'93 GrandAm Grinding when breaking

Lately my car has been making a grinding sound when I come to a stop or turn the steering wheel to the far right while driving slowly. There was a higher pitched metal-on-metal grinding sound a few weeks ago, but that seems to have stopped lately. I'm leaning towards break pads, but I've never heard of a grinding sound like this related to break pads. The high-pitched grinding would make me think break pads, but now its more of a lower pitched(but pretty loud) grinding. Any help with this would be great. Thanks.

-Mike

Sounds like the high pitched noise was trying to warn you that brake pads were gone. Normally the grinding indicates that you have worn completely through the pads and are now in the process of tearing apart your brake rotors. At this point, your calipers may be suspect also.

I'll change the break pads this weekend and see if that helps. Thanks for the info, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Like dober-man says you may will probably want to replace your rotors also. Quite simple and relatively cheap on our cars to do.

Yeah, i kinda ignored the high pitched noise and eventually it turned into the grinding noise. All i did was replace the pads and i got the rotors resurfaced. Recently i just got two new front rotors at pep boys for 20 bucks each. not bad eh

Others have already alluded to it, but I'll add something. There are warning sensors located on the brake pads. They generally look like about a 1/2 inch wide hook shaped piece of metal. They'll be facing the front of your car when installed on the calipers. The distance the warning sensor is from the rotor will decrease as the thickness of your brake pads decrease. When the warning sensor first contacts your rotor, you'll likely hear a high pitched squeal. Of course it's best to replace your pads before this happens, but your rotors will still be fine after initial warning sensor contact. If you wait too long after that initial contact, the warning sensor will continue to grind into your rotors and you'll be replacing the rotors too.

I changed the break pads and they work like a charm. The pad on the left was worn all the way down, but the one on the right was only about half. Is this something to worry about? The pad did dig into the rotor a little bit(less than 1mm)but it didn't warp it at all. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

--Mike

You shoudl Replace the Calipers and Rotors. Or change the sliders on the calipers, or even make sure they Slide.

I changed the break pads and they work like a charm. The pad on the left was worn all the way down, but the one on the right was only about half. Is this something to worry about? The pad did dig into the rotor a little bit(less than 1mm)but it didn't warp it at all. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

--Mike

I hope you at least resurfaced your rotors. The rough surface where your worn-down pad ground into your rotor will eat up your new brake pads in no time, could also make your car 'pull' some while braking.

-slacker

I hope you at least resurfaced your rotors. The rough surface where your worn-down pad ground into your rotor will eat up your new brake pads in no time, could also make your car 'pull' some while braking.


Which may be the reason you had one pad worn half way and one worn out.

How would I go about resurfacing my rotors? Would it be less expensive just to buy new rotors? I don't really plan on putting any money into my car unless I absolutely have to, so that is why I ask.

if you just need your rotors tuned/resurfaced, just take them to pepboys or any mechanic that does brakes and they should do it for about 7 bucks a rotor.