I'm at wits end here, scraping/grinding noise from front passenger wheel

[Stone27]

scraping/grinding noise and excessive heat and smoke for behind wheel

Sorry about original title being mis-leading as I have sinced ruled out the rotor grinding on the caliper bracket. UPDATE: It was actually just the pads and rotor but the back not the front. turned out to be 2 seperate unrelated issues

So I noticed a noise coming from the front passenger side tire one day and it sounded similar to the pads being at the end of their life. No biggie, just put some new pads right away before it affects the rotor right. Wrong put new pads (and didn't need them either) on and the noise still present so immeadiatly took it all back apart to get a good look at it, and couldn't really see anything wrong though I did notice the inner pad (I previously took off) wearing out faster and scored a bit as well as the inner side of rotor with scores as well. This is new for me so I scrolled the forums and read some threads about stuck caliper bolt/guide pins (this wasn't my problem) and figured might as well get new ones since their inexpensive and I already had to buy a new rotor. It was too late to go the auto parts store so I just drove it home (about 5-7 miles) and when I got home I saw some smoke (clear maybe with a tint of white) coming from behind that same tire and as I got closer I could feel the excessive heat coming out from there and smell what my roomate said is clearly burning brake pads. Next day I install the new rotor with another new set of brake pads (cheap 10 dollar pads [temporary]). Problem persists so I take out the old caliper guide pins clean out the bores install new pins with grease (green caliper and brake grease) reinstall everything but still problem is there. I then figure maybe my wheel bearing is messed up and causing the rotor to move enough to scrape the caliper under the load of the vehicle (as problem is gone when its up in the air and I am rotating by hand). Wheel hub was installed about a year ago and doesn't have any play whatsoever but what else could it be. I install new wheel hub and its still there WTF!!!! Has this happened to anyone else? any ideas? Also it doesn't seem to be getting hot anymore but noise is still present. I'm about to change the CV half shaft as that is the last thing I think it could possibly be.

Problem:
scraping/grinding noise from passenger front tire when car is in motion
turning doesn't seem to affect noise
speed seems to but maybe I'm just not hearing it as bad due to road noise and speed
hard braking and braking at slow speeds (coming to a stop) makes noise soooo much worse
Seems to be causing the outer portion of my passenger side front tire to wear faster

what I've already done:
New pads
New rotor
New wheel hub
New caliper guide pins and bolts (cleaned out bores before installation)
New brake hardware (never changed these on any car ever so I just did it)

Side notes: Truck brakes just fine and rolls on flat service just being in drive without opening up the throttle. Truck does pull to the right though braking doesn't seem to effect this. I have not seen evidence of scraping/rubbing on the caliper bracket or the dust shield (I've had that happen before) and the new rotor seems to be fine (has at least 30 miles on it) no signs of scoring/grinding.

 

[koda2000]

I can't say that this is your problem, but I did a front brake job on my daughter's Mountaineer last winter and had a horrible scraping noise on the passenger side once the rotors warmed up. I had replaced the stainless steel anti-rattle clips and it turned out that they weren't perfectly centered over the rotor. The noise sounded horrendous, but I found no sign that anything was rubbing on anything. I finally looked very carefully at the caliper bracket and saw that clip was slightly off (maybe 1/16's of an inch or less). I centered the clip and no noise sense. It was hard to believe that little clip made so much noise.

 

[swshawaii]

Ditto koda2000. Other possibilities may me a sticking or binding caliper piston or restricted brake hose.

Sticking Caliper Piston Cause and Solution
http://s7d9.scene7.com/is/content/GenuinePartsCompany/1233306pdf?$PDF$

 

[JusTheUsual]

I replaced 3 brand new calipers on my front passengers side before it started acting right. They would almost stick too much and cause noises. If all else fails, keep returning the calipers until it works right. I don't know whats up with new calipers and that corner of the truck

 

[Stone27]

I finally looked very carefully at the caliper bracket and saw that clip was slightly off (maybe 1/16's of an inch or less).

No lie. I thought the same after I couldn't see any evidence of the caliper bracket coming into contact with the rotor (I was sure that was the problem) and literally did just that on my lunch brake like 2 hrs ago but to no avail.

Also I have inspected the brake line and its in great condition. I have taken the tire off and watched the rotor as I spun it with my hand and it is not rubbin anything at all yet the noise is still present. I'm getting the whole car up on jack stands after work and taking off the rotor putting it in 4 wheel drive and stepping on the accelorator (lightly) to see if the noise persists. This way I think I could officially rule out anything involving the break sysem. I really feel that it isn't actually the brakes as the car runs and stops normal as ever with the exception of this noise.

Also thanks for the really quick responses. I love this site.

 

[Stone27]

Ok, so as it turns out, I goofed up pretty bad on this. There was a problem with the front passenger side wheel initially that caused it to overheat and smoke in one instance (that I knew of). I wish I knew exactly what it was that caused it to do this but seeing as to how I replaced nearly everything on that corner with the exception of the CV half shaft thinking that the noise (which I must have noticed at the same time) was coming from the same place and therefore whatever I did was not the solution and continued changing more parts. However, the noise I had assumed was coming from there, was actually coming from the passenger side rear tire where the pads had completely worn and I had metal on metal scraping/grinding back there. changed both rear rotors and pads and just in time too as the passenger side rotor was about 1/3 as thick as the driver side. So now all is well I just lost out a couple of bucks, time and a hell of a lot of pride.

 

[swshawaii]

Don't feel bad, it happens. Grinding brakes has to be one of the worst sounds and feelings I know of. Glad it's fixed.