The inside of my front left rotor has begun to develop a lip on the outer edge. The lip is rubbing against another metal object (probably the caliper) and causing an irritating metal-on-metal grinding sound. The brake pads are only half worn so I know it's not the brake pad wear indicator that is making the sound.


...suggestions?




EDIT:
I just checked the rotor's 'lip'; it is not a pronounced as I had thought. I think that the rubbing is taking place where the caliper assembly meets the rotor. Perhaps one of the pad shims is rubbing the rotor. The right side rotor also has a tiny tiny lip, but there is no metal on metal rubbing there.

 

you could have a calliper problem thats causing the pad to constantly rub with the disk. over time that would eat out a nice track for it. get the calipers checked and have the rotors turned (cut, resurfaced etc). perhaps drop in some new pads too.

 

The caliper bracket must be bent in. So the caliper is sitting croocked. Or the brake pad is junk.

 

On the inside isn't there a round heat shield type thing?? If that were bent it would make a helluva noise rubbing on the rotor... Does the noise go away when you push on the brakes, or vise versa?

 

The noise stops when I step on the brakes.

 

I hope we can get this problem solved, I have had this problem blow up on me too. On mine, the noise goes away when I hit the brakes, but it dosent start until Ive been driving awhile. Also it will go away when i turn the wheels.

How big of a ridge on the rotor are you talking about, 1/16th of an inch? I haven't had a chance to get my wheel off and give things a look yet. Ive also noticed my tires are wearing out on the inside of the tire. im sure that unrelated.

 

Yes, the ridge is about that size.

 

anybody

 

I got brakes on my Maxima. (I'm in my funny mood now)



Well maybe the caliper piston isn't working correctly and putting the pad(s) (or what ever) at an angle.

 

 

I just did the front brakes on my Maxima recently as well. The pads weren't worn out all the way, but were noisy as h*ll.

Both front rotors had a shallow groove near the outside lip. It looked like the pad just didn't extend all the way to the outer edge of the rotor, and wore into the metal... leaving the lip.

I replaced the rotors with 'Wearever' brand generics and put Bendix brand 'IQ' (import quiet) pads on. After breaking in for a couple hundred miles, everything is now quiet.

However, the rotors seem to warp temporarily when they get really hot. I jumped on the brakes at around 100mph, and they shook a little... but after cooling down, they did just fine again.

My stock rotors weren't warped, so after this, I took them to the shop to have them turned ($8 each) in case I wanted to re-install them. They were not worn evenly, but they cleaned up at just over 0.80" thick. And yes, the outer edge was worn a little more than the rest, but not enough to worry about. Most of it was where the brake pad was not rubbing quite all the way to the edge of the rotor, leaving a ridge.

Good Luck!

 

thanks
so would you suggest that I (1) have the rotors turned and replace the brake pads or (2) buy new rotors and replace the brake pads?

 

If they look like they will clean up without cutting too much off, go ahead and get the originals turned. The originals are of high quality, and if they ain't broke...

 

this thread is old but my buddy's maxima, which i have been trying to fix, had the same/similar issue. what i found out last night was that the pins that are supposed to slide on the caliper bracket are (c)rusted and do not slide any longer. this has caused a buildup of excess heat on the rotor and would eventually warp them. if you're suffering from this problem, you will also notice a nice uneven wear on the pads. the top of one pad and the bottom of the other would show excess wear b/c the calipers, when compressed, algins itself diagonally. junkyard wants $50 for the caliper bracket - should solve the problem.

 

Hmmm, thanks. So far I have replaced the rotor, used 'brake quiet' on the shims, and even temporarily replaced the pads, yet I still am experiencing a grinding sound.

 

You might want to check the rears... Check both sides. One side on my car was worn out, while the other still looked just fine.

Good Luck!