rear brakes making a horrible grinding sound. pads look good?

fouillard13 · Jan 29, 2019

my mechanic told me my rear brakes needed to be replaced soon. why just the rears and not the fronts? im sure I replaced all 4 corners with cheap chinese stuff when I bought the car 140,000km ago. I even remember having the special rear brake tool from idparts so im sure I did the rears.

I do have a bad habit of using my e brake EVERY time I park it... in the time ive owned it I bet ive pulled the e brake 2000 times. could that be why?

when I brake, it sounds like metal on metal. the outside pads seem decent so it must be coming from the inside pads? I can continue to hear the grinding when I take off, but then it goes away.

why are my rears so bad and not the fronts?

csstevej · Jan 29, 2019

Yeah my rears are always shot on the inside, outside looks great.

Check and see if the e brakes cable housing is swelled just under the axle.
Is it the thin sheathing or the thick one?

If the cables are good then check and see if the sliding pins move freely in the carrier, if not free them up and lube them.

If they are good then you have a bad caliper.
Can you reset the piston?

fouillard13 · Jan 29, 2019

Turns out my rear pads are shot now that I look at the fronts. I was looking at the backing plate thinking it was pad material. Still weird that the front has lots of life left and the tears are totally done. I will look into that other stuff when I replace them this weekend. Thanks

Lightflyer1 · Jan 29, 2019

Man you need to sell that car. If you do the brakes do the whole job, not just new pads. New everything, clean everything, check everything. Half jobs are rarely successful and will require rework in a very short time, as I have spoken of before. Quality parts, a thorough well done job, check everything. Of course if you are paying someone else then get your wallet out for this kind of work.

steve6 · Jan 29, 2019

My rear pads always wear out faster than my fronts. Been that way for my dozen or so years owning mkiv's.

GlowBugTDI · Jan 29, 2019

csstevej said:
Yeah my rears are always shot on the inside, outside looks great.
Check and see if the e brakes cable housing is swelled just under the axle.
Is it the thin sheathing or the thick one?
If the cables are good then check and see if the sliding pins move freely in the carrier, if not free them up and lube them.
If they are good then you have a bad caliper.
Can you reset the piston?

yes, check your sliding pins if there stuck or rusted the brakes wont work properly. I changed pads on my car and a few months later had to do them again because the insides wore out. Both of my bottom pins were rusted stuck I pulled/knocked them out and lubed one up (had to buy a new one for the other side) and they work great now. I had to beat the living daylights out of them, so if there rusted you may have to get new pins, or a new carrier.

turbobrick240 · Jan 29, 2019

The braking force is biased to the rear under normal braking. They always wear out first. It's good to use the e-brake all the time- it keeps the cable from binding up. I had the cable freeze up(with ice) once or twice and that will reduce pad life. Once you hear metal on metal grinding the rotors need to be replaced as well as the pads. If you replace the pads before the grinding, you can easily get two sets of pads per rotor most of the time.

fouillard13 · Jan 29, 2019

We got rotors at home for some reason waiting to go. I just got pads for $67 locally. Gonna see if I can find my rear brake tool and do em this weekend. It’s pretty simple.

And yes. I know I need to sell this damn thing. I consider it more and more every mile I drive

BobnOH · Jan 29, 2019

Mine go thru rear pads 2:1. Rear is biased to keep the nose from diving.

Dadwagon · Jan 29, 2019

fouillard13;5478934 And yes. I know I need to sell this damn thing. I consider it more and more every mile I drive[/QUOTE said:
i can't imagine selling a car because of brakes? Personally, I would order new rear components, don't rush through installation, when finished double check everything.

Lightflyer1 · Jan 29, 2019

Dadwagon said:
i can't imagine selling a car because of brakes? Personally, I would order new rear components, don't rush through installation, when finished double check everything.

Have you read his other posts? Evidently not.

Not just rotors and pads either. Lots of other stuff to check and/or refresh as well. Using your emergency/hand brake is a good thing and a good habit. Every time you use it, it adjusts the pads settings and keeps things moving. Not using it lets the cables freeze/rust up and the brakes don't get reset as needed and the hand brake doesn't work(well).

P2B · Jan 29, 2019

I check the caliper slide pins when switching between winter and summer tires. Very common for the lower rear pins to need cleaning and lubing annually.

