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So my brakes are making this weird, metal against metal, grinding noise. It is coming from the front end and it only happens when I am braking at slower speeds. And it doesn't happen all the time. Here and there.I just had both the front pads and rotors and the driver side caliper replaced on my Vibe in July 2010. As far as my front end braking system, everything is new except the hoses and the passenger side caliper. This new setup has about 4000miles on it.The pads are semi-ceramic (I think). Everything was done at a local Monroes. I took it back to them today, and they took the wheels off and inspected it, and said "they couldn't find anything wrong with it." They took my shoes off in the back and said my back brakes look "almost new" and asked if I had them replaced. I said no.So that still leaves me with the problem. At first it sounded like it was coming from the driver side, and now it has moved to the passenger side. I thought maybe it was some junk (rock/tar/gravel) that got wedged up between the pad/rotor, so I took it to a carwash and hosed it down several times. nothing. when it is grinding, you can feel it in the pedal. it is weird.my rotors don't appear to be warped either. they are brand new and the mechanics didn't mention anything about them.any ideas. i am going to take it else to get a second opinion.

semi-metalic do tend to give off a bit of noise now and again.Does this happen right when you start your trips? If so the rotors rust fast, which is normal and is usually the cause of your noise.Unless a caliper is getting hung up there really shouldn't be any other noises.

it usually happens after i drive for a while. it isn't the rust wearing off on the rotors.

Pads glazing? Too hard?

Aren't '03-'08 pads supposed to be ceramic as opposed to semi-metallic?You shouldn't feel any grinding through the brake pedal. When you say, "weird, metal against metal, grinding noise", is it a high pitched squeal or more of a vibration that's faster at high speed, e.g., "da, da, da, da, da, da"?Rotors won't "appear" warped- a mechanic needs to put a gauge on them to test for that specifically. If they didn't, they wouldn't have anything to say.Even though it was all new in July, in my opinion it doesn't take much for a cheap (or even stock) rotor to warp enough to feel it. One hard stop (60 mph - 0) on a cold rotor in I-95 traffic would do it.If something were wedged in the pad, i.e., debris in the gap of the pad, washing the wheel with water would be unlikely to loosen it.

Well, I took my car back to the original shop who installed everything. They inspected it, and said everything looks good and they cannot find any problems.I took it to a second shop and they said the same thing. Everything is excellent. I asked him to check the wheel bearings and to also pull the pads to see if anything was out of the ordinary. No problems.Don't know what it is. He said my rotors are still really new, something about seeing the "cross notching still" Don't quote me on that though.

it is more of a vibration with a little metal on metal sound. not squealing, just like... um.. Freddie Kreuger's claws on the wall, kind of thing. i do not have ABS in this car. my girlfriend says it sort of sounds like a gurgling. it sounds like it is sort of a rotational sound with some metal on metal here and there.again, it only happens when braking at slow speeds. and only some of the times.i just had a warped rotor on my car before everything was changed and it doesn't feel much like that. i could feel that in the pedal and the steering wheel. this is just a little bit of jostling in the pedal when it grinds. not a lot, but noticeable.

Did either of the shops road test the car to hear/feel the problem?

My car is Doing the EXACT same thing when braking slowly it sounds ugly when grinding, idk what it is but it's bothering bad, what could we do to prevent this???

I had something similar - but I only have a theory.I normally only heard a sound when driving slowly thru the neighborhood. I never had any feel thru the pedal though. The best description of the sound that I can give was that it sounded like I had a slinky caught up in the brakes. The sound would sometimes get quite loud and then it sounded as if something actually fell off and the sound would go away. I never could tell what it was (but admit I never pulled the wheels to check). This would happen intermittently for years.My pet theory was that the brake pad was wearing in a way that left a shaving or burr drag on the rotor.I replaced the pads recently with Hawk HPS, got them properly bedded in - which I never did with the prior pads - and they've been strong, silent performers ever since.Who knows?

Quote, originally posted by zdkaiser »it is more of a vibration with a little metal on metal sound. not squealing, just like... um.. Freddie Kreuger's claws on the wall, kind of thing. i do not have ABS in this car. my girlfriend says it sort of sounds like a gurgling. it sounds like it is sort of a rotational sound with some metal on metal here and there.again, it only happens when braking at slow speeds. and only some of the times.i just had a warped rotor on my car before everything was changed and it doesn't feel much like that. i could feel that in the pedal and the steering wheel. this is just a little bit of jostling in the pedal when it grinds. not a lot, but noticeable. Sounds like a wheel bearing to me... They aren't like the old bearings you could lift the car and wiggle the wheel, they are almost 2" wide and don't present themselves like the older bearings.. Mine is going and it's a whirring sound, which changes as I move the steering wheel left to right..

