Griiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind when slowing to a stop?

CanukGMC · #1 03-11-2006, 10:16 AM

Hey all, I have two theories on this. Here's the problem I'm having:

All of a sudden, after taking a long roadtrip, when braking I noticed a sound. When braking from full speed I hear nothing new, but when I get from about 5mph to 0mph I hear a metal on metal griiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnd noise coming from the passenger side, it's alot like the sound you hear when you machine a rotor face, scrapeing metal. It makes the noise until I get to a full stop, when I release the brakes and start accelerating the noise is there for a second or two but disapears when driving. The only other weird thing I noticed, and it only did this once, was when I came to a stop at an intersection a few minutes ago it did the normal griiiind when slowing down but at the last second it just halted, not a tire squeeling halt, just a more-sudden-than-expected halt. It drove fine after that though, but still making the noises.

I have 2 theories:

1)The brake pads are finally worn out and the sound I'm hearing is those squeel things that rub the rotor when the pads wear down, so I need to change up my pads (DOH! It's snowing out too...).

2) WORST case scenerio I think one of the caliper(s) are sticking and the grinding is the sound of the brake only applying part way and sometimes dragging when I release it. When I drive around and stop though none of the wheel rims feel hot (normal signs of a stuck caliper), I don't see extra brake dust, the steering doesn't seem to pull either way while braking. So maybe it's not a stuck caliper? I don't know...

Any ideas? I hate brakes! lol

CanukGMC · #2 03-11-2006, 03:21 PM

Well I took the rears apart today since we narrowed the sound down to the back end. What I found was quite interesting and reminded me of another symptom I thought was nothing. While driving home on the roadtrip my wife hit the brakes once and we heard a loud BANG like a peice of ice flying up and hitting the undercarriage, I thought nothing of it until I saw the brakes.

One side of the brake pads had actually the pad itself fall off\fly off and the caliper was pressing the steel backing plate into the rotor like the pad would have been. That explains the noise, the rotor is all but destroyed so I put new pads and rotors on both sides, no sense in running new stuff on one side and not the other. The calipers I'm sure will be next, the rubber boots were ripped on both of them and the bleeder screw stripped on one of them so I couldn't even compress the pistons properly, I had to open the resevoir and c-clamp the pistons in manually and slowly. It worked, my pedal isn't stiff like brand new but it's back to the way it was before and the original noise is now gone. Unforuntately now I have this squeek squeek noise and gets faster and faster as I speed up, it's not affected by the braking and it's only on the one rear side, maybe some crud got caught up in the parking brake drum and it's working itself out. We'll see... god I hate brakes sometimes...

old_master · #3 03-11-2006, 04:56 PM

Snowin' in dah soo dare eh? Good place for it ya know. Us trolls are seein' darn near 60 today and 63 tomorrow!

If the caliper boots are torn, it definitely needs calipers. Don't wait, the new pads will wear quickly and destroy your new rotors too.

CanukGMC · #4 03-11-2006, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old_master

Snowin' in dah soo dare eh? Good place for it ya know. Us trolls are seein' darn near 60 today and 63 tomorrow!

If the caliper boots are torn, it definitely needs calipers. Don't wait, the new pads will wear quickly and destroy your new rotors too.

Yeah I figured as much. The calipers are working fine, just those damned boots are fubared. I really didn't want to have to be fiddling with open hydraulics again, I would assume it's a real PITA to bleed if air gets anywhere in the ABS system huh? I blasted the whole thing with brake cleaner and now one side is squeeking like mad but it's coming from the wheel bearing, I bet I washed the bearings grease out by accident, I guess either way I'm opening it up again tomorrow to grease that before it burns out too.

CanukGMC · #5 03-11-2006, 06:11 PM

Ok this is getting $#@! outta hand. ONE brake pad blows apart on me ruining a rotor. Sure, I spend today fixing that, total cost in PARTS 240$ (no labor, I do all my own), that includes 2 new rotors, pads, brake cleaner. While in there yes the calipers are finished, fine, we'll do those too, I goto the parts guy and not only does he only have one left one in stock (only a left? wtf?) but they are $125.25 PER SIDE! My YJ blew both it's front calipers at once and they were only 30$ a side, REAR CALIPERS ON A 98 JIMMY ARE APPARENTLY PRESSED FROM GOLD!

So by the time this is all said and done, one grinding noise and a blown pad is going to cost me approx:

$490.50 !!!

Assuming nothing else goes wrong! Imagine if I had to pay labor on this to boot! Again I am so damned glad I do my own work, it's way cheaper. BUT STILL this is insane!

old_master · #6 03-11-2006, 06:15 PM

There is a special bleeding procedure with ABS and it must be followed. If you have a Chilton or Haynes manual, it will tell how to do it. If you don't have a manual, you better get one. They're only about $13 USD, a good investment for the DIYer.

CanukGMC · #7 03-11-2006, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old_master

There is a special bleeding procedure with ABS and it must be followed. If you have a Chilton or Haynes manual, it will tell how to do it. If you don't have a manual, you better get one. They're only about $13 USD, a good investment for the DIYer.

Yep I already bought one, I usually get a fastory service manual since the chiltons\haynes are usually missing half the info I end up looking for, either way I'll give it a read and figure out what to do with this nice mess.

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