Simon

iluvmydiesels · Jan 29, 2019

dude do you see in your 1st post set of pics. the outer pad your looking at is at nearly the minimum. the inner pad is bound to be metal/near-metal and making the noise. if you think about it, the caliper piston is on the inner, its the inner pad that gets pressed, the outer pad normally just kind of rides there, waiting for the pressure (brake).
rip-off all that sh*tty chinese junk you had bought before, and put it in a can, garbage can i mean. get good quality parts, for one its suspension, brakes, this stuff is safety. cheaper chinese parts like the brakes you put in can wear unevenly and not like better quality parts, not only off-setting the supposed savings you looked at before, but can also shorten your cars life, or cause other problems. like not work when you need it, like in a quick stop situation. and leave you asking

, wha-happened, duhh.
find a better parts supplier.

iluvmydiesels · Jan 29, 2019

fouillard13 said:
im sure I replaced all 4 corners -* *- when I bought the car 140,000km ago.

i cannt vouch for newer cars, as much, most of my cars, and all i work on are older models. mk3s nowadays, but you say you have had this car for ~140000km??? thats almost 90k miles with out maintenance, not a good record. after a few of these you can find your car in bad condition. on my cars, older models albeit, brakes, suspension max life is close to 60k miles. uum 5-6 years, not much more.

Lightflyer1 · Jan 29, 2019

You are late to the thread. This car has lots and lots of deferred maintenance that needs to be done. Probably several thousand dollars worth at least in my opinion. These cars don't take well to not being maintained properly either. Not to be negative but it is starting to sound like a drive it till it dies car, not fix and repair for tens of thousands of more miles to go.

Mongler98 · Jan 29, 2019

looks good?
YEA, ok, your rotors look like garbage
Replace your pads, Bindx has me hooked, EPIC pads IMO, go with a quality rotor, there is a difference in some cheep chinisium vs an ATE rotor. rebuild your calipers, pins etc.... flush and bleed.
140K seems about right for this sort of wear.
Brake fluid is really only good for about 2 years anyways. Parts are cheep compared to not being able to stop.

iluvmydiesels · Jan 30, 2019

Lightflyer1 said:
You are late to the thread. This car has lots and lots of deferred maintenance that needs to be done. Probably several thousand dollars worth at least in my opinion. These cars don't take well to not being maintained properly either. Not to be negative but it is starting to sound like a drive it till it dies car, not fix and repair for tens of thousands of more miles to go.

i saw your first post. i wont really comment about it.

IndigoBlueWagon · Jan 30, 2019

Cheap brakes 140K clicks ago is pretty good service life. Given how little brakes (especially rears) cost for these cars just replace them, lubricate the guide pins, make sure the parking brake isn't dragging, and drive on.

$67 for rear pads is pretty pricey, in my opinion.

Lightflyer1 · Jan 30, 2019

iluvmydiesels said:
i saw your first post. i wont really comment about it.

I wasn't even responding to your post. I was responding to this one as quoted earlier.

Dadwagon said:
i can't imagine selling a car because of brakes? Personally, I would order new rear components, don't rush through installation, when finished double check everything.

I don't know why you are responding to mine.

iluvmydiesels · Jan 30, 2019

you had already responded to him, under his post in your post#11, you posted right after mine, with out pointing out to who else youd be responding. glad you cleared it up, i couldnt tell at the time.

fouillard13 · Jan 30, 2019

Yeah this car needs quite a few small things, and even more bigger things. It’s turning into a “drive it till it dies” that’s for sure. I just can’t keep up with the maintenance lately and with the price of diesel being 30% more I’m not in a hurry to fix it and keep it alive. I’ll replace the brakes and rotors and clean pins/look at cable and go from there.

$67 is a lot when there’s cheap setups on eBay, all 4 rotors and pads for $70 which I’ve proven can get 100,000 miles outta them. I haul trailers 50% of the time and they stopped me just fine over the last three years

Sad thing is I can barely even sell this car. It’s worth about $2000... I’ve put that much money into it in the last two months and in the next two months it’ll need $2000 more. Sure it costs me $.06 per mile but it costs about $1 per mile in maintenance. Not cool.

Thanks guys. See ya tomorrow or tonight even in my next “now what’s broken” thread lol.

IndigoBlueWagon · Jan 30, 2019

fouillard13 said:
Sad thing is I can barely even sell this car. It’s worth about $2000... I’ve put that much money into it in the last two months and in the next two months it’ll need $2000 more. Sure it costs me $.06 per mile but it costs about $1 per mile in maintenance. Not cool.

