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Grinding Noise. Brake Heat?

HBEcoBeaST

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#1
Happy 4th of July everyone!

After a 4th of July joyride on PCH and a canyon run I think I've experienced brake overheating. I came to a complete stop on PCH a few minutes after the canyon decent and there was an audible grinding noise that would rhythmically increase or decrease with my speed. No light on my dash, car still drove/braked fine in stop/go traffic. I drove carefully the remaining 3 miles home and the noise subsided by the time I arrived.

This car is new to me so I had traction control in its default 'on' position. Is this bad for the car with spirited driving? I notice my rotors have a groove close to the hub but it appears even and in the same location on both.

Would overheating brakes make a grinding noise?
 


zanethan

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#2
Sounds like a rock got in between the rotor and pad to me but the fact that it's in the same place on both front pads is odd.

Spirited driving with traction control on should be fine. It will cause the brakes to heat up faster but I don't know why that should cause a grinding noise unless it warped the rotors.
 


OP
HBEcoBeaST

HBEcoBeaST

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Thread Starter #3
Sounds like a rock got in between the rotor and pad to me but the fact that it's in the same place on both front pads is odd.

Spirited driving with traction control on should be fine. It will cause the brakes to heat up faster but I don't know why that should cause a grinding noise unless it warped the rotors.
Glad to hear esc on wont kill anything.

When i describe the rotors it is the entire face of the rotor worn evenly down a couple mm. Not a scratch or localized groove.

What are symptoms of hot brakes? I drove the car hours after the incident and it is A-OK making me think it was a heat issue.

In the car's defense i was going a decent click down a 3 lane windy canyon road 60mph posted speed limit trying to get a trio of baby superscars (488, turbo, r8) to chase me. The following 10min after the canyon included lots of spirited acceleration to 60mph+ then stoplights.

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CanadianGuy

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#4
Check both sides. The stone could be at the back, the heatsheild bent and rubbing the rotor. Could be a seized pad or slider pin to.
 


OP
HBEcoBeaST

HBEcoBeaST

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Thread Starter #5
Check both sides. The stone could be at the back, the heatsheild bent and rubbing the rotor. Could be a seized pad or slider pin to.
Would these problems go away on their own? Car drove fine after i let it sit a few hours. I checked the rotors and they look ok.

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#6
If you have over 20k miles you might just be wearing down the original pads and rotors. The pads are aggressive and will wear into the rotors. At 25k mine had a groove in the swept area of a few mm.

What canyon? Santiago or Malibu?
 


OP
HBEcoBeaST

HBEcoBeaST

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Thread Starter #7
If you have over 20k miles you might just be wearing down the original pads and rotors. The pads are aggressive and will wear into the rotors. At 25k mine had a groove in the swept area of a few mm.

What canyon? Santiago or Malibu?
Thanks for the reply. You are probably right. After backing it out this morning there was immediate grinding. I was in a hurry but in my quick visual inspection I couldn't see any pad material at all... I couldn't locate which corner the grinding was from but all the swept area on all rotors is pretty worn down.

I'm used to my truck brakes that are designed to 'squeal ' when they get low long before they grind. Pretty dumb of me to assume the fiesta would do the same.

Newport Coast Drive. Almost all greens on the way up and down. PCH was pretty empty too.


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#9
Newport Coast is a fun road if you don't mind dodging bejazzled G-Wagons and Range Rovers...
 


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HBEcoBeaST

HBEcoBeaST

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Thread Starter #10
The original brakes do a great job, but they don't last long...
Yea I realize that. The bite feels really good during 'fun' driving and the stopping power is confidence inspiring.

Newport Coast is a fun road if you don't mind dodging bejazzled G-Wagons and Range Rovers...
Well between 9am-10am July 4th PCH and Newport Coast was a ghost town. I was being a little brave on the way up and show-offy but cautious on the way down. The three supercars (Ferrari 488, Porsche Turbo, new Audi R8) were black, silver, and white so my silver/black fiesta fit in just perfect! They were kind of holding up traffic driving next to each other so I zoomed around them hoping they'd give chase. The ferrari took off after me but a dumb dumb in a Charger tried to catch up with us and ended up 2 whole car lengths into an intersection during a red light. I'm not sure if he hit the brakes late or just sucked at driving but that ended the fun little jaunt.

Now for the fun task of picking out new brake pads and rotors. I'm leaning towards EBC blanks and ebc greenstuff pads or Hawk 5.0 pads but I only see the 5.0 for the fronts? I love OEM but the dust and cost is a bit much.
 


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#11
You'll see lots of advice about replacement brakes that perform well and dust way less than the OEM pads. I'm using Power Stop Z23 pads on replaced OEM rotors. So far, no dust, no rotor wear, and stopping power is about on par with the stockers. I run over Newport Coast as a shortcut from the Laguna area to UCI when I need to get there. Lots of expensive cars showing off. I'm usually on one of my motorcycles. Last time I was heading down that road, I came up behind two new Lambos and a Porsche at a red light, revving on each other. I figured I'd watch a good show when the light turned green, but when it did, the three of them just sat there revving their engines like d-bags... I had places to be so I rode between them them and went on my way.
 


OP
HBEcoBeaST

HBEcoBeaST

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Thread Starter #12
You'll see lots of advice about replacement brakes that perform well and dust way less than the OEM pads. I'm using Power Stop Z23 pads on replaced OEM rotors. So far, no dust, no rotor wear, and stopping power is about on par with the stockers. I run over Newport Coast as a shortcut from the Laguna area to UCI when I need to get there. Lots of expensive cars showing off. I'm usually on one of my motorcycles. Last time I was heading down that road, I came up behind two new Lambos and a Porsche at a red light, revving on each other. I figured I'd watch a good show when the light turned green, but when it did, the three of them just sat there revving their engines like d-bags... I had places to be so I rode between them them and went on my way.
It must be the prerequisite for OC supercar drivers. Hold up traffic, make lots of noise, drive slow. Fun road though.

But yea I'm debating oem replacement rotors or upgraded but seems some vendors list 10.2" rotors as compatible... pretty set on ebc redstuff or yellowstuff pads

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HBEcoBeaST

HBEcoBeaST

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Thread Starter #13
I needed new brakes. Metal on metal in the back a little bit. And the backs were worn more than the front? Anyways, problem solved.

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#14
Yeah my rear brakes were grinding from day one. Had them checked by Ford twice with no help. Ever since I uprated to the SVT rears (motorcraft rotors and autozone "gold" pads) haven't had a single noise since.
 


OP
HBEcoBeaST

HBEcoBeaST

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Thread Starter #15
Did yours grind at every stop? Mine would grind at the end on a long stop or after I'd been driving a while. Did you try bedding in your pads like they recommend for new rotors?

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#17
Did yours grind at every stop? Mine would grind at the end on a long stop or after I'd been driving a while. Did you try bedding in your pads like they recommend for new rotors?

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Yep all the time and even worse at start up, seemed like a little bit of heat would reduce the grinding but not eliminate it. Also when I removed everything there was no unusual wear, pretty strange.
 




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