Mountains and car brakes

[Winter Woman]

I drove from MI to NV and drove thru the mountains. On the way down the mountains I applied my brakes to slow down and the car shook violently. It only happened on the way down not at any other time, not on flatland. It scared the heck out of me.

I'm thinking that I'm not the only one with this problem and hoping that those of you who live there might give me an inkling what I need to have done to the brakes now. Any ideas?

Oh yeah, I just had my brakes done before the trip.

WW

 

[smokinrav]

You need one or more new calipers. Sorry.

 

[fdd2blk]

downshift.

 

[ohmy]

You need one or more new calipers. Sorry.

take it your Not a mechanic. .. OP you rode your breaks and got the rotors hot and they warped. For people that are going to keep there car/trucks for a few years I do drilled and slotted rotors and ceramic pads that will last more then 15k miles esp if the owner is hard on the breaks. best deal I found and have put on over 100 cars is from ebay. they warranty the parts for life.

 

[Winter Woman]

Thanks, everyone for the advice. Even FDD's down shift - I was so freaked out I didn't even think of it. I was just noticing the runaway paths for trucks and hoping I didn't need it.

I can't imagine driving out of Vail's mountains in the winter.

 

[chef c]

Yes might need new rotors if their warped really bad, but a brake shop should be able to turn em (put them on a lathe and remove small amounts off metal from the faces of the rotor until they are "even" again. Or, I had a jeep cherokee that under heavy breaking would develop a shake and if the harmonic was right it would amplify through out the whole truck!!! If that's it, back of the breaks and slowly reapply. Helps to not be turning, but whacha gonna do? Have fun, snow driving is awesome! Have you ever seen the world rally championships? Nutz. Best drivers in the world. And craziest to. Look it up