I know this subject has been beat into the ground. Rotor warp can be caused by many things. Pulsating pedal may not be the actual brakes. My 2 previous HHR's a 2011 and a 2009 never had any problems. I bought my current HHR, 2010 2LT after my '09 got totaled by a person on her cell phone... anyway. I find this 2010 with low miles, loaded up real nice, all new front end parts, and her insurance company paid for it! I started to notice how it didn't like to stop when it was wet out.. So I do the new brake rotors. drilled and slotted Powerstop brand with ceramic pads, hung brand new Hankooks on all 4 corners, lug nuts torqued ... that's when it went bad... started having the "warped" rotor shake, no mater cold, warmed up or heated up. It was random too.. Then the ABS and stability control lights came on... and the shake and shimmy stopped. Checked the codes, says lost communication with rear sensors. I hate to fix it because I think the ABS system is what may cause all our brake shake issues... My other HHR's didn't have ABS, nor did I have brake problems. I drive this '10 "spirited" and it stops fantastic now! Just a little bit of body pitch tossing it into a turn. I'm old school and grew up with 5 turns lock to lock steering, drum brakes and the handling of a bowl of soup.... The fact that some disclaimers say the car is dangerous and should have it towed to a dealer, must be paid GM employees.... Just saying, maybe we have all over looked a safety system that has made our cars brakes shake and pulsate.... Any thoughts on this? If ya don't believe it, come drive it...

 

Did you look at the rear brakes? When they get way out of adjustment the ABS will react and wet stopping is affected.

There is no code "lost communication with rear sensors", what was the code number?

 

The lost communications was what the guy at O'Reily's said was the problem, tried to reset it 3 times and it would come right back...I have since put back brakes and drums on it, because I bought them for my '09 and it was wrecked before I had the chance to install them... Rotors were blue from being over heated at some time before I bought it.

 

The or kid is FOS, take it somewhere else and get the actual code.

 

Never trust those kids, they can barely read the description much less know what they mean. Who knows what was really displayed? No such description exists.
There is, for each corner:
no additional information
signal amplitude lower than expected
circuit erratic signal

Over heated drums means out of round drums means brake shake.

By this time I hope you know about the self adjusters not working.

 

First off this was not a kid reading it..He was in his 40's... I will go some where and have an old dude read it and I will verify what he is reading. As for the back brakes you swear is every ones problem, The shake stopped before I changed or even looked at my back brakes. The braking greatly improved with new rotors,calipers and ceramic pads, and still had the shake... ABS and Stability lights on, shake stopped. FACTS ....By this time I hope you know, not everyone is stupid.

 

Geez! I can't have a civil discussion?
Why did you bother to post? Just trolling?
The training they get is "push this button, sell what it says on the screen". Unfortunately the titles of OBD2 tests do not always point to guilty part. Millions of cam shaft position sensors and crankshaft position sensors have been sold because the title of P0016 is "intake camshaft position/crankshaft positioncorrelation"' is sensor in there?
Ifr the ABS light is on constantly it means the ABS is disabled. If the service ESC message is displayed it means the ESC is disabled. The ABS codes can only be read if the ABS light is on.
"Stupid is as stupid does". I never said you or anyone else was stupid.

 

Sure, we can have a perfectly civil discussion. You may not have said the word stupid, but it's implied that the parts store guys are all flunkies... "Never trust those kids, they can barely read the description much less know what they mean." I am sure they have many uneducated, automotively, and simplified the answer so I understood what he was saying. He doesn't know me, I don't know him.I won't judge... I'm not a troller or have I ever trolled a forum. I am open minded and figured I would share what has made my HHR stop shaking and shimmying under braking. Sure it could be back brakes for some, but I explained my miracle cure as an avenue to explore for those who might not be getting it to stop with other methods. My ABS light is on all the time as is the stability control and Brake lights. I have the message that the ESC needs serviced. "By this time I hope you know about the self adjusters not working" "Why did you bother to post" "Just Trolling"... in my opinion, it's provoking an uncivil discussion.. As simple as this....don't like my opinion, great! Move on. If I am posting dangerous advice, by all means jump in, you are a moderator

 

Don - "If I am post dangerous advice" kinda tells the whole story.

If he wants to believe that the ABS and ESC lights being on, stopped the shake - lets let him go on down that road. Like he said, it's his "miracle cure" and who are we to disagree with that.
Of course looking into why those lights are on, is not worthwhile at all, since they are the "miracle cure".

 

The lights being on didn't cure anything, but the systems they are warning you about are not functioning and I haven't had brake shake since.... can't handle that fact so be it... If you want to play on words, lets talk about that Name "Whopper" Been tellin some? This is why younger folks or people trying to figure out their car problems, dislike forums. Here let me drink the cool aide... OMG!!! IT WAS THE REAR BRAKES THE WHOLE TIME!!!! hope you all feel better now....