HI Everyone

I had the brakes replaced in Jan 2002 and now (lately) when I hit the brakes I get a grinding crunchy feeling and sound from the left front especially when going down hill.

Inspection shows plenty of brake lining left and I'm starting to think they beat the crap out of the bearing in order to get the disk off for surfacing.

Can anyone describe what a bad bearing sounds like on a 4X4?

Can anyone comment? I tried the search but nothing was there.

Need help---Bob

 

When a bearing goes bad, it's usually heard all the time. People call it bearing rumble because that's what it sounds like. But it can also make a buzzing or humming sound. It can sometimes be confused with exhaust drone too if it's a rear bearing.

What you should probably do is jack up the wheel you think it's coming from and shake it back and forth to feel for movement or noise. You can also hear and feel it when you turn the wheel. It feels like a rough spot.

If you hear it when braking but not at speed then I don't think it's the bearings. Odds are that if it were a bearing, the noise may even go away when braking because it would load it up with presure. I figured out my noise was a bearing because the rumble would go away completely when taking curves on highways.

 

Crappy brake pads.
I had the same sound on my wifes Honda Accord after the local idoits did a brake job. Turns out they used some off-the-wall brand off brake pads. If your going to have other people do the brake job for you, either take them the brakes you've ordered yourself or ask to see the brand they are putting on.

 

Take the pads off and see how they look. Sometimes they look ok form the outside but when you take it off you see that the pad is cracked.

-Jon

 

could be that you have one of the cylinders sticking in the caliper and the caliper is actually twisting so much that its rubbing on the disc. lay mans terms; one cylinder is not extending from the caliper thus it is pushing off of the other cylinder and twisting the caliper onto to the rotor. pull the caliper out put a thin piece of wood between the pads and have some one push and hold the brake if you can pull out one end of the wood theres your problem

 

I was experiencing the exact same thing.
just on the right side. Inspection showed the outer pad looked fine however the inner pad was wasted own to the metal! Scored the rotor also.

Don't know why this happened the brakes and rotors were replaced last summe at 68k mikes, left side looks fine and outer pad on right side was normal only the inner pad was abnormmly worn mileage about 15k from last brake job...

the rotor and pads came from NAPA
could it be a defective pad?

you might check the inner pad also

Jim

 

if one inner pad is worn and all the rest are fine it is usually a stuck caliper. Make sure the slides are well lubed up and clean.

 

Hcmq
I was thinking that might be it,
The pins appeared gunked and somewhat sticky... I got a rebuild kit from napa it had the spring slips and rubber boots for the pins. I removed the pins and used brake cleaner to clean the pins and holes real well... Then I greased the pins with synthetic calaper grease and put the new pin boots on... I hope that does the trick...

Jim