Hello, I have this king of noise when braking at low speed(from 40m/h or so), car was checked by three different mechanics with no luck. I checked outer brake pad myself and it looks OK but I was not able to check inner one, is that possible that they wear out at different speed ? What else can be the cause (half shaft) ?

 

If you had three mechanics inspect the problem and still no solution, you need to do it yourself. First off and most easy thing to check is to pull the caliper from the rotor and check the inner pad. The inside pad will often wear quicker than the outer due to the piston's direct pressure on it. How long has it been since the pads were last replaced ? Pads are inexpensive to replace compared to a worn rotor. Sometimes the pads seize up on the caliper slides. Maybe the caliper has gone south and needs replaced. You need to pull the caliper to check for this.

If the wear is even and appears normal with the caliper and pad, then perhaps you have a bad wheel bearing or half shaft requiring more effort. One other thing possibly could be the backing plate behind the rotor being distorted from corrosion and causing a raspy sound. Most of the time....grinding is the pad being totally gone and into the rotor.

Support the car with the driver's side wheel just off the ground and grab the top and bottom of the tire,then check for wheel bearing play in and out. Check the CV boot for tears and leaks. How does the car drive and steer ? Usually a bad shaft will click while making sharp turns.

 

Front brake pads was replaced about year and a half ago(20 000-25 000 miles). Driver side wheel bearing was replaced half a year ago. Half shaft on driver side looks like it is rebuilt one, rubber seal in the middle looks newer than rest of it.
How long do brake pads usually last ?

 

Brake pad's life depends on the overall condition of your brake system components. As the car ages with wear and tear, namely heat and rust in the case of brake parts along with dirt....it takes a toll on the effective overall life of pads. The composition and quality of the pads also determine their useful life. Old and over-heated brake fluid is not good.

Driving style can dramatically reduce pad life, especially stop and go driving .....or high speed stops. With 25k on regular pads, it's now worth taking a closer look at the inner pad along with the caliper and slides as I suggested earlier. It appears as though some recent work has been done. Hopefully, quality parts were used !

Does the car have any vibration while driving on a smooth road or noises when turning ?
Most of the time a sick car will give you some warning signs by sound or feel. But...three and you did state three different mechanics inspected the problem to no avail ?
Are they blind or deaf ? A hum could be not good !

 

Yes the car was in three different shops since then, first shop replaced tie rod end i believe, second one didn't find anything, the last one replaced stabilizers(?) and ball joints in upper control arms on each side, there is no more clicking noise but they didn't find the cause of that braking noise.
On highway speeds car pulls left little bit even after alignment with new tires(was done at firestone). I can feel slight vibration at speeds above 60 and its getting more significant at higher speeds.

 

Could be that the rotor is not true or warped. It's also possible that the caliper/pad assembly may need cleaned, and don't forget to lube the guide pins and contact points where the pad fits onto the caliper.

The pulling to the left may be indicating that the caliper is grabbing quicker than the other side. Perhaps try bleeding the brakes. Could be that the old fluid is gunked up and causing the caliper's piston to hang up and not release.

A simple DIY, I'd suggest cleaning everything up....lube and install new pads, then bleed all four caliper's using the proper sequence. It can't hurt anything to look and try !

 

I would agree with pull brakes apart- see if anything was lubed
inner pad wear can be way more than outer

brake fluid goes bad and causes calipers to stick partially on- wears out pads fast and can result in smoke billowing from wheel

if you cant do this at home- find a brake specialty shop and have them fix the real problem

brake fluid should be flushed every year,,max 3 years,, or problems arise from moisture absorption---- wiki hygroscopic for details

 

even bolt over-torque on calipers can cause brake problems
many places just blast things on without regard to specs

 

so finally I took it a part, the pads are in good shape, I assume the reason of that noise is that you see on pictures.
So I need axle? is there difference between right and left one?

I made a video about other part. Should it be like this, and do you know what part is it ?
View My Video

 

Hey Madison87, after three mechanics ....and finally yourself, you found a torn CV boot.
The left and right driveaxles are different part #'s. Does the noise seem like it's coming from the side that has the torn boot ?

The work involved with putting a new replacement boot on would lead one to consider replacing the entire axle assembly. You never know how long it's been ripped, allowing the internal joints to be damaged after being exposed to the elements.

The axle needs attention, but it'll take some further investigation to determine if indeed it was causing your initial problems. Three mechanics later !

 

Yes, the noise definitely coming from driver side, where I found worn boot. I will replace it soon, but first I wanna found out if other part on video needs to be replaced to, I guess it is tie rod end, I was able to turn in while I was doing that it was making noise too, can you check my video(previous post) if you know should it act this way ?

 

There does seem to be alot of slop in the tie rods. They are not real expensive, buy "Moog" replacements ....as they have grease fittings !