[kramstang]

So I was driving around for a few months or so thinking I had a warped rotor or other brake problem, it sounded like the rotor was warped. Felt a pronounced shimmy, even clunking noises, etc. All of this racket came from the passenger side front wheel. So I decided to jack up the car, take the wheel off and take a peek. Everything looked fine, plenty of pad left, nothing loose & everything in order.

But then I looked closer at the rotor. As you can see in the picture below, Ford puts a retainer ring, almost like a big lock washer on only one of the lugs of each rotor so they don't fall off as the car moves down the assembly line. Not a problem if you are running stock Ford wheels since those wheels are machined to leave a space for this retaining ring. BUT, if you are running aftermarket wheels like mine that are machined totally flat on the back, this ring can really screw up tolerances... big time. So I got my trusty wire cutters and cut these rings off each rotor.

Holy crap! After taking these off each rotor, the difference is like night and day! The pony drives like a brand new car. Smooth braking now... no shimmy, no noise and nice quiet braking!

So if you are running aftermarket wheels that are machined totally flat on the back and your car has the shakes, or noisy brakes... chances are these pesky rings are sandwiched between the rotor and your wheel. They are pretty thin, but thick enough to keep the wheel from sitting totally flat against the rotor... knocking the alignment of everything out of wack just enough to cause a racket.

And shame on the wheel shop for not removing these.:nono:

 

[YerBuddysPony]

When I replaced my rotors I noticed those. Didn't think much of it. Hard to believe those little things would cause a problem. Oh well, good catch. :bigthumbsup

What wheels are you running?

 

[kramstang]

When I replaced my rotors I noticed those. Didn't think much of it. Hard to believe those little things would cause a problem. Oh well, good catch. :bigthumbsup

What wheels are you running?

I was surprised myself that a 1mm thick piece of metal could cause such a problem, I guess that's why Ford machines a space in the wheels for the ring on the stock wheels. You can easily see the space around the retainer clip left by the factory wheel imprint in the picture in my original post. I am running a set of aftermarket Bullitts that don't have the clearance for that ring machined out... hence the noise & shimmy.

 

[blowndeadline]

Had the same issue, slight vibration at higher speeds, 60 mph or higher. I have the AM GT500 wheels. So, first thing i did was removed one wheel and saw the retainer clip. Got rid of all of them and the vibration is relatively minor now. Might take it back to have them re-balanced, still have a slight vibration in the wheel.

 

[blvd85]

i feel like im having the same problem, same side and when reducing speeds from 60 or so a shimmy or shake, causing my steering wheel to shake as well. Im running stock gt alloys no mods. 2006 gt!

 

[Waxxon]

Know this is an old thread, but I just encountered this today. Had aftermarket wheels put on (AMR) about a month ago and the car was vibrating like crazy (mostly felt through the steering) at 60+. Steering also felt sloppy even at low speeds.

Had it balanced twice, had the suspension checked, nothing helped.

Happened to take it in to have a tire patched and a fellow Mustang owner ended up working on my car. On the way out he mentioned taking out the brake retainer clips and said "Yeah, she might ride a bit better now". Night and day difference; the car is back to feeling the way it should.

Definitely check this if you get aftermarket wheels! Wish I would have happened upon this thread earlier.

 

[RickAKATed10]

I have a bit of a shake in my steering wheel now that I put on aftermarket wheels. I'll be jacking up the car to check for these rings tonight.

Thank you.

 

[Intense]

Nice catch!
...............

 

[JBStang87]

Thanks alot this should be stickied

Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

[T3RM1N8R]

Clips are located on wheel studs on the front side of the rotor as soon as you remove the rim, one clip on each rotor? Is that correct?

 

[RoboStang]

That is correct. Just grab them with a pair of needle nose pliers and rip them off.

 

[XRacer]

Glad you found your problem. Whenever I change wheels on a car especially aftermarket ones which are often made in China or some other overseas source I like to put them on a good quality spin balancer bare ie. before the tires are mounted. This way I can check for any imbalance inherent to the wheel plus any lateral or radial runout issues. Naturally we also want to check for any clearance issues as well. Oftentimes wheels will have a different offset or backspace from the original factory wheels. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does effect a lot more things than many people realize. Anyway that's a subject for another thread.

 

[RandoTheKing]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I've had a shimmy and squeak ever since I put new wheels on. I kept blaming the tire shop for their alignment and balance but all the computer readouts were good. I also thought it could be my brakes squeaking but I only have 35k miles. I'm going to remove these things when I rotate my tires and hope that resolves everything

 

[RandoTheKing]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I've had a shimmy and squeak ever since I put new wheels on. I kept blaming the tire shop for their alignment and balance but all the computer readouts were good. I also thought it could be my brakes squeaking but I only have 35k miles. I'm going to remove these things when I rotate my tires and hope that resolves everything

Wow

I rotated my tires over the weekend and while I was doing it I found and removed the clip on the rotors. It resolved all my issues with the shimmy... Stupid Ford

Too bad I'm 90% sure my rotors are already warped. This probably didn't help