Brakes grinding

[Gaw]

When I start applying the brakes there is no grinding sound up front. It only starts the grinding sound at the end just before I stop. I had the tires rotated this weekend and looked at the pads as they were rotating them and the pad had at least 1/4 on them. I couldn't see the inside pad. Should I assume they are the same thickness or could the sound be something else?

[TedL]

Originally Posted by Gaw

When I start applying the brakes there is no grinding sound up front. It only starts the grinding sound at the end just before I stop. I had the tires rotated this weekend and looked at the pads as they were rotating them and the pad had at least 1/4 on them. I couldn't see the inside pad. Should I assume they are the same thickness or could the sound be something else?

In my experience with front disc brakes, across many brands and vehicle sizes, the driver's side inboard pad is the first to wear out, by a fairly wide margin, absent a problem (e.g., stuck piston) elsewhere.

On the other hand, if one regularly parks near a sprinkler or other water source, that could hasten rust and thus pad wear on a particular rotor surface.

[Mister_Perkins]

If your pads still have some meat on them, and the rotor looks smooth (no grooves in it) the front brakes are probably still good.

Now, what I would do is check the rear brakes. What the noise could actually be is either the rear shoes / drum being gone (if you have rear drums). Or the Splash shield in the front slightly rubbing on the rotor, or the rear drum being rust-scaled and rubbing against the rear splash shield.

A couple things that you can try,

1. Grab a hammer with a solid handle and push against the front splash shields, pushing them away from the front rotors. (make sure to properly secure the vehicle first)

2. Grab a Wire brush and shove it in-between the drum and the splash shield and roll the drum around whatever direction you want to go. What this is going to do is break all of the rust scale off away from the splash shield and drum.

The front pads new are going to be about a 1/2 inch thick, if your front pads are 1/8" thick or lower you need new pads. The rear shoes are going to be about 1/4" thick new. Basically you just want to change the pads before they get to the rivets that hold them in place. Once they get to the rivets, it starts being metal on metal at first, making an obnoxiously loud Metal grinding sound.


WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF NOT TAKEN CARE OF

If left not taken care of, what will happen after a while of metal grinding is your caliper piston is going to push out of the caliper and brake fluid is going to shoot out onto your tire. You'll keep driving the car and the tire will get hot. Once hot, the brake fluid will rapidly deteriorate the rubber, making it like taffy and it will get soft enough the side wall will blow out. Its very important to fix the brakes before it gets this bad. Serious injury/death could occur