Car Juddering when slowing down

**goldygsi** · 16-10-2009,07:25 PM

Hi, I am a new member, so hello!!

I have had a GT Tdi140 for a a few weeks, it's an 07 Reg with 76,000 miles on (yeah I know high mileage but I was told it's not a problem with the Golf as they are solid). Anyway, when I'm slowing down the car starts to judder before coming to a halt, it has been into VW who put it on a diagonsis machine and that came back normal, I've had the wheels balanced - they were fine, while the wheels were off they checked the brakes and they were fine

Anyone had similar issues???

**thewall** · 16-10-2009,08:56 PM

It could be warped disc,did they road test it

**goldygsi** · 16-10-2009,09:00 PM

No it's not been road tested but the brakes and discs were supposed to be new when I got it 6 weeks ago.

**dakster** · 17-10-2009,08:45 AM

Track rod ends?

Had a ford galaxy once when the discs wore down they warped which caused vibration on braking. When ford replaced the discs they did the trackrod ends at the same time, saying by the time you noticed the wobble the track rod ends were shot. Had a colleague with a sharan he had same issue as me (both were company cars.) Apparently a common Galaxy/Sharan problem.

Worth a look?

**GarJE** · 17-10-2009,09:00 AM

If your discs are only 6 weeks old, they should still be like new. There should be no 'step' on the outer edge at all yet. Does only do this under braking?

**Teflon** · 17-10-2009,11:36 AM

Try this.

Find a long, straight, dry, deserted road. Get the car up to about 40mph. Put the gearbox in neutral. Apply brakes firmly and progressively until the car stops (not as if you're doing an emergency stop). Note what happens and when/if you get any juddering, or any steering pull or if you feel anything through the pedal or the wheel.

Do the same again, but without brakes, just allow the car to coast to a halt.

Report back the results and we'll see what they indicate. Good luck with finding a suitable road.

If VW genuinely have had the wheels off and had a good look round they should have spotted any problems with track rod ends, ball joints and so on. I'd love to know what they actually did with their "diagnosis machine", maybe you could ask them for a print out.

It sounds like the classic symptoms of a warped disc from what you've told us so far. They wouldn't easily confirm it without either a road test or by putting a dial gauge on the discs.

**goldygsi** · 19-10-2009,01:56 PM

right, update on the juddering, took it a mechanic friend who has found the problem isn't the brakes but the engine. The cars vibrates at 1200 revs and once you get through 1200 it clears, so when slowing down it vibrates as it goes back through 1200 revs.

Booked back into VW.

**krautmender** · 19-10-2009,02:11 PM

Is there any sort of noise you associate that could be connected to the vibration?

**goldygsi** · 19-10-2009,06:34 PM

no there is no noise, it just vibrates badly between 1100 and 1200 revs. The car also vibrates at times during normal driving. Hopefully this is something simple.

**Teflon** · 20-10-2009,09:30 AM

Originally Posted by goldygsi

no there is no noise, it just vibrates badly between 1100 and 1200 revs. The car also vibrates at times during normal driving. Hopefully this is something simple.

Okay, just to be clear here. Does the engine viabrate between 1100 and 1200rpm when the car is stationary and out of gear or only when you are slowing down?

If it is the latter, it probably points to something in the driveline (drive shafts, discs, brakes, eggy tyres, etc.) or something engine related that the dealer ought to have spotted already. If it happens just when you rev the engine and let it die off then it sounds like a strange case of wierd engine syndrome. First thing to check would be engine mounts, if they are okay then some head scratching is in order.