Some things I know alot about, but brakes are not one of them. I installed new pads/rotors in my '96 GST Spyder last month. Brakes seem to grab hard without much pedal pressure. All parts are OEM. On high speed braking, involving a turn (like exiting a highway) I get alot of vibration from the front. No vibration on braking around town. Is it possible the rotors need to be turned?

Also, when I put in the pads, the inner pads have a metal prong sticking out at one end. On both sides, I installed the pads so the tab is on the top of the rotor. Is there a driver and passenger side for the inner pads? What are these prongs for anyways?

 

The prongs are the sensors that make a grinding noise when the pads need to be replaced. If the rotors are scored, you need to have them turned.

 

well with the rotors being brand new i cant see them being a problem. But usually it is the rotors that will cause that shaking. So i dont know what to say. Except may they got warped a bit. Or they came defective. Or maybe you just need to have your tires balanced. But i would think if you had bad balance then it would shake the whole time at high speed.

 

Thanks for responding. However I still have two burning questions.

A family "know it all" told me the metal prongs on the inside pads were NOT wear indicators, but were tabs which prevented the the pad from slipping (somehow) during braking.

These tabs are on the TOP of the calipers right now. If I swap them to the other side, they will be on the BOTTOM of the caliper. If they are "side specific", and on the wrong side, could they be causing the vibration during a hard turning brake because they are slipping?

 

pads are NOT side specific as far as left or right rotor, but for which side on the caliper i think they are, but it should have only fit one way. And the metal thing on the bads is a wear indicator. when your pars get really low the metal tab will start to hit the rotor making a squell. They also are there because they fit into a slot when putting them in i beleive. But there primary function is a wear indicator