1996 Oldsmobile Ciera Brake Grab

DRUMMERPRINCE

MEMBER
1996 OLDSMOBILE CIERA
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
133,000 MILES

Hey Guys,
My car unevenly brakes after driving for about 1-2 miles. This is pull is from the front not from the back. I could not nail down which side its coming from but I am confident that it is from the front. When I initially start driving the car wouldn't show anything but after some stops the brakes begin to grab. Now seeing this I had replaced the front two calipers and rotors about a year ago but it did not make a difference. Then I had also replaced the brake fluid. Still there was no improvement so my friend told me that it could be my brake hose so I replaced those when I put in new struts in the car but there is STILL no improvement. I have no idea what might be causing this problem, so if any of you have an idea about this please help me out!

Thanks

6 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,755 POSTS

Which tire locks up? GM vehicles have a history of this problem with the rear brakes. Are you certain it is a front brake?

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Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 AT 5:44 PM

DRUMMERPRINCE

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5 POSTS

I think it is the front because the front of the car shakes when I brake.I couldn't really feel anything in the back. I could really feel this problem when coming to a stop.I don't feel any grab when I am at speeds above 35 or 40mph. By the way. Thanks for the response!

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Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 AT 8:40 PM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,755 POSTS

If the problem gets worse when you hit the brakes, you must have a warped rotor or both. The pulling has me lost. The does one side of the brakes wear faster than the other? When the brakes grab, will one wheel skid?

Let me know. The only other thing is the proportioning valve, but I have to be honest, throughout 30 years in the business, I never saw one go bad unless it was damaged from an accident.

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Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 AT 9:05 PM

DRUMMERPRINCE

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5 POSTS

No the wheels have not skidded yet. The other day I took the calipers apart and checked the brakes. They were evenly worn on both sides of the car. What I mean by pull is that when I press the brake pedal, it feels like one side of the car is grabbing and releasing the brakes. I saw that in many post people referred to brake grab as one side braking consistently harder than the opposite side but this is not the case with this car. I had replaced the rotors and I am sure that if they were bad then my brake pedal would pulsate but there is no pulsation.
Over this weekend.I flushed my brake fluid to make sure there was no blockage in the brake lines that could be causing this issue but this did nothing. Now I am guessing it could be something else other than the braking components maybe some sort of bushing.I am really not sure.

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Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 AT 8:08 AM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,755 POSTS

I wish I was there to experience it. That would make things much easier to recognize. The only things left are the proportioning valve and the master cylender. It seems like you have checked everything else.