When braking down a 20-30% grade, my car rumbles, almost like it has snow tires up front. I just had new BF Goodrich Traction TA radials installed before Christmas. Way before the tires were installed, new brake pads were installed on all 4 sides and 2 rotors needed to be cut. I think both front rotors were cut, but I'm not sure. I know at least one front rotor was cut. I don't know what kind of pads my mechanic installed, but they create a lot of dust. Since I don't drive this car everyday, I just noticed this noise since my wife is driving me into work. There is no noise when driving or braking on a level road. Any ideas???

 

It could be your wheel bearings.

 

If it were the wheel bearings, I would think I would hear that noise no matter how the car is driven. Any other opinions???

 

Wheel bearing would make a crackle noise while driving, turning, etc. It could either be your driver or passenger side axle (if one has gone bad, it's likely that both are) or it could be time to change your rack & pinion.

 

I don't hear any crackle noise at all. How can I troubleshoot an axle problem?? I drives fine except when braking down a grade.

P.S. Brake pedal does not pulsate when applying the brakes!!!

 

put new rotors and pads

 

That's what I've been thinking. I started pricing new ceramic pads and rotors.

 

go to autozone -life time warranty

 

Lifetime warranty on what, pads???

 

yes-duralast gold

 

How does Duralast compare to Raybestos?? Does Duralast make ceramic pads??

 

I'm going to go with Autozone lifetime pads for now, they are suprisingly good for the money.


Damn wheel bearings. . . my car sounds like wolverine fighting a metal pole when I drive

 

my bearings are soo dead it's not even funny...i killed them even more last summer by driving to quebec city(2hrs each way) and i didn't drive it in the winter. I'm just ordered some parts for it(KS, Bearings and water temp sensor) The car should be like new. I can't wait...i drove it yesterday and i really don't like the sound from the bearings. It just gets louder and louder as u increase speeds. As for the braking noises at a grade, it's weird. Change the pads and rotors as a first step and see from there on. If not, then get the suspension checked or do it yourself...don't worry too much about it. It won't kill anything else, but don't wait too long

 

Just replaced my front brake pads with Raybestos Ceramic pads. I noticed that the old pads on the passenger side didn't wear evenly. The outside pad was worn a lot more than the inside. Does this sound like a bad caliper?? The pads on the driver side wore pretty evenly. Any ideas??

 

It depends, was it hard to push back the piston of the caliper?

 

No, not really. I used a big "C" clamp. I also flushed out both front brake lines with new brake fluid. This morning was the test. On the way into work, I had my wife hit the brakes on the same hill; no rumble!!!!