So I just got off work this morning at 6, and on my way home pulling up to a stop light, I could feel my rear brakes grab really hard and make a grinding sound... So I take off from the light, and I hear what sounds like an indicator 'finger' rubbing on the rotor telling me that my brakes are low. You know that grinding noise you hear on other people's vehicles. Well I know my brakes are not low bc #1 this isn't my DD and #2 when I put my summer wheel on in April I chcked my rear brakes, there is still about 1/2 of the pad remaining if not more


So I drove maybe 3 miles to hear and play to see if I could pin point the noise, it's definitely coming from the rear. So I pulled over got out and there isn't a single indication that I have a sticking caliper, brake pad is low or anyhting on my rotor. I'm stumped.

The noise was definitely getting louder, and coming to stops, it just felt like loud grinding and a rough noise...

So I'm at a loss.. I was thinking a frozen caliper. But then you would smell the brakes from getting to hot and there is zero smell, nothing is hot, the rotor show no sign of anything rubbing.. So then the only other thing that I could think of would be a parking brake shoe gettign stuck????

And its not me rear end.. That is dead silent

My brake pads are Hawk pads with rotorworks cross drilled and slotted rotors

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks

 

So I was doing more thinking...

Maybe the inside pad is worn down?
I still think the e-brake is binding?
Maybe an axle bearing took a crap??

 

^ Only real way to be sure is to pull the caliper off and look.

An axle bearing would be a howling or so, but constant. We've got the same pad/rotor set too.

 

Yeah I didn't get a chance to look at it today.. Just got up..

I know it's not a frozen caliper.. It would be smoking, you could smell it and what not.. I think either the inner pad is worn down, or the parking brake shoe is binding up..

Prolly wont get to it till Monday

 

check the pins 1st........seems they like to stick

 

Yep that's one thing I will check.. Still leading to belive the parking brake is engaged still.. I could barely move my car by hand.. Moving it either forwards or backwards in the garage...

 

That's one thing that is QUITE often overlooked when doing a brake job. Most say "I can do brakes in 15 minutes." When all they are doing is just slapping new pads on there. The caliper slides should be replaced (Rubber bushings) and the caliper needs to be scraped clean where the bushing lives. -Picks or a brake hone. Things corrode and that takes up valuable space which makes it hard for the caliper to float as the rotor moves. The pins/rubber bushings should be lubed with white lithium grease.

 

So if it is indeed the parking brake and lets say the shoes are stuck, the return spring is borke or the cable is snapped how do I go about fixing it?

 

So I finally got around to fixing my issue today.. Man was I surprised to see what had happened....

So I took the car out of the garage, got it all jacked up and took off the passenger rear wheel and this is where I suspected the noise to be coming from..

And as I took the wheel off, this is what I found.....


So it turned out that the caliper bracket bolt (not the caliper bolt for the sliding pic) had backed out and threw my caliper forward not making any contact with anything...... except the inside of my brand new OE C6 wheel




And here is what my caliper looked like from making contact with the inside of the wheel


So today I called 4 dealerships to track down this bolt. All 4 dealerships all claimed to have this bolt.. When I got to each dealership I got shafted.. Everyone said they had the correct bolt when I told them I needed it for the caliper BRACKET and NOT the sliding caliper bolt.. They all had the wrong part number so each time I got the wrong bolt.. So I call the last and final dealership with the correct part number and everything.. Again they claimed to have it.. This time I made the guy describe me the bolt. He gave me the correct description so off I went AGAIN.. I get there and he had the right bolt

So, today I drove 100 miles and wasted 3.5 hrs driving around looking for this god for saken bolt.. And I couldn't order it bc everyone would have given me the bolt for the sliding pin... I think that is called the banjo bolt???

So I got the bolt and put it all back together.. I was informed this time to use loc-tite which I did.. I grabbed the blue stuff.. I also re-did the drivers side rear as well. In the next couple days I will tackle the fronts..

The last time I did brakes was 6/2006, but I take the brake system apart to paint my calipers in 3/2009.. My car isn't a daily driver. So I'm glad it held up for this long

So that is my intresting, frustrating and exhausting story of the day today.. Just glad I got it fixed..

Now I need to set my attention on the wheel that is all scored.. Anyone have any ideas on how I can make it all black again. Sucks, it is soooo noticable the plain metal sticking out against the black

 

Take the other bolt out and get a grade 8 bolt from the hardware store. . . . Ace Hardwares seem to have a good selection of hardware these days . . .

Bummer on the bolt backing out . . . happened to my GF after her ex did a brake job . .

A touch of Loctite too!

 

Should be PN 14067559 - NOPE sorry that is the caliper to the abutment . . .

Can't find the other bolt . . .

 

Its fixed.. I got the bolt yesterday.. P/N was lik 1022659 or something like that

 

That sucks!

That happened to my ZJ years ago, on the front driver's side. The noise was so bad I parked it and pulled the wheel right by the side of the road. The bolt was gone, and the caliper was really digging into the wheel. I ended up zip-tying it up out of the way, and got home using the e-brake only (back when it actually worked).

Turns out the bolt hole was stripped, I had to use a heli-coil on it to fix it. It was a good fix though, this was like 7 years ago, and that caliper has been off plenty of times since then, and no trouble with it.