Scary shaking coming from my Nubira

[RobertCooper245]

My Nubira tends to shake violently as I press the brake while driving on the highway. It would continue to shake as I'm accelerating between 40-60mph, but it would be a light rumble compared to the seizure the car goes through when I press the brake. I can also hear what sounds like a helicopter hovering above me when all of this happens, with the sound being considerably louder as the shaking becomes more severe. After no more than 5 minutes of this, the symptoms would stop happening.

What makes it bizarre for me is that it's a very occasional problem. It only seems to happen after being stuck in stop-and-go traffic, going no more than 40mph at a time.

I suspect it might be the rotors, but it seems unlikely to be an occasional problem if that were the case. Nevertheless, I suspect the problem's coming from the front end somewhere.

Any suggestions on what I should look at, and if this problem has happened to any of you?

[PrecisionBoost]

Perhaps you have a combination of a warped rotor and a contaminated brake pad, it's possible the contaminated pad will cause a higher coefficient of friction to begin with when it's cold and slowly fade out causing the problem to decrease significantly as you drive.

Personally, I'd go right to replacement rotors and pads, they aren't that expensive in the big scheme of things and it's likely your going to have to replace them at some point anyways.

Consider how much your deductible is on your insurance if your brakes fail to slow you down quick enough, or you loose control and end up smacking into the back end of someone.

[benzino]

check your wheel nuts for correct tension as well

[Puddle31]

wow, that is really strange. I can't imagine something mechanical (rotors, bearing, break pads, etc) being intermittent like that. You would think it would be all the time. usually the intermittent stuff would be something witha sensor or electrical. i would certainly check all the lug nuts and studs, pull the tires and check the rotors, break pads, make sure there isn't something loose down there. Any chance the plastic from inside the wheel well is coming loose and hitting the tire or axle? there should be rub marks somewhere if it is. that could explain the randomness of it if it gets lodged in a position for a while then breaks free to make more noise. Sorry I have no clue. wish I could help.