Hey there,
noticed a grinding coming from passenger front, took the wheel off there are no signs of any kind of wear on the rotors so i changed the wheel bearing compressed the piston and put the old brakes back on..... it still had a grinding noise when i was going slow so i took the wheel off and it looks like the rotor is maybe a little warped. I just ordered a pair of rotors and am hoping this fixes the issue but im not so sure. Meanwhile.... i was leaving work and i heard a loud clunk when i started backing up and all of a sudden its ten times worse... it sounded like my ler was dragging on the ground but its not. what the heck is going on? am i right to compress the caliper then simply stick the pads back on and apply pressure to the pedal??? so confused right now ill have bearings rotors and pads replaced by tomorow evening but something tells me theres another issue evading me.....
Id guess wheel bearings by what you described. Does the noise only happen when you brake? Warped rotors shouldn't cause grinding.
If your wheel bearing is shot, your brakes won't work because only the caliper will be holding your wheel on.
the brakes work and this noise was the same and only got worse since i changed the effected bearing which is strange.....
this car is killing me man.....
Do you hear the noise when you spin the wheel with the car up on jackstands? Sometimes when I have a noise that is tough to find, I'll have somebody drive the car past me while I am standing outside of it. Sometimes it can be easier to find rogue noises when you aren't in the car.
i gotta figure it out
i hear the noise on the jackstand but there is no indication as to where its coming from, rotors and pads are clean and smooth.
Well, if you have the car up on jack stands, and you can spin one wheel by hand and hear the noise, start taking things off until it quits. Take the tire off, spin the rotor. Still got noise? Take the caliper off, spin the rotor, still got noise? Pull the rotor and look for a bad bearing (I know you said you just did them, but when you are down to just the rotor, that's about all that's left. Don't be offended by this question, but it has to be asked- you did grease-pack the new bearings didn't you?
i greased them with my fingers. and now ive changed the rotors and put in yet another set of bearings. what is grease packing in comparison to spreading grease all over them with my fingers..... this sucks. it honestly sounds like the brakes are rubbing but i just put new pads rotors and bearings in
Grinding means metal on metal. This will shine up whatever is rubbing against each other.
I've seen a balljoint start to fail from the bottom of the a-arm and hit the inside back of the rotor.
thats kinda what i think is happening, but once again all parts have just been replaced!! im so frustrated
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAFoX3jfvzY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Fast forwards to 7:30 for repacking bearings.
oh !!! i wonder if that is the problem..... does it screw the bearings up if i drive without the se a doo thing
There's not much to the front ends on these cars. If you remove the tire and caliper and spin the rotor and still hear noise, It will most likely be bearings (unless you have a freak ball joint situation like haystack mentioned). You'd probably only have $20-$25 in a bearing/seal set, might as well throw them on. If you know you didn't pack the bearings correctly, you're gonna have to take them back out anyway. I hope the bearing race didn't get torn up in those new rotors (although if you just bought them, they might be under warranty).
alright well i only drove the car down the street. I have now packed the bearings and need to drive to car to see whats happening, however when i put the new pads/rotors on i smelt burning the first time i took them out and the rotors had a bit of carbon on them as if something was burning. I hope it was maybe just some grease or some residue left after i cleaned the rotors. Ill take it out now and let you guys know whats up. Thanks for the help and sorry for the stupid questions ive never had this much trouble with basic maintenance
aaaaand. I definately needed to pack those bearings, it sounds about 90% better theres still a slight metal on metal sliding noise im assuming its coming from the pads though. Im pretty sure i replaced the rotor for no reason which is pretty dang stupid considering the pads and rotor were in good shape to begin with..... now i guess ill replace the rotors pads and bearings on the other side for no reason..... really frustrating...... it did have original rotors but the car only has 30k miles on it. almost 100% sure that if i had packed the bearings properly to begin with i would probably have had no issues......
im interested to hear if you say its the passenger side.
the caliper hose has metal ends on it and if aged the interior of the line will feather out kinda acting like a check valve for the brake fluid,, this prevents the caliper piston from retracting all the way,, and eventually causes your brake pads to constantly be rubbing the rotor slightly.
this heats up the caliper,, heats up the metal, then deteriorates the brake fluid,, then this over time causes condensation to build up in the caliper,, this then allows the caliper to start "sticking" and this causes the rotor to warp.
whewwww,, that was a long sentence.
putting on rotors is not actually simple,, if you have not done it before you need a step by step written up or have someone show you.
packing the bearings is easy and there is a tool you can use that does it for you.
