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Brakes grinding while driving

USExplorer04

Member
Joined
May 22, 2014
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City, State
NJ
Year, Model & Trim Level
04 Ford Explorer
Hello,

Several thousand miles back, I got my brakes replaced by a chain auto repair shop. Soon after, I noticed my front right brake pad made a strange rubbing noise and caused the rotor to get hot enough to boil water splashed on it. That went away after a few miles, and the service guy told me that there was no problem with the brakes. For a long time afterward, I have heard various light squeaks, scratchings and grinding noise when driving near a sound reflective object like a brick wall with the radio off. I mostly ignored the sounds for a long time. Recently after a 10-mile drive, I took a infrared thermometer to the rotors. The front right one was 150 F, while all the others were 115 F.

Pictures:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Sz-Al8f9KzUGdKb2h3bDZYLVE/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Sz-Al8f9KzNmdENm5Fb1hvZzA/view?usp=sharing

How much damage has been done by my neglect? My dad speculated that it could be a problem with the brake caliper pins not being lubricated properly.

The other three brakes have smooth rotors and to the best of my knowledge do not make any noise.
 



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Looks like a botched brake "repair". Chances are the pads, rotor, and possibly the caliper are toast. Any guarantee on their "work"?
 






Quality (ha!) Auto Centers have a 12 month warranty on brakes, which would be fine if I was not 800 miles away in North Carolina.

And of course it happens when I am dead a$$ broke.

Will call their 800 number and give them a piece of my mind.
 






Take the tire off and see if the caliper pins are siezed.
 






No saving that one.

It's toast. The excess heat may have damaged the caliper seals.

Sorry.

Best advice. Replace both calipers, pads and rotors on that axle.
 






For a long time afterward, I have heard various light squeaks, scratchings and grinding noise when driving near a sound reflective object like a brick wall with the radio off.


My dad speculated that it could be a problem with the brake caliper pins not being lubricated properly.

.

The scratching noise you heard could have been from the brake pad "metal retaining clips" rubbing against the rotor that fit on to the brake calipers themselves. If these brake pad clips were bent in any way or didn't fit just right, this could happen. I had this happen to me when I changed out my front brake pads and rotors a few months ago. When installing a tight fitting pad into the clip on the caliper, it was bent but I never saw it at the time. Once I was done with the brake job, I took it for a test ride and heard the light metallic "scratching" noise you have described. I took the vehicle home and pulled apart the suspect brake pads and found I bent the metal clip when installing the pads the first time. A few curse words later (something about cheap Chinese made parts -LOL) and I re-used the old metal retaining clip from the previous set of pads I had on my vehicle. Problem solved.

On the rotors getting hot, could be from lack of grease on the caliper slide pins. I've had this just happen as well on my passenger side, rear caliper after getting off of the Thruway and noticed a distinct burning brake pad smell in the air around my Explorer. I walked around the truck checking for the hot rim or rims and found smoke coming from the rear passenger side wheel area. When I got it home, I pulled apart that brake caliper and slide pins and found the slide pins quite dry of any grease. The pads were okay, it just started doing this that day. I know I had greased them up the year before when I changed out these brake pads, but the grease was gone by now. So I bought a jar of brake pin grease and lubed them up good. Problem solved. FYI, when the slide pin "sticks" inward pressing the corner end of the pad against the rotor, this can cause the rotor to get hot as you drive, especially at higher speeds. Kind of like driving with the brakes applied. A tell-tale sign of a sticking slide pin is a brake pad unevenly worn out at one end of the pad. There are two caliper slide pins per caliper and usually one of them is the culprit. BTW, the caliper slide pins just push in and out of the rubber boot they sit in on the caliper, very easy to remove and grease. Hope this helps.
 






