Ball joint or brakes?

[xarruda89x]

I got my brakes done last summer, honestly the break pads are still new even though i tend to drive fast on the highway then reduce my speed at last minute sometimes tends the car to shake a lot during breaking but i know thats because of the heat they produce to stop the car. Rotors also are new but anyway.

Even in the city like going down hills, always foot on the brake when i reach flat surface open the window and seems to be a grinding noise coming from the drivers wheel. When they are cooled off i make a right turn the noise will come back. The grinding noise gets annoying i dont know if its the brakes or ball joint. I have to check with ford to see if the previous owner did something about that recall.

But anyway, i might change my rotors because they seem to look like :q:q:q:q.

help

 

[pagluy]

reduce my speed at last minute sometimes tends the car to shake a lot during breaking but i know thats because of the heat they produce to stop the car. Rotors also are new but anyway.

This sounds like the rotors might be warped. Could be other things too though.

 

[fbird18]

You sure it's a grinding noise?

I recently had a weird grinding noise coming from my front passenger wheel. Mostly when I was braking, but you could kinda hear it while driving. It was definitely a noise coming from something that was spinning. I had just put new pads on a few months ago too. Took the wheel off and the caliper off and saw the noise maker. There is a thin metal plate that sits between the pads and the caliper mount on the top and bottom of the pads that allow them to slide in and out without too much friction. The plates fold down and around the caliper mount. Turns out the edge of the plate wasn't folded far enough down and was barely being rubbed by the rotor as it spun. Bent it further down and away from the rotor, and no more noise.

The shaking and vibrations while braking is probably warped rotors. I have pretty used rotors and brand new pads and I can stand on the brakes and it stops without any vibration. Sorry for the long post. Hope this may help.

 

[xarruda89x]

Your right fbird. I remember this metal piece your talking about. My uncle is the one that did my brakes last summer and i remember him looking at that piece and doing something with it. when he first put on the brakes and everything was on, took the car for a drive and it was making a horrible grinding noise, even smoke was coming out on the front driver side. He took off the wheel again and looked, nothing was there, so he changed the wheels, front to the back and vise versa. no issue when he did that at that moment.

But yeah, i honestly think its that metal piece just because he looked at it funny. but the shaking needs to be taking care of extremely soon, i think he put some cheap rotors on a heavy ass car, idiot.

Any suggestions on rotors?

But thanks fbird, I'm 99% sure your right. i'll take out the wheels when weather gets a lilttle better

 

[97stscaddy]

Cheap rotors will warp pretty easily when the car is driven hard. Its also possible the hub has rust/scale buildup on the surface where the rotor sits against it, and is causing the rotor to spin crooked, which would also eventually lead to a warped rotor. Buy some decent rotors (sorry, can't recommend any) and make sure the hub is clean before you install them.

The scraping thing sounds just like what Fbird said. I had to bent those plates back as well when I did my front rotors and pads.