.
So that mechanic may be crazy - like a fox :crazy:
 
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Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
Back on topic. If cleaning the sensors and the rust doesn't fix it, then you will need to replace the affected hub. If you have a way to read ABS codes, it will likely tell you which side is bad. Later years got the ability to recognize this problem and will turn on the light, set a code and disable the ABS (my 07 did it). If you don't have a scanner, then the method shown in the video watching to which side the wheel turns when coming to a stop, which would indicate the opposite side is affected.
 

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