2000 Grand AM Noise when stopping.

[pulicef]

When stopping in my 2000 GA, the front end make a grinding/squeking noise. This noise doesn't happen all the time. It happens most after being in stop and go traffic for a while, and seems to happen more often after it has rained. No vibrations are associated with this noise. My car has no vibrations when braking at high speeds. The noise only occurs when close to a stop. Any help would be appreciated.

[Shaolin-Akira]

i have a 2000 se 4dr and i notice a slight clicking(barley audable over the engine, maby yours is worse), when doing realy light braking, like when i park my car in the garage...(nothing at higher speed) i just bought mine and it had a full inspection form the pontiac dealership i bought it from, so im not too worried about it

[00RamAir]

Originally Posted by Shaolin-Akira

i have a 2000 se 4dr and i notice a slight clicking(barley audable over the engine, maby yours is worse), when doing realy light braking, like when i park my car in the garage...(nothing at higher speed) i just bought mine and it had a full inspection form the pontiac dealership i bought it from, so im not too worried about it

I have a 00 GA GT and i have noticed a mojor problem with the braking noise is the dealerships where u buy the car ecspecially if it is used. What they like to do is put metallic brake pads on them or what is known as "lifetime pads" wich are junk so when the car sits in the rain even for a short time they will actually rust and when u first apply brakes at low peeds u will get some annoying brake noise. The best solution is to buy a good set of new brake pads.

[Babblethrog]

I have this same noise coming the only the front passenger wheel.

It sounds like a bad bearing. At higher speeds, the clicks and or slight grinds disappear and mesh with the other car noises. It gets particularly loud when I do slow left turns.

In the last month as part of needed maintenance I replaced all the brake pads and shoes, front brake discs and new tires came up the week after too. So now I'm sitting with the only option is to pull the bearing hub assembly and replace it, this is a sealed 'don't-mess-with-it-unit'.

If the noise goes away I'll post.

The only other thing really left after that is the CV joint.


Now where did I put the hub puller?

[nick_moparman]

i have a 99 and i had the same problem, ended up being the cv problem, and it cost a shit load so have fun, and my wheel bearings had to be replaced also.

Originally Posted by Babblethrog

I have this same noise coming the only the front passenger wheel.

It sounds like a bad bearing. At higher speeds, the clicks and or slight grinds disappear and mesh with the other car noises. It gets particularly loud when I do slow left turns.

In the last month as part of needed maintenance I replaced all the brake pads and shoes, front brake discs and new tires came up the week after too. So now I'm sitting with the only option is to pull the bearing hub assembly and replace it, this is a sealed 'don't-mess-with-it-unit'.

If the noise goes away I'll post.

The only other thing really left after that is the CV joint.


Now where did I put the hub puller?

[jeffreno]

I had a similar problem too. Grinding sound when stopping/slowing down at speeds < 20mph or so was one of my problems, but when I turned the wheel almost completely left or right (the noise got louder the more i turned the wheel), I had the same grinding sound. If you can duplicate this turning sound, then I can almost guarantee to you that the problem is the stock Goodyear RSA tires. Have you had to replace them just yet? There is a TSB out on this problem.
The other thing that comes to mind is what I am currently going thru on my 2000 GT. The brake piston is aluminum, while the caliper is steel. (This is another known problem.) Over time, the piston warps and pushes the brake pad at an angle to the rotor, so when you brake, you hear a god aweful grinding sound.
www.grandamgt.com has a forum where these 2 problems and many others are discussed.
These problems, the tires and the caliper/piston, can sound very similar. The difference occurs when braking. Grinding when braking = caliper/piston problem. Grinding when driving slow or cornering is the RSA problem.
Hope this helps,
Jeff

[thebrksgrp]

I have a 2002 GT, about 6 weeks ago it started with this grinding noise in the front passenger side when you drove slowly. Then when you turned right it was worse. Now it happens when turning both right and left and when driving slow. I took it to the dealer, then told me it was a tire problem and that they had one other car with the same problem. I asked what my options were and they said you can pay to have the tires changed, or live with it. I am more concerned about a safety issue than anything else, and suggested to them that if anything were to happen with this car due to a problem in the front end, now that I had the car in twice for the same problem, that they would be held fully responsible. They did not flinch and said that it was not a safety problem. As a novis car enthusiast, I really find a grinding noise in the front end an issue and am trying to get a GM representative to look at this car. If anyone else has input please let me know.

Thanks,
Chris

[Babblethrog]

Okie,

I did some more digging and I got a little lull in the cold weather and got a change to get at this problem. I got irritated enough to spend the better part of a Saturday and a small pile of money.

Known problems -

- warped rotors -
OEM versions have been known to warp under heat. Most dealers will turn 'em, keep doing this until they are past spec and they will put new OEM and the problem may come up again, that is unless they changed how the OEM's are made.
- characterized by a pulsating shudder that decreases with speed and increases in severity as they warp more with time. Swap rotors from each side and the problem should follow the rotor.
- could conceivably wear flat spots on the pins the calipers slide on

- tires -
OEM's are Goodyear RSA and I've read a post that said these could be a problem. I never had a problem with them. If you are fortunate enough to have a full size spare try a swap and see if the problem goes away.
I ran my RSA's nearly bald and bought Eagle GT's. A couple of months ago so I eliminated this as a problem.
- try the spare, rotate the tires from the rear, torque those lugs properly (100 lb-ft - Haynes).

