What's broken on it now?

[ColonelPanic]

The Mrs. pointed out something tonight as I was backing the car up, getting ready to head back home... I'm getting this pretty cool metal on metal scraping sort of sound coming from the left front wheel. That's about as good as I can describe it, maybe she can throw some better descriptive terms your way. It didn't seem to want to go away... Whether the brakes were applied or not, forward or reverse, it was scraping. I kept hearing the noise for probably a mile or two down the road, if I had to guess. Got up to speeds of 25 or so, still made the noise. Made several stops at stop signs and a couple turns, then it finally went away and didn't return throughout the entire trip back home. But I'm pretty sure it will come back. I recall hearing some abnormal noise, metallic in nature the other night after work but I didn't pay attention to the noise other than the first couple of seconds. Brakes? A brief history of Sir Knocksalot's brake work: nothing has ever been done and I'll be at 60,000 miles by Sunday. I had already planned to replace the rotors and pads soon. Any other causes? You know my luck - crap like wheel bearings, CV joints, etc? Does it seem like it could be along those lines? Seeing how it magically went away once the car was driven for a bit, ugh... I'll find out, since I'll be replacing those brakes soon anyway and if that doesn't fix it, time to let Mr. Warranty kick in again...

[joatmon]

I vote for brakes, but it's hard to tell without hearing the sound. Could just be the wear indicator on the pads making contact with the rotor, if these pads have one , which most do. Next time it starts making the sound pull the wheel off and it should be pretty easy to confirm if it is the brakes or something different.

[redvibe05]

Might have been something like a rock or nail stuck in between the caliper and rotor. If it doesn't come back that is my best guess !

[Kari]

It sounded like a very faint brake squeak...much fainter than what I'm used to hearing on the buses around here with very bad brakes. It did seem brake related though from when it started making the sound -- when he started moving with the brakes on -- and it stopped when he let off of them even though he was still rolling. So it sounds brake related to me too...hopefully nothing else is broken.

[tnpartsguy]

60k miles....I'll bet brakes...and brake dust build-up on the rear drums/shoes.

[Mr. Poopypants]

I agree with Joat, it's gotta be brakes.

[ColonelPanic]

Weird thing though, it didn't make any noise this afternoon when I took off... I'll be picking up some new pads tomorrow, found some ceramics at Pep Boys for $38.99. The rotors are grooved all to hell too, so I'll buy those on next week's paycheck and install everything next weekend. They are $49.99 a piece. I don't think the rotors that are on there now are capable of being turned, so I won't even bother with it.Hope that fixes it...

[binary]

If it were a CV joint going, you'd get a click/click sound when you have the steering locked left or right.I'd vote brakes too - While you got it jacked up - wiggle the tire left and right, and top to bottom to see if there's any play.If so, it may be worth replacing the bearings while you're at it.

[Jahntassa]

Just pray you didn't overextend the calipers or anything.. Those blasted things are expeeeeensiiiive..

[Atomb]

did it have anything to do with those tornados that tore through your area?!glad to see you're still posting...jahntassa, can you explain 'caliper over extension'?thanks

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by Atomb »did it have anything to do with those tornados that tore through your area?!glad to see you're still posting...Thanks, and nope - not related, fortunately! The Vibe and I are quite lucky. I'm about 100 mi east of the hardest hit area. The same line of storms came through my town that did all the destruction out to the west, but they had weakened by then. Whew! But those poor folks out there, to my west, I feel bad for 'em. Quote »jahntassa, can you explain 'caliper over extension'?thanksI'm trying to figure out the same... It doesn't sound pleasant! I take it that the pads wear down to the point where the pistons push out beyond what they are supposed to?

[cohocarl]

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »overextend the calipersAnd we know how painful that can be.... On my 97 Z-24, I had a noise coming from the front right wheel now and then, then all of a sudden one day, I was slowing down and I felt a thump and it made some bigger noise... The pad itself had seperated from the pad's metal plate. The pad wasn't worn down very bad, but on some brakes now, the pads are not rivited to the backing plate, but are just bonded with some super duper adhesive. Well the super duper adhesive let go on mine. Didn't hurt the rotor or caliper.I don't know if the Vibe's are like that or not.

[ColonelPanic]

I noticed in the PDF that it says to "drain fluid" yet it really doesn't describe how much.How much should I drain? I don't remember really draining fluid when I've changed out brakes previously, hell, maybe I have but I can't remember. I should probably let the "pros" handle this one, but I can't really afford the parts themselves at it is, let alone the labor on top of that.

