Euro Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 I was wondering whats the average life of front brake pads(haha and i DO know about w-body brakes ) but my front pads are squealing like hell. i put them on a year ago, so almost 17,000 miles ago. should they need replacing already?? im not one to slam on the brakes at every light either. and also, ive started to hear this kind of clunk noise around the drivers side front wheel. It only does it when i back up and the wheel turned to the right. I hope it aint nothing major. but id like to know. its driving me nuts. Quote
Kalgorn Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 I don't think a squeal necessarily means the brakes are bad. My brakes used to squeal once they were warmed up in the beginning on this school year (around July-August) but these past few months they've stopped squealing. I haven't noticed any less stopping power but I'm happy to not hear the squeal anymore. Quote
rudefyet Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 and also, ive started to hear this kind of clunk noise around the drivers side front wheel. It only does it when i back up and the wheel turned to the right. I hope it aint nothing major. but id like to know. its driving me nuts. caliper bolt fell out....mine did the same exact thing! Quote
phantomshado Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 that squeaking is most likely the signal arm. (I don't know its real name, but the metal hook that sits on the edge of the pad, with the hook sitting more shallow than the brake material.) When you wear down the material far enough, that little bastard hits the rotor, and squeals to let you know, he's done, and wants reinforcements to relieve him of duty. (or her, if you're big on that feminist crap. ) Disc brakes don't automatically retract like drum brakes, and they'll sit out farther than need be towards the end of their life due to the increased travel area required for the pistons to press the pads into the rotors. I need to redo my fronts as well, I average about 17-20K on each set of fronts. I get the cheapo silver semi metallics, the kind that don't eat rotors, and they do me just fine, but then, I do a lot of highway, and non asshole like driving...(three years on white box rotors, and no warpage, no vibration.) also, I second that caliper bolt nod, mine too did the same thing...GM and its quirks, I still love my car. Quote
93CutlassSupreme Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 that squeaking is most likely the signal arm. (I don't know its real name, but the metal hook that sits on the edge of the pad, with the hook sitting more shallow than the brake material.) When you wear down the material far enough, that little bastard hits the rotor, and squeals to let you know, he's done, and wants reinforcements to relieve him of duty. (or her, if you're big on that feminist crap. ) Disc brakes don't automatically retract like drum brakes, and they'll sit out farther than need be towards the end of their life due to the increased travel area required for the pistons to press the pads into the rotors. I need to redo my fronts as well, I average about 17-20K on each set of fronts. I get the cheapo silver semi metallics, the kind that don't eat rotors, and they do me just fine, but then, I do a lot of highway, and non asshole like driving...(three years on white box rotors, and no warpage, no vibration.) also, I second that caliper bolt nod, mine too did the same thing...GM and its quirks, I still love my car. i've always cut that clip off when it start to squeal to give me some more noise-free miles until i get around to the brakes Quote
pitzel Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 i've always cut that clip off when it start to squeal to give me some more noise-free miles until i get around to the brakes Ah ha! Another 93CutlassSupreme trick of maintenance ;-) Where do you live so I never find myself inadvertantly in the path of your automobile? Seriously though, I had clunking when the retention strap on the outboard driver-side pad had broken, leaving the pad to essentially flop around in the caliper until some pressure was applied through the brakes. Made a fairly unnerving sound, but it all went away when I put a fresh set of pads on the front wheels with intact retention strips and no caliper piston travel required for proper compression. Quote
HokemBokem Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 i've always cut that clip off when it start to squeal to give me some more noise-free miles until i get around to the brakes Ah ha! Another 93CutlassSupreme trick of maintenance ;-) Where do you live so I never find myself inadvertantly in the path of your automobile? It wont hurt anything if he changes the pads soon after he cuts or bends the squeal bar back. Quote
pitzel Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 i've always cut that clip off when it start to squeal to give me some more noise-free miles until i get around to the brakes Ah ha! Another 93CutlassSupreme trick of maintenance ;-) Where do you live so I never find myself inadvertantly in the path of your automobile? It wont hurt anything if he changes the pads soon after he cuts or bends the squeal bar back. Yeah, those squeal bars are obviously very conservative since they have to take into account the wear of the inboard pads on both sides which do not have the benefit of wear indicators. Quote
DiscoStudd Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 The outer pads wear out waaaaaaay quicker than the inner pads do. The outers will wear out even faster if you neglect to lube up the slider pins when you do a pad change. I wouldn't be surprised at all if your pads were worn out with 17k on them. As far as pulling off the wear-indicator tab, I always figure that if you're going through the trouble to pull the wheel, you might as well go all the way and do a pad change. On the issue of the clunking, the noise could also be from a worn strut bearing plate or a worn balljoint. Quote
White93z34 Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 well i got 24,xxx out of the front pads that were on the car when i bought it. Quote
HokemBokem Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 well i got 24,xxx out of the front pads that were on the car when i bought it. I only got 10k :x Whats the average time for a pad job? I just did my pad and rotor job like 2 months ago but ive put a lot of miles on my car since then. Quote
sl3196 Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 Whats the average time for a pad job? I just did my pad and rotor job like 2 months ago but ive put a lot of miles on my car since then. Well it took malibuolds and me a few hours but we had to go get parts twice. I'd say an hour at the most if your just doing front pads. Quote
HokemBokem Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 Whats the average time for a pad job? I just did my pad and rotor job like 2 months ago but ive put a lot of miles on my car since then. Well it took malibuolds and me a few hours but we had to go get parts twice. I'd say an hour at the most if your just doing front pads. Sorry I worded that wrong. Might be because I havent had an hour of sleep for 2 days :? Anyway what I meant to say is average time for new pads? How long it takes them to wear out? Quote
phantomshado Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 depends on driving style really. I get 15-25k, depends on a few factors, summer here this year was really rainy, so I tended to ride the brakes a little more, hence why its been shorter. Quote
WhiteOut Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 I know this thread has a had a million and a half replies and about as many differant answers as to what the problem is, but I've had the same problem with my car (VERY quick pad wear and a groaning noise when you reverse for the first time after the car has sat). What you've got is a caliper that is officially toast, the piston is stuck in the bore causing the inside pad to wear excessively. You can pick up rebuilt calipers from NAPA for around $35 a piece after core return. I would recomend doing both sides since the other probably isn't far behind. Before installing the calipers I'd also recomend a couple quick coats of enamel so the damn calipers don't rust up in approximately 3.5 seconds after they're installed. Quote
Euro Posted November 24, 2004 Author Report Posted November 24, 2004 alright well thanks guys for all the info!! Really dont wanna pay for new calipers again, but hey whatever will give me no noises, and not be embarassed while driving through a strip mall full of stop signs(can hear brakes over my bass every once and a while) Quote
93CutlassSupreme Posted November 24, 2004 Report Posted November 24, 2004 i've always cut that clip off when it start to squeal to give me some more noise-free miles until i get around to the brakes Ah ha! Another 93CutlassSupreme trick of maintenance ;-) Where do you live so I never find myself inadvertantly in the path of your automobile? did i say i drive like that for a year? no, i drove a maybe a week or two until i aquired the necessary funds for parts. this wasn't on the CS, either Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.