HELP!!!! brakes making grinding noise!!!!

[bluethunder]

well i really need some help. ive got a 96 explorer with 4 wheel disc brakes. the problem is everytime i apply the brakes there is a grinding/scraping sound coming from the rear end. sometimes it sounds like a certain spot on the rotor because when i apply the brakes it scrapes, then stops and does it again once the rotor has rotated around again. could this be dirt build up on the pads or rotors? if so i am going to try to take the calipers off this weekend. has anybody ever done this? i could probably figure it out but is there anything just waiting to jump out and surprise me if i do that? i have a haynes manual so hopefully that will help.
there is one other problem. tonight i went out and took the wheel off the left rear to have a look at the rotor. when i was puting the lugnuts back on, the tire got caught on something as i was tightening down one of the lugnuts. since the tire would move inward the threads on both the nut and stud were damaged. i think the stud is not usable and i know the nut is not. so my question is how do i get the stud off? anybody tried this? if so please give me some pointers. thanks
-Jonathan

 

[bluethunder]

Cleaning rotors and pads

once i have the calipers off, how do i clean the rotors and pads???

 

[bluethunder]

bump

 

[Maniak]

I'm assuming your brakes don't need to be replaced.. e.g.. your pads aren't worn down to the squeal plates and the rotors are still flat..

There are two things I do to brakes when they start to squeal on our X. The first is to take the pads out and clean them (the brakes etc) with brake cleaner.. and when I reinstall them I put anti squeal goo on the back of them..

Usually the squealing on our shoes (rear drums on our truck) are caused by glazing the shoes.. The shoes/pads will look shiny.. either all over or at least in streaks.. I just take my sander to it to pull the shine off and the squeal/roughness goes away..

Hope that helps..

~Mark

 

[Moese]

I've got another sound from my brakes when I stand on them or if I hit a good bumb with them applied. Somewhat of a motorized sound? May just be the ABS kicking in but it sure sounds weird.

This is on an 93 XLT.

 

[duke16]

When the pads get worn down to a certain lvl there is a piece of metal that is used as an indicator that will grind on the metal. That happened to me last month

 

[Laura69]

Noisy Brakes

Greetings, Gentlemen!

I replaced the brakes on my truck recently and can offer a few tips...heck, you can just go searchin' for my tale o' woe if you like.

Anyway, if the pads look like they're in good shape - and you SHOULD be able to see them with the tire off, I would move on to the brake cleaning tips above.

Of course, as a woman, I am just certain there is some other much more major issue causing the noise and that it will go kaput on me as I'm doing 80 down Hwy 20. Whattayareckon my chances are of surviving that?

Anyway, the Haynes gives a fair review of the process. Just don't listen to these jokers who jack the thing up by the "pumpkin" in the rear.