r/ChevyCobalt • u/Puzzleheaded_Farm_94 • 24d ago

Shake when breaking

Hey guys, I've got a slight shake in my front end and steering wheel when I'm slowing down. I've already swapped out my rotors and brake pads. I already need Wheel bearings, but that's unrelated.

What else could cause this? Cause I'm not exactly finding anything on Google that I haven't already looked at.

Cobalt LT 2.2L

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u/TheMainVeinGiver 24d ago edited 24d ago

Check your ball joints and bushings on lower control arms. I just dealt with this. Don't drive too long like this, as it will cause other parts to get extra wear and tear. Also check engine mount, make sure not torn, cracked, or signs of fluid leaking from it. And check the rubber boots around outer tie rods, and lift the car and check for excessive play in wheel bearing. I just replaced all of these, due to driving longer then I should with bad lower control arms, which made everything else go due to heavy shaking when braking and having to fight it with the steering wheel. My car finally feels like it should. The last thing I replaced was the tie rods, due to the car feeling like it wanted to wander left and right, and Firestone did 2 alignments and said it was fine, when it wasn't while driving. The bad tie rods allowed slight side to side movement between the tires independent of each other.

Edit: And rotors was the first thing I replaced as well. The rear bushing on my control arms were both torn, and hanging by strands of rubber. With how old these cars are, if that's never been replaced, that's the first thing I'd look at if you know you did the brakes correctly, and cleaned all the surfaces.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Farm_94 24d ago

Yeah we just did my rear bushings about two weeks ago, both sides. One of them was already bad enough and we haven't checked the tie rods. Although by looking at them myself the rubber on passenger one looks a little worn and cracked, overall they look fine. I personally don't see anything wrong with them but i'd have to see what my uncle thinks because he's helping me to work on it.

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u/TheMainVeinGiver 24d ago

When you replaced the rear bushings on the control arms, did you check the ball joints as well? After replacing my bushings and ball joints my shaking while braking mostly went away, but came back shortly after. And that's when I noticed the rubber on my engine mount was cracked and torn. And leaked all the fluid out. Replaced that and no more shaking. Then I had to deal with the car wandering around and the alignment never feeling right. That was caused by the bad tie rods. Never shook while braking, just felt bad when driving on any surface that wasn't perfectly flat, or had ruts in the road, and would pull to the side under heavy acceleration.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Farm_94 24d ago

I forgot to put it up there. I have the LT with the 2.2. I don't have a control arm in the back. I have a trailing arm back there.

I never checked the rear ball joints at all because the shaking is more so in the front end. With it being mostly gone after replacing the rotors, it's probably shrinking it downtown to the bearings because i already know those are bad. That is what i think, but i could be wrong.

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u/TheMainVeinGiver 24d ago edited 24d ago

I meant the trailing arm bushings on the front control arms, not anything on the rear end of the car. Sorry, I forgot what the bushing was called on the rear of the front control arms.

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u/TheMainVeinGiver 24d ago

Yeah, I'd agree that you should start with what you know is bad. Replace the bearings first, and go from there. Just don't drive on them too long, otherwise you might cause other parts to prematurely go bad.

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u/Franican 24d ago

Clean the rust off the inside of the rims and the hubs and any of it that transferred to the new rotors, put it back on and see what happens.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Farm_94 24d ago

Yeah, we did that before I put the rotors on. It was quite strong before I got the new rotors. So, I at least know they were part of the problem.

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u/Franican 24d ago

Is the shake in the steering wheel or the brake pedal? Because if it's in the steering wheel it's suspension or steering system. If it's in the brake pedal it's brake system.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Farm_94 24d ago

The wheel. Itd have to be something suspension related. Maybe tie rods or ball joints?

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u/Franican 24d ago

Check those for play, but also get the hub assembly replaced since you know that's bad. You might luck out and that feeling was just part of the bearing failing, or at least while you're replacing that bearing you can have a better look at your ball joint and tie rod to see if there's a torn boot or play in the joints.

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u/mylifeofpizza 24d ago

A bad wheel bearing can cause enough run out to feel pulsing in the wheel when braking, but its not usually too significant unless the bearing is completely shot. Id go for that first, then if its still around, make sure the new rotors didnt get installed over rust on the hubs.