I need some advice. It appears that my right rear brake is making a "grumbling" noise near the end of my stops. It is not the metallic brake pad end-of-life indicator noise. Anyway, my car has 67,000 miles (lots of freeway) and is still on original pads. The rotors look good and the pads look like they have plenty of life left in them. The problem started about a week ago when we had a large snowstorm so I thought it was just snow jammed in my wheel well rubbing on the tire, but now that it is nice outside and the roads are clear I know there is more to it than that.

My question is whether it is possible for the brakes to grumble and still be OK? What could cause the grumble? I probally will end up taking the car in to get looked at, but I don't want to get taken for a ride and I was also wondering if it could just be a temporary thing like a slightly glazed pad that got really wet last week and will wear itself away and be fine in a week or something.

Sorry, I'm just a little surprised/bummed out about this. I don't really want to drive the car if the brake system isn't in full working order, but I also don't want to be trapped in the house all weekend until I can get it into the dealer.

Nip

 

check the rotor on that wheel to see if you can see imperfections. also check the backside as well. theres gotta be something up there that you would be able to see on the rotor if it is getting grinded.

 

At 67,000 miles, I think you're confusing the grumble with the pads "wear sensors". You need new rear pads.

My wifes accord (same calipers in the rear BTW) did exactly that at 70K miles, I thought it was a wheel bearing... got in there and started looking around, sure enough... needed new pads.

You should pull a rear tire and take a closer look if you haven't already

 

I can take a photo of the pads... there is plenty of pad left.

Regarding the rotor, everything on the outside that I can see through the rim looks good.

Looks like I'll have to let the professionals take a look... and my money.

Thanks for the responses.

 

the wear sensors wouldnt really grumble though. the wear sensors tend to have more of a squeak to them. when it grumbles, it means that you are grinding your rotors with your pad (or what is left of them). metal on metal crunching isnt a good thing. i did it once on my accord. you know when you are grinding your rotors.

 

The pro will probably find no pad left on the inside!
Pads can have severe internal wear/cracking etc not visable until actually removed from the car.
Its totally normal to need rear brakes after 60 thou, any more and you are on borrowed time. While providing only 30 percent of the total braking force of the car, they are important.
Fronts last anywhere from 15-30-40, depends on too many factors

Maybe there is an acurazine member near you can help with the install.
Look in Off Topic Meets and Greets section for local groups

 

Exactly...
It's two bolts to remove the caliper and check the pads. Take the time to do that before spending a nickle.

 

You dont even have to take the caliper off just remove the wheel and look though the middle of the caliper and you can just see the inner pad.

 

i know exactly what grumble you are tallking about. its mostly at the end of very hard and short stops. I took mine to the dealer with original brakes and they took it apart and said there might have been just excessivly dirty and cleaned them up for me. Also said i have 40% left at that time.

 

This sounds about right. I hope I have the same outcome tomorrow. I'm going to the the local car repair place.

 

A visual peek at the inner cooling vent/ wear indicators is not the proper way to inspect the pads.
Removal, inspection for cracks or heat stress and uneven wear, thickness remaining until minimum allowable etc.
When someone tells you 40% remaining- does that mean until you replace, or at 20% is legal min. so you must do sooner than you think or....how many months or miles is that?
Measurements of the rotor thickness across its face, the in/out runout/warpage of the rotor and a few other things must be done to be a real brake inspection

And then getting the lug nuts put back on correctly and not over tightened -whole nother issue there

 

Alright, time to resurface this thread. After having the brakes inspected and finding out that they are only 50 percent worn, I'm off to my next theory - a bad wheel bearing. Does anyone have any insight into whether this seems viable with only 69,000 miles on the car? If it is the bearings, can I just do the offending wheel, or should I do the other wheels too?

I plan on jacking up the car to take a gander at the play of all 4 wheels tomorrow.

BTW... I am suspecting the bearing as the grind noise is only at slow speeds and very intermittent. After some research on google thise sounds classic of bad bearings.

Thanks,

Nip

 

LOL! I have 67,000 on my 2004 TL and have the exactly same problem... a metallic crunching/grumble at the very ends of my stops .. usually when initially driving the car after it's been sitting for a while ..

Ironically enough started after a torrential rain storm.

I'm going in for a brake check at Acura on Thursday, i'll report back what they tell me.

 

Strange... I'll be in on Thursday morning too. I'll report back as well.

 

Another possibility is tire noise.
I had a car than made a dull crunch/grinding noise at the end of a hard stop.
Drove me nuts, but turned out to be tire noise.

 

I think I can rule this out in my case as it happens with both my summer and my winter tires with the same vengence.

 

Alright, my car is at the dealer overnight... no updates yet.

 

Got all four brake pads replaced and all four rotors resurfaced -- problem solved. My issue was not due to bearings.

 

Wow... that sounds painful on the wallet. Are you willing to disclose approx. how much a brake job involving all 4 brakes costs?

For my issue all they did was remove the "rust ridge" that built up on the rear rotors with a power tool. $ 29.99 is all they charged for labor and my issue is gone as far as I can tell!!! It was one of my best experiences with a car dealer, or any service department for that matter, ever.

 

Well, considering in 70,000 miles i never got a brake job that I paid for .. it was $550 for all four pads and re-surfacing all four rotors -- a bit of a rip off considering i'd pay 1/2 that at Midas or another local brake shop .. but i like the fact that I get Acura pads that DON'T squeak (at least, never have for me) and they warrant their work in a way that I actually trust.

Glad your issue got taken care of so cheap -- i only had 1000 miles left on my pads .. and I had been procrastinating pads for a very long time.