Today I noticed a scraping sound coming from my wheel well when I'm at low speeds...it's not a constant sound, but it's consistent: "scraaape.....scraaape....scrape...scrape...scrape scrapescrape" until I get up some speed and it's gone.

I got out and felt the front driver side caliper and it's hot, about 160 degrees I'd say. The front passenger side caliper was at air temp (~60 degrees). I would guess I need new pads, but the car is stopping pretty well and I've never had this noise happen when my pads are low. And since the sound isn't constant, I'm assuming it may be a warped rotor?

It's about time for me to replace my pads anyway so it won't hurt, but I'm just looking for a solid answer so that I can fix whatever the problem is while I've got the car up and the wheels/brakes off.

Thanks

 

Youve got a problem with that caliper... The piston is not receding back into its bore for some reason.

Buy a rebuild kit for that caliper, or buy a new caliper all together if you dont want to tackle the task of rebuilding it. All it will consist of will be a new piston, seals, and cleaning it out with brake fluid.

 

im guessing your brake pads. change them b4 u go to a party or something sounding ghetto fabulous

 

if the pad wear is even or nearly even on both sides, you may have just reached end of life on the pads. If the pads are slightly uneven, one of the lines may not have been bled correctly... causing a pressure difference. The pads and/or calipers can also get stuck (pads themselves or the caliper slides) causing the pad to wear unevenly, at an angle... accelerated wear. And of course, what Red_EM2 said. Had that happen once, it got a lot hotter than 160 though...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by miahmouse &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if the pad wear is even or nearly even on both sides, you may have just reached end of life on the pads. If the pads are slightly uneven, one of the lines may not have been bled correctly... causing a pressure difference. The pads and/or calipers can also get stuck (pads themselves or the caliper slides) causing the pad to wear unevenly, at an angle... accelerated wear. And of course, what Red_EM2 said. Had that happen once, it got a lot hotter than 160 though...

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Yeah sounds like that caliper is seized or is in the process. I had this happen on my hatch and it got hot enough to melt the center cap out of my wheel on that side as well as heating the brake fluid to the point where I lost brakes for the most part. I did not want to rebuild so I went to Orileys and bought a reman caliper for about $70 after the core.

 

Thanks guys Kinda sucks that the caliper piston is probably siezed, I was gonna do the work tomorrow but I have no idea how to change a caliper. to me, haha.

Thing is though, if the pad were being pushed agaisnt the rotor constantly, wouldn't it create a constant whirring sound rather than the "scrape....scrape....." that it's doing? I almost feel like it would have to be a warped rotor and a dead pad. Is that a possibility?

I'm gonna take care of it tomorrow regardless, just wanna be prepared! Anybody got a how-to on bleeding brake lines etc?

 

When i changed my brake pads a couple weeks ago i found that my caliper slides were frozen. The caliper slides are supossed to move freely but mine were totally gummed up. I had to pry them out, clean, and regrease them. The caliper slides are the 2 bolts at the front of the brake assembly that have a small rubber boot on them. Check those first before you spend money on the other stuff.

 

Ok so I got new rotors and pads and put them on the drivers side, but when I went to do the passenger side I noticed the rotor had 2 screws by the wheel studs that wouldn't come out so I was hesitant to bash on it with a mallet to get it off. Somebody told me today that those screws holes are actually there to take off the rotor by putting screws in and tightening them until they pry the rotor off, and that the previous owner of my car probably left the 2 screws in by accident when he rotated the rotors. Is that true? Should I just go ahead and bash it off then?

Edit- also, the pads on the driver's side were wayyyy more worn than the passenger side. Does this mean the piston had siezed? It compressed just fine with a clamp on it and I greased it before I put it back together, but there was definitely some uneven brake pressure going on. Are there any other reasons besides the caliper piston possibly being stuck out?

 

i don't know what these guys are saying about a seized piston. your pistons are fine. sometimes the pads wear out uneven. that scapping sound you heard was the pad rubbing on the rotor because it was done for. look at it this way it's one way to tell when it's time to change your brakes.

the 2 screws are to remove the rotor. you need a impact driver to remove them.

but reading your current post every thing seemed to be fine. your fine and your brakes are ok! just don't forget to break them i properly!

 

^Yeah, I just had my brakes done a couple of days ago and I had the same metal on metal scraping sound on the front passenger side. It was the pad wear indicator (a simple metal tab) that eventually came loose and got sandwiched between the rotor and pad causing a god awful scraping sound at low speed.

 

The screws are there to help hold on the rotor. They loosen like any other screw (so don't tighten them to take off the rotor). Honda puts them on to hold the rotor in place at the factory. The screws really dont need to be reused unless you want to because the wheel lugs hold the rotor on just fine. I had problems getting the screws off too. I had to place a round bar (same size as screw head) against the screw and beat the rod with a hammer. Give it 2-3 really hard hits and they should loosen up.

 

Thanks everybody I really hope the everything's all set, cos I still hear a faint sound when I have my wheel turned at full lock to the left, but I figure that's just my wheel rubbing a bit cos it doesn't have a metallic tone, although it doesn't happen if I reverse with the wheels in the same spot, haha.

The other side effect here is that I'm pretty disappointed with the braking! This is my first time with new brakes on my EM1 and I always figured the so-so braking was due to worn parts, but I guess not! I guess it might just be that they're not grabby, which is probably good for a car without ABS.

 

hmm.

your car right now is going "scraaape.....scraaape....scrape...scrape...scrape scrapescrape"

my car right now is going " squeaaak.....squeaaak....squeak...sqeak...squeaksq ueaksqueak"

i've been told my car's brake pads need to be changed. yours? its like a totally different sound and i think i would have to agree with Red_EM2

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pli &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hmm.

your car right now is going "scraaape.....scraaape....scrape...scrape...scrape scrapescrape"

my car right now is going " squeaaak.....squeaaak....squeak...sqeak...squeaksq ueaksqueak"

i've been told my car's brake pads need to be changed. yours? its like a totally different sound and i think i would have to agree with Red_EM2</TD></TR></TABLE>

dude, your probably one of the youngest on h-t. what the hell do you know about brakes. squeak or scrape, it's the same thing. it squeaks and if you wait to long to change it then it scrapes. do some research before you post.