I can do up a step by step for you if you like on bearings but it sounds like you got it done.
it is the passenger side. what is so difficult about replacing the rotors? how would you go about fixing this "feathering" problem? caliper replacement? as of now the car seems to be driving alright like i said the brakes might be touching a little bit. Im going to replace the other sides rotors and pads as soon as the jerks at the auto store order me the right parts(they gave me 2 different rotors. thanks for your insight i really just want this to be done.
It plays out more than you think.
if you remove the caliper and rotor,, then perfectly clean off the spindle.
look at the area on the spindle that is the fat part , not the very end where the nut goes on.
see if you have any odd looking burn or discolored marks in the metal.
here is what I am getting at.......
the inner race of the larger inner bearing should never ever spin,, it should lock up on the fat part of the spindle. if the spindle is worn, the inner race can spin along with the bearings and the outer race,
the only way to know is to do this.......
remove wheel
remove caliper and wire hang it to the frame inside the wheel well.
re-install the tire
grab the tire at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock and rock wobble it back and forth
do the same at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions.
if you "feel" just the slightest bit play, tighten the spindle nut up a tad bit more then re-orientate the castle locking nut & cotter pin.
your looking for that sweet spot where there is no side to side play where the bearings meet the spindle.
if you cant get rid of the play then you do have an alternative ..... it took me 360,000 miles to develop worn spindles though so you may not be in that bad of shape.
The hose breaking down on the inside though,, that's a very very very common problem many people don't know about in general.
it wont become real obvious to you until you compare the "way" the passenger side caliper piston compresses as compared to the driver side. The passenger side will be harder to compress.
For some reason I suspect its because of the distance the fluid travels to meet the calipers as a "pair" to stop your car.
proper adjusted rear brakes for "drum chassis" help remove the "nose dropping down" when stopping.
Did you think to pull the rear brakes apart? They tend to get neglected and the Bendix bar (goes across the top of the axle and between the brake shoes) can drop in them and make all kinds of racket. Anyhow, it appears you have determined the noise is from the front of the car so this may be a moot point.
The other thing you need to do is let us know what you are working on like a stock 85 Cougar 3.8 or an 87 TC that has been converted to a 5.0 with SN95 brakes. Helps immensely with guiding you to possible solutions.
Darren
If your using the junk bearings instead of timkien bearings, they are garbage. I didn't know how to pack bearings the first few times i did them. The cheap ones were junk in a few hundred miles. The expensive ones worked fine, even though i never packed them.
Oem bearings also should be replaced regardless of condition, they use a plastic piece to retain the rollers. Plastics degrade in interesting ways from temperature, sun damage and wear.
fully stock(everything ive removed has been factory) 86 TC. fans hotwired to run all the time and the fog lights and antenna switch dont work other than that......
gotcha... i got a few timkins but it was the final stock at the auto zone by me. the ridiculous part is that they are exactly the same price as "duralast" or whatever bs.
Yeah, timkien are name brand and better metal.
First off new races should be installed along with new bearings. Second adjusting bearings is one of the most mis understood practice. Roller bearings in fact have to have slight PLAY. Slight Play but never the less play. Reason being when they get hot they expand and become to tight. Now BALL bearings need a preload. The correct way to set bearings up is as follows. Pack the bearings both inner and outer and do not cheap out on quality bearing grease or the amount you use. Assemble the bearing on to the spindle and install the washer and nut and tire. Now with a Torque wrench torque the nut to 12-14 FTLBS while rotating the wheel and tire in the normal forward direction. Repeat by loosening and tightening to these specks 3 Times. Then back off the nut 1/12 of a turn then install the cage and cotter pin. use an SAE bend on the pin and the wheel should have a slight looseness. If it does you are Good to go.
ok well. my buddy drove the car for me, so i could stick my head out the window. and guess what...... it was the REARS :O silly mistake but at least all brakes on my car are now new....sorry and thanks guys learned alot here regardless.
Always check all four corners