I just got myself a 2002 6sp SE with 95,000kilometres on it. black on black

Really like the car but I'm having this intermittent brake issue that is makin me question my sanity.

When I got the car they installed brand new rear brakes as part of safety. After a while the brakes began to shudder and grind right before it came toa complete stop. Only the last couple feet were grinding, the rest was a good stop and the brakes felt strong otherwise. This would continue until i leave the car overnight and in the morning the problems resolved itself.

It would always start happening on my way back from work in stop n go traffic seemingly. Never on the way to work or at lunch or any other time.

I took the car in to look at and they replaced the front discs and pads with new as well for free under the 30 day agreement and I left. The problem started again on the drive home and seemed to actually be worse, and the garage closed. The brakes now made a loud metal grinding and springy noise as well, sounding like they might break and fall off onto the road or something.

The thing is that issue never presents itself when I need it to so that I can demonstrate it to the mechanic allowing them to diagnose it. It only happens when Im alone in the car after the shops closed, Im going insane...

Theyve driven it around for an hour braking alot to try and trigger it and nothing. Thye had 3 guys inspect it and said its all good and the hardwares basically all new except calipers I think.

The issue started again tonight after work on my way home.

Ideas? Thanks for any input. Id take it somewhere else but I'm broke and this shop is doin everything for free so I have no other option

 

All else fails, check the work yourself.

Brakes are pretty easy.

 

Id love to but im new to cars and not at that level yet. The brakes look nice and new to me and I cant see anything obvious. Im wondering if it could be some ABS sensor or something or maybe a brake fluid line type thing?

or do the calipers just need to be replaced too

 

try to test ur ABS by braking hard on a few bumps, see if it works fine. it could even be ABS pump kicking in at the wrong times every now and then.

 

Sounds to me they used cheap and heavy metalic pads. You should have something along the lines of Hawk HP or green stuff.

 

This happened to me when one of the ABS wires stripped. But it was mostly when it got wet. It got worse and worse until the sensor died. If it is the sensor you would know because the pedal will "fight" back a lot more that regular grinding.

 

I dont think its the pads because the old ones that were on the car before I bought it had the same issue, and the brand new ones only changed the SOUND of the issue. making it sound like the brakes were about to shatter or something. And id think that if I had the wrong pads this would happen more often, not so intermittently.

^ The pedal definitely grinds and rumbles but i dont have trouble pushing it down or anything. Did you have any metallic grinding/springy noises too?

Im gonna try and tell them to check the ABS system because I dont know what else to do, this is so frustrating.

It only happens after 5pm... WTF

You guys are my only hope

 

I'm also going to suggest the shop put on OEM pads to see if thats the culprit

 

Get knight to mod your car to dual caliper

 

george get outta here man youre gonna derail the thread

 

I had the grinding, dragging sound at low speed when I replaced my front rotors. It turn out that the brake shield was touching the rotor.

 

^ Did this happen intermittently? Or all the time

I just dont see it being that type of issue since the whole set up has been inspected by numerous mechanics numerous times and they said its all perfect...

God dam I wish I could just get it to happen and show them with someone in the car so theyd believe me. They think im tryin to swindle them out of free brake parts

 

did the previous owner use OEM brake pads?

brake pads can cause noises

 

I think it is the dust shields. They are too thin and they warp when hot or cold. They are probably too close to the rotor, close enough that they don't touch all the time.
Or the pads have not been bedded properly, or the rotors have not been burnished properly

 

i replaced the pads with an OEM equivalent and it hasnt returned since but we'll see how it goes.

If it comes back first thing im checkin are the dust shields. thanks guys

 

^
It was probably the brake pads.

congrats on the fix

 

just an update.

the brake pads didnt fix it.

now the ABS light comes on intermittently.

They replaced an ABS sensor and it didnt fix anything. They rewrapped the ABS wires and it didnt fix anything.

Im gonna get them to replace the ABS wires this weekend.

I've been back to this shop about 15 times for this stupid issue... luckily its free because I bought the car from them. But they just do the minimal amount of work to get it off the lift and out of the shop. Its very irritating.

Hopefully the new wires end this for good

 

^
what a waste of time

 

What causes you to think this is now a wiring issue? Without clear indication of this, having someone you already admit to be doing the minimal work, not sure I would trust to do a quality harness repair. I worry you're (they're) going to end up causing more issues.