General Grinding noise when braking

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General Grinding noise when braking

shaunh

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Feb 17, 2009
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when braking there is a grinding noise coming from the rear wheels, i have taken both wheels off and checked brake pads etc, and there is still a grinding noise. has anyone had this problem before or know what this could be???

thanks
 
Grinding noise is often linked to worn pads, build up of corrosion or the pads rubbing the lip of corrosion off the discs. It could also be a hard pad compound.
 
Since manufacturers took asbestos out of pads, they are almost as hard as discs. Consequently, as pads wear down, they also wear the disks/drums.
As the pad/shoe surface is smaller than the disk/drum on which it presses, you eventually get a lip forming - shiny disk with a rusty lip. New pads may be a fraction larger than the old ones or might not be seated in quite the same spot as the old ones so this will cause the constant grinding when you brake.
Had this on the wife's old Astra. In the end I whipped the disks off & attacked the lips with an angle grinder - solved the problem.
Harder to fix on drums but there are companies who will skim drums for a price.
Took it back to the garage a few times (whilst still under warranty (bought 2nd hand at 3y/o)) & told the above story about hardness of pads/disks. The mechs reckoned they change the disks at the third pad change.
There are certain companies who will replace pads free for the lifetime of the car (as long as you own it) - probably sting you for new disks though.
 
I've been having the same problem with my Doblo which has rear drums. Today was my first chance to investigate but the drums and shoes look fine. It's a good job I didn't just buy new shoes as I had assumed they must be down to the metal. I'm hoping in my case it was just some rust lumps that had fallen off a drum into the friction surface which were scraping the drum. I've cleaned all the loose debris off and will shortly try a test drive.
 
The guy that services Mrs_G's Cargo removes the rear drums at every service and thoughly cleans everything.

Overkill? I don't think so as at 350,000 miles (ish) Mrs_G is still on the original drums and shoes.
 
Mine is fine now :) I also welded another patch on the exhaust back box so that's a lot quieter too. When that was off I discovered there is an aluminium heat shield above the silencer and that was hanging off. Its still not perfect but I've made it a bit more secure by removing one of the bolts and putting a big repair washer over the enlarged hole in the aluminium. The other fixings were so rusty I could not tell if they were bolts, studs or some other widget.
 
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