- caliper/piston problem -
aluminum piston on steel backing on the pads, softer material on a hard surface, something has to give. Measure the old problem pads with respect to the steel backing. Maybe you'll be lucky and actually see a noticeably angled wear pattern. If you throw new pads on may notice a continual drag on the car noticable when you take your foot off the accelerator. Its like you're lightly braking. This could be a warped caliper/piston problem. There will be a grinding noise evident and a seeming sluggishness to the car.


Here is my story:

I did the following on NEW pads and NEW rotors.

I traced the pads on paper and mic'd a few places and noted them on the trace.
I took some watercolor paint and painted brake material and let it dry.
Reassemble. (Note the sensor is on the pad piston-side on the caliper and it should point skywards - yes there are left and right at least on the inner pads)
Stomp on the brake hard a few times while in PARK to get the piston properly set. I drove around the block slowly a few times using nothing but my hand brake (rear brakes only <wink>). <Grind grind from the same side> I took it all apart again. I found slight wear on the paint in an uneven pattern.
The important thing was that the wear was on some very marginally LOW spots.
Brake pads are supposed to be flat (.0005 thickness variation can cause a pulsation - Mighty Auto Parts - Tech Tips Brakes 111)

I washed the pad of watercolor paint with soap and water, rinsed throughly, then soaked it for an hour in pure alcohol in a shallow tupperware, let dry, then soaked only the brake material in brake cleaner. Be sure to cover, alcohol and brake cleaner evaportate quickly.

Meanwhile I replaced the problem caliper.
I liberally sprayed the pads and rotors with Brake Cleaner while reassembling. Bled the caliper. Drove away with no grinding for the rest of the week. Testing under hard braking at both highway speeds and city speeds. De nada no more grinding.

The next weekend I took it all apart again and replaced the bearing hub assy. for good measure. The hub nut is a 36mm and 284 lb-ft FYI and for god sakes use a hub puller (borrowed both 36mm socket and puller from auto parts store). A slide hammer puller could pull out the whole shaft! If you don't have a big enough torque wrench, you could weigh yourself and CAREFULLY stand with all your weight on 1 foot on a 1/2-in drive breaker bar.

The distance, d in inches you would need to stand from the center of the socket on the breaker bar:

[ 284 lb-ft / your weight (lbs) ] x 12 inches = d in inches

Summary: In order of annoyance factor.

Eliminate the tire as a source.
Eliminate the pads and rotors as a source.
Eliminate the caliper as a source.
Eliminate the bearing as a source.
Eliminate the CV as a source.

Approximate Cost - Canadian funds ( divide by 1.4 for US)

Front caliper pads - both sides (non-OEM) $53
Front rotor - (non-OEM) $51
Front Caliper - (non-OEM) $130, $65 if you core return the old one
Brake cleaner - $5 per can
99.9 % pure alcohol - $4 per liter (electronic component shop)
watercolor paint - blue 1 puck (I had this in the house)
Hub puller - lend-a-tool (Canadian Tire/Part Source)
36mm 1/2-in drive-socket - lend-a-tool (Canadian Tire/Part Source)

Recommendations:
Get a Haynes manual.
6-sided metric impact sockets
brake grease\or high temp for the slides and a bit on the plates where the pads slide
breaker bar/J-bar
1-in ID pipe 1ft long
for the bearing hub
- wobble extensions and/or universal for the socket
- watch that ABS sensor! the clipping mechanism is in between the sensor and the metal clip attached to the metal shield accessible from below with a small flat between the sensor and the clip. I yanked the whole clip off and got at the clip the easy way and bent it back into shape.
-the shield goes on, then lift the spline and feed the sensor through then insert the bearing assy.

Good luck!
Watch those knuckles!
Curse freely during the operation and have fun!

[Markgase2000]

Could be your rotors werent machined properly , some tecs just throw it on the grinder and dont clean around the posts and smooth it out before placing the rotor back on. I did this with mine and it all went away.

[wizical]

ive got a 2000 se1
and had the same break probs
sqealling and shuddering
wanna know how i fixed it !!!!!!
i put on new pads and it fixed it
BUT !!!! heres the trick
DON'T put on the steel backing plates !!!!
i did this months ago and havent had a problem
since!!!!
so good luck guys

[Markgase2000]

put the plates on , thats what its desighned for
to prevent brake noises

[kuminkoskia]

If you look around on this site and others similar 99 and up GA have a documented front brake problem. I have a 99 and had it inspected by a reputable brake shop with no faults found other than economy pads. When I press on the pedal to stop I get squeaks and various other shimmy noises and vibrations. One owner has a website that addresses the problem collectively to General Motors. I enjoy the GA the front brake design is not that well designed though. When my pads are close to replacement I will spend the extra to buy premium pads if they make them, and see if the problems stop.
Desertdawg

[wizical]

well just had my rr ds backing plate fall to f-----g
peices so $700cdn later im on the road again
whilr i was there i got them to do a check on my
front rotors
i stood there while they did it
result !!!
rotors are not warped at all !
pads are wearing square to the rotor
so we did a little test
we put the backing plates back on the pads
and guess what ??!!
with the backing plates on the pads are 3.5%
off parallel to the rotors !!!
so off they came and on went a new set of backing
plates and bingo !!!
they sit flat on the rotor!!!!
so this is what i think
dont over heat your brakes
lol
and well they just dont make GM's the way they used to A!!!!!!!