Yeah, I know, common on these cars. Rotors warped, or maybe brake pad material deposits, I've done a lot of reading.

2009 HHR, about 69k miles, original rotors. It got so bad that it was knocking and sounded like it was going to fall apart. I tore it apart numerous times and made sure nothing was loose. I felt like it was from the front left.

Finally last night I put a new rotor on the front left and the problem is resolved. Still have original on the right. I expect it to come back soon based on other similar accounts read here.

I was talking to a buddy about it and he wondered if I might have a bad proportion valve that is causing it to use the left brake more than the right, overheating and warping it. To me the logic seems sound but I'm not overly familiar with the HHR's.

Does this sound reasonable? If so I'm assuming it would be a master cylinder problem since each of the front brakes probably is a direct run?

Thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

It doesn't sound reasonable and proportioning valves work front to rear, not side to side. It sounds like your friend might not know to much about cars?

You should have replaced both rotors though. You really never want to just replace one at a time. Now you have new pads on one side and old on the other. This is not a good thing to do, besides the fact that you are always going to have staggered wear now.

 

I was taught many years ago to always replace both sides when replacing brake pads, rotors, wheel bearings, etc so they are starting out even. Since there was pretty violent shaking you said, I would have checked the wheel bearings and the ball joints and tie rod ends as necessary as they can also be damaged.

 

It sounds more like a caliper problem..sometimes they dont slide the same lt to rt..one side will stick..or only one pad will wear (usually the inside pad)..so keep an eye on that new one and see if the pads wear evenly...and change the other one real soon..you have unequal brakes..will really show up when they get hot.

 

Hey there, thank for the response my friend. Not knowing much about cars might a lot to assume from one suggestion though, we all make mistakes, at least I know that I do. :) I'm no pro, I'm a home tinkerer and I learn as I go usually by means of research and friends advice. This typically works well for me and I'm now finally tackling my first engine-out project on my old Saturn (which this HHR replaced). I have some vids here if interested.

http://www.youtube.com/DoSumpthin

No proportioning valve, that's why I mentioned the master cylinder. From my limited experience each front wheel is usually a straight run to the master cylinder. Going back to my friends concept of a (non existent) front proportion valve I had brought up the master cylinder figuring that if only one side was warped that perhaps it was the result of more load or pressure to one side?

I share the same feeling and I replace both front rotors. At the time of my initial post I purposely only replaced one side as part of my information gathering and troubleshooting process, the next day I did the other side. My thinking was that If I had done both then how would I have known it was just the drivers side causing the shaking?

Additionally, yes, I did check out the wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rod ends, suspension, STK bolts, Sway bar links, and caliper slides... about 3 times in 6 months. In fact I bought all new last year... 2 rotors, front pads, 2 quick struts, 2 control arms with ball joints, 2 tie rod ends. Being a 'thrifty yankee' I got the lifetime warranty stuff from AZ (except no lifetime rotors) because I tend to keep my cars for a long time, live in the sticks away from parts stores, and drive on a lot of bumpy dirt roads. Now I have all the parts on hand for when I need them. This has worked well on my 95 Saturn I bought 13 years ago. I've swapped out the lifetime struts, pads, tie rod ends, and more many times now.

End of last year, Dec 2012, on this HHR I installed the desperately needed struts, and did the brake pads too at that time.

I've checked he caliper slides pins numerous times. They are shiny clean, well lubed, and slide very well. Nothing on this car is rusted (yet) except the outside surfaces of the cast calipers, brackets, etc.

You know, this did make me think of my Saturn a few years ago. I bought new caliper brackets because my was doing to brake lines, calipers, flex lines, etc. and wanted to go all out. The old ones were pretty rusty. This was my mistake because I was immediately chewing up brake pads on one side. Ends up one of the new caliper brackets was warped (not visibly) and after much grief I swapped back an old one and problem was solved. I don't see why one of my originals on the HHR would be warped but it did bring up that memory. Any history of this with HHR's?

ALSO... I haven't been around here much but as my car is aging I'm sure you'll see more of me. It's good to meet all of you and thanks. Much Appreciated.

 

Junker - thanks for sharing some of the insight on your troubleshooting. Swapping just the one rotor to isolate the source of the problem was a good step.

Welcome to the site.

Cheers

 

Alway do the rotors when shaking while braking pads and rotors sumetimes they get hard spots. On crappy rotors I use ac delco pads and seem to last for ever same with their rotors a lot of shops machine them and put the same ones on and they just warp. If its shaking. With out putting brakes on culd be broken tire belt. Unbalenced tire rim. Is off center on the hub. One side of the brake caliper is sticking. And heatinfg and warping yer rotor I. Always coat the sliders with anti size and then a good coat of lithium grease on the sliders.

 

Hyper, Hyper where are you? It's time to step in and help these poor souls.

 

I know this is an old thread. I bought a used HHR about 7 months ago. Since then I have cycled a new set of rotors into rotation. I swapped rotors last night. The second use of the new rotors.
I wonder if the caliper mount is under designed. I wonder if it flexes under load.
I wonder if the flexure causes the pads to lift from the rotor and return to an "unloaded" position. Then repeat.

The interior of the upper bolt hole holding the calilper has burnish marks and indentions from the threads.

 

No.

I don't get "rotating" the calipers. Seems wasteful and dumb. Pads should last upward of 70,000 miles, rotors should last for at least 2 sets of pads. Assuming you take care of the REAR brakes.

If a bolt hole is damaged, it's due to not being correctly torqued, not design faults.

Give the search a try to find out what really causes shaking from hard braking.