Attached files w040001.pdf (109.4 KB) 

[ColonelPanic]

Damn, just checked around more places for prices... Advance Auto has two rotors in stock for $25.99 each. Probably lower quality than what AutoZone just quoted me $51.99 each for or the $49.99 PepBoys specials, but then again, nothin' but the worst for my baby. A low quality ride deserves low quality parts! heh I will still go with the ceramic pads though.

[jasonvibe]

Advance rotors often fit loose on the studs. If the center fits tight, your good. Pads have ratings. Look for a pair of letters on the back or side of the material...ex. "FF", "GG", FG, etc...the higher the letters the better the stopping power. Get the highest rating at the lowest price. High rated ceramics are hard to find.

[ColonelPanic]

Well, I went with the rotors from Advance ($25.99/ea) and the ceramic "Pro Stop" brand pads from Pep Boys ($38.99.)The replacement was an ordeal to say the least. It took 30 minutes just to get the front tires off. I found that the dillholes at the tire shop who rotated my tires rounded off three lug nuts on each side up front. Dad and I had to hammer sockets onto the lug nuts on the ones where the socket would somewhat grab onto the lug nuts and try to break the things loose with a breaker bar. A couple of the nuts we couldn't get the sockets to work well with, so I had to get out the Vibe's lug wrench and try to get it on the nut as securely as possible then kick the stupid thing several times before it finally broke loose. There was one lug nut in particular that almost made us think that a cutting torch was going to be necessary. But we got the wheels off, finally.I was not concerned about the lug nut issues since I was also switching to my winter steel wheels so they have a set of perfect lug nuts that have only been touched by me, not molested by those overzealous impact wrench-equipped monkeys at the tire shop. All told, I have about 10 lug nuts out of the 20 total that I am going to bring down to them and try to force them to replace. They were the last ones to touch 'em, so they're gonna pay.Back to the brakes... Disassembly is quite easy. Two bolts hold the caliper on. I didn't drain the fluid as it suggested. Once again, going against the all mighty service manual, I just pushed the piston back into the caliper with a c-clamp. Screw it, that's what I've always done in the past. lol! Gee, what's it gonna do, screw up my caliper? More on that later. Took off the bracket thingy that holds the pads and caliper in place. Looked at the pads, and they were just about gone. Yikes - good thing I replaced them when I did, as they weren't going to hold up that much longer. Now, according to the service manual, the rotor should just pull off. It just said "remove rotor" and did not point anything out that had to be removed prior to removing the rotor. But the thing wouldn't budge. The center of the rotor around the studs is completely rusted out. I don't think there is anything holding the rotor in, so if I'm correct by assuming that, the large quantity of rust has locked it tightly in place. We sprayed WD-40 around the studs, went over with a wire brush, beat the hell out of both sides with hammers, it would not budge. Before it got too discombobulated, the general consensus was to f' it, leave the rotors in place. That sucks, I'll still have to take it somewhere to get the damn brakes fixed. Put everything back togehter on that side.Took apart the passenger's side. Holy crap, there is a significant difference in what is left of the pads there vs. the pads on the driver's side. The pads on the driver's side were damn near gone, these over on the right have some meat left in 'em. Bad caliper over on the other side, I guess. There wasn't much drama over here. Everything looks nicer over on the passenger's side too, the rotor is in better shape and not all rusted out, even the piston on the caliper looks cleaner, it's all rusted out on the driver's side on the edge but this one is still shiny. Put everything back together here.Since I didn't take off any brake lines or open the bleeder valves, I didn't have to do any bleeding. The reservior filled back up with fluid, a wee bit spilled out, oops. Somebody must have added fluid at some point, wasn't me. It has been low for a while, and I knew why it was low so I never added any. So with it now being quite full, I bought a turkey baster and sucked out the excess so I'm right at MAX. The pedal feels fine, the brakes appear to be working fine. No strange noises thus far. No pulsation/etc, seems to stop relatively smooth. I'm going to have to come up with the cash to get the damn thing down to the shop and have someone with the right tools install the rotors and replace that caliper, might as well make sure the other one is good too. Then, the back brakes need to be looked at, and things are rusty as hell back there too, so that's a job for someone else too. Just fricken' peachy.

[ColonelPanic]

Here's the pads after the fact... I wish I had the camer as I was working on the car. Would have been nice to show off all the rusty metal! I've marked a couple pads with a gold paint marker that I found laying around to give a better view of what was left of the pads.That's some pretty uneven wear, wouldn't you say?

[Mavrik]

Um... brakes I would have guessed as well. If they are pretty much worn out, they can squeal/squeak even when not applied.