I think this is only one way to think about the ownership expenses for one of these cars, or any car, for that matter. Comparing the cost of repairs to the value of the car isn't really relevant. Instead, look at the cost of repairs compared to the miles or kilometers driven. For example, my son has an '02 Golf that has 370K miles on it. Late last summer we spend over $2K on parts and labor for a number of repairs, as he was moving out of the area and I wanted our local guru to do the work. Timing belt service, replace cracked intercooler, new struts and shocks, replaced rusted front fenders with ones in much better condition from a wrecking yard, new EGR valve, and probably some things I'm forgetting. That certainly isn't money we could get out of the car if we sold it. But the point is to have a reliable, safe car he could drive to Wisconsin from Massachusetts and use for a few more years. And so far it's worked out.

A five year old car with 100K miles on it could well have required a similar repair expense. So the value of the car doesn't really matter, unless you plan to sell.

fouillard13 · Jan 30, 2019

Yeah that makes sense. I’ve put 140,000 km on it and it’s cost me around $4-5000 in maintenance so that’s not horrible. But next month I’ll be able to say 150,000km and $7500 after timing belt and cam/head job

Anyways. Is there a way to do the rear brakes without the tool? I bought it once and can’t find it. Would hate to have to buy the damn thing again if there’s a way to do without it?

Thanks

BobnOH · Jan 30, 2019

Yes, did mine the first time using a c-clamp and very large channel locks. Do be careful.
The rear caliper piston has a real wide coarse thread, not real exacting, but it must be rotated as you compress it. Much easier on the bench, but can be done on car.

IndigoBlueWagon · Jan 30, 2019

Also you may be able to borrow one from a local parts store.

turbobrick240 · Jan 30, 2019

Yeah, I borrow the free "rental" tools from autozone frequently. Canadian Tire must do something similar.

iluvmydiesels · Jan 30, 2019

fouillard13 said:
which I’ve proven can get 100,000 miles outta them. I haul trailers 50% of the time and they stopped me just fine over the last three years

im not sure thats the case at all. on this car you ve done this once, you may not have too many more @100k miles+ between maintenance.
its not going to be your first car, so theres no telling of your previous experiences and care of cars. but this is your car now, and its a pretty nice one, then again most cars are, and an investment. i just tend toward VWs and certain german cars,,mostly.
i assume you haul light trailer loads, i dont think and i cannt say as for putting trailer hitches on. mk2s and i think mk3s dont even have enough rear structure to put a 'normal' hitch on, you can take it to a trailer specialist and they can put a mock-up type of hitch and a frame type on. mainly for minimal loads.

fouillard13 · Feb 22, 2019

ok, I got 2500 more km out of them lol!! waiting for the warm shop to be available/empty took like 3 weeks. has been grinding horrible the whole time but still stopped pretty strong. I knew I had new rotors so what did I have to lose besides hitting a school bus full of kids because my metal on metal brakes didnt stop me?? (kidding). but seriously, it still stopped fine and ive hauled trailers with a dirtbike and everything since they started that cringe worthy metal grinding sound.

I definitely got my money out of them thats for sure. $70 china ebay specials I got around 130,000 km from them. 80,000 miles I think that is. pins slid fine, everything else looked good.

I did not need the tool but it would have saved me a bit.. my thumb skin is a tad raw for some reason but otherwise it went pretty smooth and easy without the special tool.

this was the worse of the bunch, the other pads still had 1mm of material left but that round rivet that holds the backing spring on was rubbing against the rotor.

the inside driver side was the worst (see pics). new pads and rotors on and she is nice and quiet and stops fine. one side took about an hour before I figured out how it all came apart, went together, what tools I needed and the tricks to the double vice grip setup. second side took like 20 mins.

only concern is now I have no e brake.. why?

P2B · Feb 22, 2019

fouillard13 said:
only concern is now I have no e brake.. why?

Assuming you reconnected the e-brake cables to the rear calipers, they probably are disconnected at the handle end. This can happen if you operated the e-brake while one or both cables was disconnected.

You will need to remove the center console to check.

Simon

fouillard13 · Feb 22, 2019

I never had to disconnect them. is it possible while I was twisting the caliper to do the vice grip trick and get more of a swing on the vice grip that I was a bit too rough and disconnected the e brake cable?

rear brakes making a horrible grinding sound. pads look good?

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