so when you get off the freeway it doesnt shake the steering wheel? i bet it doesnt........and you bet i know what that is....one of two things


one: there is a metal shield behind the rotor....it may be contacting the rotor once it heats up in there. metal expands. bend it back ever so slightly away from the rotor.


two: there are two little clips that attach to the caliper that hold the pads in place. one of them is offset just enough so that it touches the rotor once it gets hot. your pads and rotors are probably just fine.

 

let us know how it goes.

 

When I get off the freeway (highway here =)), the steering wheel doesn't shake.

1) The metal shield behind the rotor was clipped in the spots that it may be contacting the rotor (near the bottom). I know the plate needs to be changed but that is now what's causing it, and the brakes were applied while the car was up on the lift, and the mechanic did not see the brakes making contact with the plate

2) The two clips in the caliper (the "sliders") were thought to be the problem. The reason was that one of the 'pins' on the top slider (in the caliper) was actually BROKEN, and there's a line on the rotor going all the way around, giving us the impression that the slider was touching the rotor at some point. The top slider was changed, and the sound went away for a few hours. I washed and waxed my car, delighted that the problem was fixed -- took the car for a spin all buffed and shined, and the problem came back! I was fuming!

Basically, both things you suggested have been looked at/tried =)

 

no the sliders allow the caliper to move around as the pads loose their material. im talking about the thin little metal clips that actually hold the pads in place. the reason why i think we are talking about two different things is that there are no "pins" in the clips

 

Hello again =)

The 'pins' I speak of are simply the L-shaped parts of the sliders. If you look at a slider closely, it has 2 of those, and one of them had a side of the metal broken off. I can't really explain it, but the "sliders" i'm referring to do exactly what you described - they hold the pads in place. I once re-inserted the slider myself so I know that it's definitely what holds the pads in place!

Still lightshow, I REALLY appreciate you taking the time to try to help me figure this out. This problem has been the biggest mystery i've ever had to deal with .. with any car! It's gotten so frustrating that i've been ready to give up on an otherwise PERFECT car (knock on wood!), sell it and move on! No one can figure this out...

 

i still think you should recheck both of those things i have mentioned. but one thing you have not said anything about replacing yet is the caliper brackets. if they were bent even the tiniest little bit, they would make a sound like what you have

 

the wheel bearings make that sound when they go bad but you can hear it at all times. not just when your braking

 

Hey guys,

Well first off I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to read my long initial post, and especially to those who replied with suggestions.

This had been an ongoing intermittant problem for over a year now, and one (really smart) mechanic finally pinpointed the problem and fixed it.

I mentioned in my original post that the rotor would not spin completely round, and that someone once told me it was due to a bad bearing? Well it wasn't, but the rotor rotating crooked WAS what was causing the noise. It turns out that the spindle was bent (the front driver-side wheel had either hit something like a sidewalk really hard, or a mechanic had bent the spindle while removing one of the numerous rotors which were put on). I bought a spindle from a scrapyard, replaced it, and the rotor turned completely straight afterwards. The steering wheel used to shake a bit on the highway, and that went away too.

So anyways - the scraping sound was caused by the metalic brake pads hitting the rotor at an angle, due to a bent spindle. I hope someone with a similar problem in future can get the solution from this thread!

Thanks again everyone!

 

i feel like i just read a freakin book. what a great success story. lol. glad to see you got it fixed and thanks for posting the solution for anyone else who has this problem.

 

Well, you should hold onto that particular mechanic tighter than an Alabama tick!