01 Grand Am Brake Prob

[psychobuff]

My brakes on my 2001 grand am gt seem to have a prob. I recently bought new tires and had the guys there do the 'free brake inspection' to which they told me the brakes were fine. I told them i suspected there may be something wrong due to the noises i have been hearing and they said no.

But, i post this question here because i'm sure theres somebody out there that may know more. My brakes work fine, i never had a problem stopping but they make some serious noise. I'm not talkin the usual squeeking you can hear from brakes. My brakes make like a clicking noise almost, when i step on the peddle to slow down this noise always happens. It is a mixture of a repetitive clicking with the sound of scratching almost. It is hard to describe. It is embarrassing though because i'm stopping at a stop sign and people see my nice grand am but its making all this noise. Does anybody have any idea what this could be? My friend said i may need to have my rotors cut but I would like to see if anybody has any suggestions. Thank you.

[Ridenour]

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like your rotors may be warped. And what your friend meant was having them re-machined - it will smooth out the warpage. The warpage could've been caused by overheating, or by something such as driving through a puddle after breaking hard = big temperature difference.

[Forkliftguy]

Ridenour on the right track. Does it do this also if you are stopped and push the pedal in and out, if so it is a lack of lubrication on the caliper guides. This will also cause a clicking/scratching noise due to rusted metal sliding against rusted metal. If this is the case, remove the calipers a grease the guides with graphite grease (graphite grease won't collect dust and dirt like other greases will). N-bodies are prone to this especially if you are not a "hard braker". They can actually seize up on you, actually, there is a section in the owners manual warning drivers about this problem. HTH


Marc

[shyguy5885]

I agree with marc about the lube. I have a 99 GT and my brakes started sounding like the clicking after I had the dealership put the pads on for me. I know it wasn't anything with the rotors, cuz I had them replaced a little while back. I thought for sure it was the piston and inside of the caliper making noise against the back of the pads, but marc's explanation seems very true as well. just wanted to let you know that your not the only one that has had this problem before.

[psychobuff]

Originally Posted by Forkliftguy

Ridenour on the right track. Does it do this also if you are stopped and push the pedal in and out, if so it is a lack of lubrication on the caliper guides. This will also cause a clicking/scratching noise due to rusted metal sliding against rusted metal. If this is the case, remove the calipers a grease the guides with graphite grease (graphite grease won't collect dust and dirt like other greases will). N-bodies are prone to this especially if you are not a "hard braker". They can actually seize up on you, actually, there is a section in the owners manual warning drivers about this problem. HTH


Marc

-Yes i can have the car in park and when i press the brake i can definately hear a squeaky scratchy noise from the brakes. It sounds almost like a rusty spring hinge or something. I dont have any problem stopping but this noise is really aggrevating and it makes me feel like i'm driving a go cart. I dont own the owners manual because i bought the car used and the dealer didn't have it with him i guess. How hard is it to take off the calipers?

[grfnkl]

It's very easy to take off the caliper, only 2 bolts and the whole thing comes right off. i just did mine for the first time 2 months ago... my only problem was the bolts were on extremely tight.

[blond_trubble]

I have the exact same problem but have had the calipers checked and greased and still no fix. .Any idea what kinda of cost I should expect if I take the car in for this problem?