I have a 95 legacy wagon. the other day I noticed a grinding noise in the front driver side brakes when the legacy came to a stop. The grinding did not appear to be there through out the braking, just in the last few feet/rotations/etc.
I pulled the tires all the way around and all of the pads (4wheel disc) have plenty of material left.
I removed the pads from the front driver side & the rotor *looks* fine and the pads are fine. After reassembly, the grinding went away for a drive cycle, and then came back again today, a lot louder.
I removed the caliper today & the rotor about fell off the hub.
The Chilton's manual (only one I could find) said that you need to remove the castle nut and then thread bolts into the rotor to push it away from the hub. Mine came right off & I do not know why the castle nut would need to be loosened.
I checked everything out. Reassembled everything. And took the car for a spin around the block
There was no grinding. I haven't had a chance to drive it again.
So, the pads are fine. The rotors *look* fine. And after disassembly/reassembly, the grinding goes away for a period of time.
I've done a bunch of searches on the newsgroup & the web. The only good reason I have come up w/ is from a 1997 post: "rough section on the brake pad" - & that some semi-mettalic pads may be flawed and have *harder* areas than others - sounds like an urban myth to me.
Any thoughts?