I had the mechanic road test it. Unfortunately it was raining, so he couldn't hear any unusual noises. As far as wheel bearings go, it doesn't really have any of the typical wheel bearing failing symptoms. The noise doesn't increase as I increase speed. there is no whirring. no change of sound when i move the wheel. it is just when i brake at slow speeds, and it is only occasionally that it makes the grinding noise. i am coming to think maybe the rotor is slightly warped. but why the metal on metal scraping here and there?i am just going to leave it be and see what happens: see if things get worse or not.the second mechanic said everything looked "excellent" on my car. i even asked him to look at the wheel bearings. so, i just don't know.

maybe the pads are just cheap.Monro put them on. I guess they use Wagner brand pads. I don't know if that is a good thing or bad. I asked if they needed a "break in" and the guy told me, the pads are oven cooked after manufacture and this keeps them from needing this break-in.don't know if that is a crock of sh#@ or not.

It's not the pads that need break-in, but they do need to bed-in with the rotors.Search for Sublimewind's excellent brake posts for more info.You may also want to check the torque on the lug nuts, which are easily over torqued and may cause warping. Should be exactly 76 ft. lbs.

maybe change the pads to a different brand and see what happens

the torque on the lugs should be fine. i have aftermarket wheels, so i have to retorque them with my wrench after i drive them for 25+ miles. i always set it to 76.

Quote, originally posted by zdkaiser » i have aftermarket wheelsThis sound didn't happen with the wheels prior to the brake job? Could there be a clearance issue? Wrong size replacement calipers?As for the "only sometimes" at low speed, does temperature make difference? Outside temp? Brake pad /rotor temp?

Quote, originally posted by ehoff121 »It's not the pads that need break-in, but they do need to bed-in with the rotors.Search for Sublimewind's excellent brake posts for more info.You may also want to check the torque on the lug nuts, which are easily over torqued and may cause warping. Should be exactly 76 ft. lbs.Correction, MOST pads are initially held together with a phenolic resin, this resin needs to be burnt off and the actual pad material needs to be "sintered" or fused under the pressure/heat of braking... IF you are doing this on old rotors, it will take time for the pads to conform with the old groves in the rotors thus slowing the bed in process.. IF on new rotors, you are ALSO "seasoning" the rotors, or heat treating them and stress relieving the rotors to conform with the car.. Both of these process require a LOT of heat.. The bedding/seasoning process is one of building heat over time.. I personally just did my vibes brakes, new pads AND rotors and I took it out and did 4 semi-hard stops from 60, drove for 5min, did 4 more semi-hard stops from 60, drove for 5min and did 4 HARD stops from 60.. They were smoking, I drove for 30min to cool them... I now have awesome brakes...

Well, my car is still making this rotational grinding noise at slow braking speeds. Justbrakes.com said it is common for semi-metallic pads to make this noise at slow speeds, because it is a vibration from the pad against the rotor.I am taking it to a GM service center to have it inspected, and I may just swap the pads for OEM ceramics. Did ceramic pads came stock for 2007 Vibes?Also, how would a mechanic tell if rotors are warped? What is the process?I have a feeling that the dealer is going to try to scam me into new rotors and pads, even though the rotors only have 4K miles on them. is it okay to replace just the pads without touching the rotors, or should have the rotors turned?

I replaced my front brake pads with ceramics and OEM rear shoes about 6 months ago. I had a grinding at slow speeds. it was still there so I replaced rotors and new OEM brake pads, grinding still there so thought, stranger things have happened, so I changed the rear drums. grinding noise gone....don't know why? sitting in the drivers seat it sounded like it came from the right front.don't know if this will solve you problem though. I couldn't feel it in the pedal

i took my car to the GM dealer and they regreased the slider pins, which they said didn't have enough grease on them, and they found a stone wedged in the crease on the brake pad. we'll see if this solved the problem.

Quote, originally posted by zdkaiser »i took my car to the GM dealer and they regreased the slider pins, which they said didn't have enough grease on them, and they found a stone wedged in the crease on the brake pad. we'll see if this solved the problem.That could very well do it, if all that was done before was a "visual" inspection..