Instructions
1)watch a DIY on how to replace brake pads, rotors, calipers.
2) make sure you have the tools
3) watch another DIY video.
4) Go buy the stuff you need to fix/replace the problem.
5) perform the fix.
6) Feel much better knowing you didn't take your car to a hack brake shop which cares more about speed of repair with lower grade parts than quality.
7) Drive your car with a successful repair.

This is not meant to be insulting, it is my normal path to make any fix. Knowledge is the key.
 






I was debating whether to try to fix it myself. One shop wanted $20 just to look at it, another wanted me to leave the Explorer there all day until they could find time to look at it. The guy refused to give me an estimate of the price until he looked at it, even though I asked specifically about replacing the rotor, caliper, and pad for one wheel. I walked out of both shops.

I have a small set of tools that I keep in my Explorer, which may be adequate for my needs.

Pics of the other brakes for comparison:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Sz-Al8f9KzT3FvWUVyR1RPdEk/view?usp=sharing (other front wheel) not much pad left, but rotor is not grooved
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Sz-Al8f9KzRk94R1hQT2IzSDA/view?usp=sharing (back wheel, both identical)
 






No saving that one.

It's toast. The excess heat may have damaged the caliper seals.

Sorry.

Best advice. Replace both calipers, pads and rotors on that axle.

As this was a long-term destruction over thousands of miles, it is unlikely that excess heat would be a significant problem.
 






Understood.

Once the pads were worn down and the caliper piston got outside of it's designed area it's done. By ASE Standards it must be replaced.

I was an ASE Certified Tech for 12 Years and moved on to bigger things.

Phoenlic brake pistons are really easy to ****, chip or distort.

For your safety and the safety of others driving around you it would be best to do the entire axle set.

I know this is not what you really want to hear right not due to budget constraints but if you do just one wheel to save money and you need your brakes in an emergency and can't stop you could possibly kill someone in an accident.

The choice is yours and yours alone. I won't take that kind of a chance.
 






+1 on the response above

I will say I had a similar scenario in which I had a caliper travel out of position, and yes, you do need to replace. I am lucky that I am within 10 miles of a high volume u pick junkyard and found an explorer that was just brought in and, based on the pads and rotors, had just recently been to a brake shop or recent repair.

I removed the whole axle set, rotors, pads, calipers since they were much better than mine and did the entire swap for $70. Yes, I was being cheap, and this truck has recently returned to this junkyard as a while unit. (2000 Explorer with timing chain issue and rusted all over).
 






more on this

So an option; go to a u pick yard, take off a rotor/caliper. Think of it more of a test if you can do it. Heck, don't even buy the part there, just test your skills. There are a number of times I will try to remove something at the yard prior to trying on my truck i.e. instrument panel.
 






Thanks

Thanks for all your helpful replies. I went and bought a rotor and some pads for 75 dollars at an auto parts store. My boss, who is a mechanic, helped me with the work for no charge. :) We both looked at the caliper and there does not appear to be any damage. This is what the inside brake pad looked like after it was removed. The outside pad was fine. Both were replaced, of course.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Sz-Al8f9KzOHR5LUMta24xRDg/view?usp=sharing

I greased the caliper pins and reassembled the mechanism.

The brakes respond more firmly now, with no strange noises or vibrations. I slammed them without holding the steering wheel and there is zero movement of the wheel. Therefore I hold that the pistons and caliper are all in good working condition.
 






Sounds like you did the job right, unlike "Quality" Auto Center. Judging by the pic, must have made an awful sound. In the future, NEVER ignore brake noises, they are the most important part of your car, and could save your life, or someone else's some day. :thumbsup:
 






Misleading

I posted too soon. Only a few miles after the fix, the brake pad started sticking again. I first noticed an almost imperceptible slowing while coasting on a level road. I got out and sure enough, the rotor was warm. The brakes still work fine but I am back to the beginning of the gradual wearing down of the brake pads and eventual destruction of another rotor.

Just tested it after driving for a few miles. Rotor was around 160 degrees.

Damn.
 


















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