This blog will explain why MyVi steering wheel rattles when the brakes are deployed.
A few weeks ago, I sent my MyVi for a routine service - tyre rotation, balancing and alignment. I left my car with my trustee mechanic and headed off for some breakfast nearby. Upon returning to the
bengkel, the mechanic greeted me with some ill news. He said he need to change the brake pads of my car. Sensing that CNY is just around the corner, I first thought the mechanic was just ripping me off. And boy was I wrong.
Ignoring me, the mechanic proceeded to remove the break pads and this was what I saw.
Do you see it? No? One brake pad is totally worn off to the base while the other still seems OK. The deepness of the gorge at the center of the brake pads show how much steel was unevenly eaten up!
For non-car-geeks just like me, I will try to give my best dummy-proof explanation about the function of brake pads. The brake pad is about as thick/thin as a slice of white bread and about half its size. See picture of the unused brake pad.
Each pads is on either side of the brake disc, which is attached to the wheel on the same wheel shaft. Its about the size of a dinner plate (almost as thick as well) and a few times the size of a brake pad. Every wheel on a car has a disc, every disc is has two brake pads on either side.
As you would imagine, when you stomp the brakes, the two brake pads will sandwich the disc, grinding your car to a halt. Obviously, after some time, your break pads will wear off. Pure physics and chemistry.
However, with my MyVi, the outer break pads of my front wheels wore off more significantly than the inner break pads, as you can see in the picture below.
Apparently, according to the mechanic, the same thing is happening to his MyVi as well as the MyVis of most of his customers! When I checked with my dad, who used to be a mechanic, he attributed the occurence to a 'design flaw'.
You see, when the two brake pads eat into the disc, it is supposed to do so with equal force. But this is not with the MyVi. And both my old and the mechanic also mentioned that, due to the inequal force, the disc will gradually bend and lose its shape. This explains why your steering wheel rattles when you jam the brakes. The two brake pads are clamping on the uneven brake discs!
And there's a conspiracy behind these occurences as well - Perodua Service Centres will rectify the problem for free! Seems like they knew the problem before us. Care to ask them why the steering rattles the next time to take your car for a service?
So, unlike Perodua, please warn your MyVi-using friends and have some care for the lives of those in your MyVi as well. Feedback, comments and discussions are encouraged...
The brain is a wonderful... err, thing. Almost our whole life, we think that we know how our brains work but we don't. At least for me.
