nissanluva

Help - I am getting a really annoying brake scraping noise from the rear of my 01 AE Max. It only happens after I've been driving a while and I now hear it on both sides. Then I hear get a consistent scraping noise whenever I slow down. Then eventually it turns into a rotating scraping noise (scrape, scrape, scrape) that is not affected by how the brake is applied. The noise gets quicker as I speed up and slower as I slow down, but as I said, pressing the brake doesn't affect the noise. My rear rotors are in pretty bad shape (visible grooves) but the pads still have good amount of material left. I was pretty sure it was something to do with the pads but now I'm not so sure since pressing the brake (even gently pulling the parking brake while moving) doesn't affect the noise. Any ideas?

MaxHind

mine does that too, idk what it is. http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=475583

Lontar1

iTrader: (5)

check the metal cover behind the rotors..... it could be bend.....

5thgenmaxima

iTrader: (1)

I'm not sure how our cars are set-up. (I've never had to pull the rear rotors), but USUALLY there is a drum inside the rotor for the e-brake. (Some cars use the regulaur brakes, but not many.)

You say the rear rotors have grooves in them. That would mean your previous pads or these pads have either something on the pads surface digging into your rotor or the wear indicator is digging into the rotor. My guess is that you have an imperfection on your pads where something is rubbing against your rotor. my .02

MaxHind

in my car, the front driver side is where the noise is coming from. and I dont have those metal guards, i just checked. wtf?!?!?!

BLUEMAX01SE

Has to be pads! I had this scraping noise before too and turned out to be something on the surface of the pad!

darrelfsu

its the brake pad wear indicator. There is a pin on the pads that scrapes the rotors after the pads are worn or if there is an imperfection (ie calipers sticking)that causes the pads to wear more than normal. You can do a quick fix and adjust the pin or just replace the pads. I had the same issue and I simply adjusted the pin, but the noise is back since my calipers are sticking and my pads are wearing at an angle.

OH2kblackMAXX

your caliper is siezed. i had the same thing happen to me about a month ago. took the wheel off and found the the pad was locked in the braking position.

Killercam2

iTrader: (1)

I have to same problem.. i am about to get my front brakes done then...

SDR

I'm going through the same thing. When I jack the car up and spin the rear wheels there is a constant scraping sound from the pads rubbing the rotor. I have new rotors and new pads (1000K on them.). The wheel spins freely (no resistance) but the pads are contacting the rotors. The calipers have been replaced about 5k ago with refurbished calipers from NAPA so im sure its not a caliper issue. I'm going to try replacing the pad clips that help the pads return to thier original position after the brakes are released, its the only thing I can think that might help at this point. Any other suggestions on what might be causing this???

nissanluva

I don't think it's the wear sensor because the pads have plenty of meat left. I drove around my neighborhood and jumped on the brakes a few times until the scraping came back. Then I jacked up the side of the car that's making the noise, and the wheel spins freely, but there appears to be a spot on the dust-shield side of the rotor (that I can't see of course) that is causing the scraping. I can spin the wheel back and forth across the spot and hear the noise. My rear rotors are kinda shot anyway - they ride fine but I can see all the grooves. Now the funny thing is that I jacked up the other side of the car, and that wheel has some very minor resistance when I spin it, meaning the pads are contacting the rotors - either that caliper is sticky or needs adjustment or the rotor/pads need replacing, but the noise is coming from the other side. I don't know. I'm afraid of what the "stealership" might try to do to me. Maybe I'll let my local mechanic take a look.

hehehh

I had the same noise on my front left brake. It was around 60k miles, so I removed the front rotors and had them re-finished at the local repair shop (costs $10 per rotor). Then just put them back on and replaced the pads. Old pads had a lot of life in them still, but it is better to put new pads just in case - they are not that expensive anyway.
Have not heard the noise since.

nissanluva

Yeah - I took it a local shop and they say it's definitely the rear brakes. The pads have plenty of life, but the rotors are heavily grooved and pitted. So much so that they say I shouldn't both trying to resurface them. I'm gonna get the OEM pads - they're only $60, but Nissan wants $93 each for the rear rotors. I have the Brembo blank rotors on the front, but TireRack doesn't sell them for the rear. Looks like Autobarn has them for $75 each, so I'll probably get them from there. The Brembo blanks seem to be good rotors, just that the hub part seems to rust up pretty bad, but who cares?

† ErV †

rebuild the brakes (take them off and on again basically). it happens when some stupid person messes with them, usually while doing something ELSE.

i just had mine messed up so i have to do them again. the sound is maddening...... at least you can't hear it with the windows up...

nissanluva

Problem fixed - picked up a set of Brembo blanks for the rear from Autobarn for $150, OEM pads for $60, labor $85. No more noise. Actually the ride appears to have smoothed out, too. I used to get an occassional shudder throughout the whole car when I drove about 60-70 MPH - but never got the shudder in the brake pedal unless I was doing some really hard braking. I have 18" rims and hadn't had them balanced in a while so I thought that was the prob. Now with the new rotors on the back, I haven't noticed the shudder, and obviously the brakes feel better. Brembo to the rescue!! - now if I can just figure a way to stop the hub of the rotors from rusting...............

spdfreak

Try that.

It's called "turning the rotors".