Time to do the Brakes?

"Peter H" wrote in news:1166668031.382939.177310 @t46g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

If you hear a "grating" noise, you're wrecking your rotors as I type. But that's not so bad; they're only $70 each for new OEM.

Everybody's "too busy" to fix car problems, which is fine by me. That's how garages make most of their money, from people "too busy" to get things looked at before they get really expensive.

And your brakes will work just fine for quite a long while. But by the time you find yourself not "too busy" to get them repaired, you may find your repair bill has grown by at least $200. Pure gravy for the garage!

Merry Christmas!

No mistaking that one - the harsh grinding sound is from the steel backing of the pads chewing on a rotor. If it's been going on for weeks it probably got both disks, and neither will be suitable for resurfacing. Procrastination is an expensive hobby.

Don't put this off any longer. There is no telling what your car will do if you have to use the brakes hard. The front wheels may lock up early or they may just not do their job. The only thing you can be sure of is they won't work right. By now you are probably braking on the rear wheels mostly. Worse, if you allow this to go on much longer a pad (well, the backing plate) can slip out of the caliper. From there any number of things can happen - like that wheel locking up - and none of them are good.

Mike

there's also a tell-tale noise maker on the pads - it starts scraping before the pads get to metal. pads still need to be replaced immediately, but hopefully the rotors aren't toast.

The scraper on the pads only work if that pad is wearing as fast or more than the other pad. In my experience it is the other pad most of the time. So relying on the scraper is useless. Rotate the tires every 5k-10k and inspect the linings each time they are rotated.

Hummm. That's not good to hear... I guess I'll have to yank the wheels off to check mine more often. I had read that the car had scrapers, but I assumed they actually worked.. :/ Course, I have no brake noise...I would quit driving pronto if I heard that.. I'm used to the scrapers on GM cars I guess.. Those work real well.. You get plenty of advance notice before you actually start the true grind.. MK

snipped-for-privacy@wt.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com:

The wear tab is only on the INNER pad. If the inner pad gets seized and the OUTER pad does all the work, then it will wear down very quickly and you won't know until it begins scarring up the rotor.

Regular servicing will prevent this from occurring.

Thanks to all who took the time to reply.

I was expecting to hear a scraping noise before I ruined the rotors. I never heard a thing until I was into them. Anyway I took the car in today and had the brakes done. I also took the opportunity to replace the timing belt as it was due too. The brakes feel great and the car is running well with the new timing belt. Feels like a new car !!

Peter H

Tegger wrote:

Grinding is bad. If you have grinding, you are tearing up your rotors. Replace the pads and rotors, and you'll be fine. Check the rears, too.