Grinding noise, front end...What??

[Erika]

Alright, as if the overheating wasn't enough, now there's something else. About 3 weeks ago, I replaced the front brakes on my '01 Explorer 2wd. The rotors were warped so I replaced them, too, as well as did my first regreasing of the bearings. Everything went very smoothly, I've done many brake jobs, but now, very sporadically, I get a kind of grinding noise when braking a little more than gently. Sounds like when you've ground your pads into the metal, not quite so loud. There's a faint smell, like hot grease, too. Thought things were coming apart, so I tore it down again, but all the bolts are nice and tight, rotor isn't getting damaged, I can't see a darn thing that looks out of whack. Thought maybe I tightened the axle nut too much, so I backed it off and retightened, (I know it doesn't take much) Looked like problem solved but I just heard the darn noise again coming home today. Seems to happen during braking on long downhills, that's the only time I've heard it. Noise is on both driver and passenger. Any ideas?

 

[Cobraguy]

Look and see if there are any signs of the wheels rubbing on the caliper, etc. I would be surprised if that's it though since it's both sides.

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

Double-check the bearings, and make sure it's the right grease. I made that mistake by not getting the right temperature grease for them. When I did it again with the right stuff the noise went away.

 

[Erika]

I don't see any wear on the tires. The calipers are solidly in place. I used the right grease, Durablend, specifically for disc brake wheel bearings. I replaced the seals on the rotors... greased them well... I also replaced the guide pins on the calipers since I was getting very uneven wear between the outer and inner pads on the driver's side. I read that guide pins could be a cause for that, so I replaced them. I had one of the rear calipers seize up several years ago, so I wonder about that, however, when I changed the pads, the pistons retracted without any problems so I don't think that's it, either.

One thing I did not do is bleed the brakes afterwards, which I have gotten alot of crap for, but, I've never bled the brakes during brake jobs and this is the first time I've gotten any noise.

 

[gmanpaint]

What type of pads are you using? Maybe they are overheating, and "grabbing" when they are hot. You might be smelling the pads burning up. Does your brake peddle get hard, or do you lose any stopping power after using them a lot, especially down hill?

 

[Erika]

I used top of the line Duralast Gold ceramics. Supposed to be the best. I haven't noticed any loss of braking power, even under downhill braking. Go figure, huh?

 

[wyochimneysweep]

could just be the ceramics cuz they will wear the rotor out before the pads. I've had complaints from customers afterputting ceramics on cuz they are so hard but they are good if your doing heavy braking as in hauling loads other then that i dont recommend them

 

[Erika]

I've always used ceramics and they've always worn normally for me. I do haul a trailer w/quads on occasion, but not every day.