Car: 1999 Nissan Maxima, Automatic, Non-ABS, 4 wheel disc brakes, 146k miles on the odometer.

I recently noticed a grinding noise during heavier braking from speeds of about 35 mph to 0 mph.

At first I thought that my front brake pads may be due for a replacement since it has been about 43k miles since I last replaced them.

After taking the wheels off and inspecting the front brake pads, I noticed that there is still some meat left and they should not be causing the problem.

After raising the rear end, while the cars parking brake was applied, I noticed my driver side rear wheel spinning freely.

Does the parking brake hold both rear wheels or one wheel on a front wheel drive car?

The driver side rear wheel also has a little bit more brake dust than my passenger side rear wheel which remains locked when I apply the parking brake.

I wonder if the grinding noise under braking has anything to do with my rear driver side wheel spinning freely with the parking brake applied?

I also noticed that the braking power to fully stop the car is a bit weaker than usual under heavier braking. Maybe it's my imagination since I'm hearing the grinding noise and I'm picking.

Both rear calipers were replaced along with new rear brake pads and rotors about 22k miles ago.

 

check the cable on that side. any rust on the rotor surface where the pad should be touching? any glazing? was it a rebuilt caliper? i have had an autozone caliper freeze on me pretty early.

 

The caliper's that I installed in the rear were rebuilt A1 Cardone's from RockAuto several years ago.

If it is a caliper issue, the caliper isn't making the wheel stick as it did when I had a frozen caliper last time. At that point I wasn't able to move the wheel freely by hand.

If it is a frozen caliper, what does it have to do with the parking mechanism?

 

parking/ caliper two different issues just tring to address both lol. it could be a slow caliper does that side have more meat on the pads than the other? does it stop spinning when the reg brake is applied?

 

Tha parking brake cable attaches to both rear cailpers. Check that left rear caliper to see if the cable is attached or hanging loose. If it's already attached then you'll probably need to replace that caliper. If it's loose they can sometimes be a hassle to attach.

 

Brake pad can wear pretty unevenly. If you've only checked through the window, I'd check again. Take the wheel off and look around the entire pad.

 

I don't mean to hijack, but I have a related question. If there is rust where the pad should be, what would that indicate? Just out of curiosity because that seems to be going on with my front passenger side brakes. Thanks.

My two cents would be to check that the parking cable is engaging (that it is tight) on the caliper. Then, check if the caliper is engaging.

Goog luck.

 

if it is always there an not just if the car sits for a couple of wet days in a row, try this (be careful dont crash lol) assuming you have good alignment get the car going at a good rate then brake hard without adjusting the steering at all. does the car seem to lean down or favor one side? you said passenger so car would pull to the left as your driver side caliper is doing more work. this is much more detectable on front than back as it does like 70-80% of braking. if so you'll need to inspect your braking system to see where the failure point is. this is why i do not take my car anywhere to do the brakes you couldnt pay me to let someone do MY brakes! shops dont clean everything up change the slides put hi-temp grease ect. ect. ect!!!