Quite awhile ago I fixed my front end clunk noise and soon after I began getting a steering wheel shake and a rattle (which sounds like it's high in the steering column) when braking at 30mph+. I don't have any loss of control when I brake, just the steering wheel shakes a bit with a terrible rattle along with it. There is no noise associated when turning the wheel, only braking so it makes me believe it wouldn't be the intermediate steering shaft. I removed the dash panel below the steering wheel and listened while I continuously moved the wheel back and forth a couple inches each way. I could hear it but couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was other than it sounded up high on the column.

The best thing I could find online was a youtube video of an 06 Cobalt steering column rattle. The rattle is around 1:20
Has anyone had this problem and what did you have to do/have done? I saw the article about GM suing the steering column manufacturer and wonder if it's simply the column.

 

When was the last time you replaced your brake rotors? Very common to have warped rotors mainly because the the rear brakes don't get adjusted regularly.

 

Pretty much a textbook case of brake judder, new front pads and rotors + cleaning and adjusting the rear brakes will smooth things right out.

After doing the work, get in the habit of adjusting the rear brakes every 5,000 miles, or at every oil change and the judder shouldn't return.

 

The noise you are "feeling" in the steering column while turning the wheel is probably just the friction components like the turn signal cancel, the airbag clockspring etc.

 

Thanks for all the replies. My rotors are pretty new with ~15k miles old and just did front and rear brake job last month. I made a mistake and told you all wrong about the wheel...Yesterday when I was driving home from work, I hit the brakes hard at 55mph and the wheel did not shake at all. Only the noise in the column was present each time I braked from higher speeds. Wish I had a good way of recording it for y'all. I've got a camera but don't know if the sound would produce in the cabin very well with road noise present.

 

I have simalar problem when braking at 30 to40 i changed rotors , pads, caliber, lower control arm , bearing, strut and i still have same issues .

 

I bought a 2006 HHR three years ago with 50K on it. Changed the rotors shortly after only to get the new ones warped again. Meanwhile driver side hub bearing needed to replaced 6 to 8 month changer passenger side bearing. Had the rotors changed a second time only to get the rattle and shaking reappear. Tolerated rattle in steering column for quite some time and after reading many different posts, I had my mechanic remove the intermediate steering shaft to inspect it. Turns out it had seized, there was no back and forth movement. Since then no rattle.

 

There are posts and threads about the intermediate shaft, brake judder and front suspension clunks, glad you got yours figured out.