Hi,

I'm T-bone McClure. You might remember me from such threads as 'Front rotor wearing funny' and 'what's that sound?'




This weekend I set out to find/fix what is causing the metal on metal sound that is coming from my front left brakes. The brake pads do NOT need to be replaced. The sound is directly related to the speed of the wheel (ie as I speed up, the rate of the sound increases) so it's NOT the metal plate behind the rotor. Also, the sound goes away when I step on the brakes. I decided to buy a new rotor because I thought that the current rotor was warped and that was causing the metal on metal noise. Guess what....?...that didn't fix it
I have NOOOO idea what is causing this metal on metal sound.

Can anyone PLEASE help me?

 

Buy a new shim kit from Nissan. Take the brakes apart and put all new hardware on them. Take the guide pins out, clean and regrease them with the special rubber based grease in the kit. The shim kit is excellent and usually quiets any brake noises. It may very well be the metalic pad against the rotor your hearing.

Something is rubbing and I'm very suprised you didn't see any indication on anything where it's happening while you had them apart. It doesn't make sense.

 

The only things that come to mind are a bad wheel bearing? I really am stumped by this Ryan, I for sure thought it was the bad rotor, did you make sure that the dust shield was on correctly and not deformed in anyway.

Come on guys lets help Ryan fix his problem.

Regards,
Rev. Al Sharpton

 

how much does a shim kit cost?

 

I was thinking the same things. Either shims and caliper pin or possible wheel bearing problem.

 

If it was a wheel bearing problem, would the sound stop when I brake?

 

I just baught a kit for my rear brakes, it was 30 bucks. The front should be somewhere around the same price.

 

How are the calipers? Are they sticking? Check the piston in it. If they stick, then can have the brake pad "breeze" the rotors and all it takes if for you to push the pedal and it squeezes and the noise stops.

 

Tom good call on the Shim kit, Ryan did you grease all the parts before installing?

 

Grease what parts? The only part that I installed was a new rotor.

 

Could the sound be a bent drive shaft?? It squeeks to when accelerating.

 

In order to install the shims you have to disassemble the entire pad/shim set-up. This will allow for everything to be regreased before re-installation. What Tom was saying is that is where your problem may lie, that being a misformed shim. Very likely

 

Yes, I have a feeling that the problem is shim-related, too. Maybe I need to reapply some more of that orange stuff that holds the shims tight against the pads.

 

Typical, when you have a worn wheel bearing the noise will be louder when making a turn as you are placing a larger load on the bearing when turning. Also, to check bearing play, jack up car, grab tire at 6:00 and 12:00 o'clock positions and see see if you have any movement.

I suspect your noise maybe related to the caliper/brake pad not quite fully releasing. News shims and clean/regrease caliper pin is what I would do first.

 

OMG...I'm having the same exact problem. The noise seem to be coming from the front driver side wheel area. I thought the rotor was warped and was about to buy new rotor, but I took a pic of it and show it to the people here, they told me the rotor wasn't warped. I guess whatever it is, we have the same problem.

 

Now lets see who is the first to fix the problem, T-bone or cumalot.

 

Hopefully T-bone will find out first because I'm waiting for him.

 

I'm not sure if T-Bone ever had his problem fixed. I think I finally got mine fixed today. Still puzzled by what's causing the noise, I gave up and brought the car in to Sears to let them have a check. Turns out it was a cracked brake pad, I'm pretty sure it's the driver side. I told them to go ahead and change them. They changed both front sides even though probably only one was damaged. As I drove off, I noticed the noise was gone. I don't know what brand of brake pads Sears used but it's pretty good. The pads had some kind of blue shims built in them that prevent the brake pads from screeching. So, I don't need to put the brake goo thing myself, it's already done for me. Cost for them to change the pads plus labor was about $110. Yeah, I probably could have done them myself after letting them inspecting the pads and save some money, but since the car was there already, I might as well let them do it too. So my problem is finally fixed. Good luck in yours T-Bone.

 

OK, thanks for the update. I am going to go buy the orange 'glue' that holds that pads and shims together tight. Hopefully, this will solve the problem. I don't really think that I need new shims.


Stay tuned...........