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Scraping sound when braking

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    #1

    Scraping sound when braking

    Hey Guys!

    I am really scratching my head here. I have noticed that my 97 townie pulls to the left so I thought it's probably the alignment. Then, as of lately, I noticed that if I hit the brakes, I would hear a scraping sound as if the pads are either almost gone (not possible) or grabbing onto the edge of the rotor (rough-rusty).

    When I took the wheel off, I noticed the rotor has hard to turn relative to the caliper. I noticed that if I whack the caliper a few good times, it will turn a little better.

    I am thinking it could be a sticking caliper or the caliper of somehow riding on the ridge or the rotor. I don't know what else it could be.
    "To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"

    -1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
    -1986 Honda Magna 700cc
    -1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
    -2011 Subaru Outback
    Tags: None
    #2
    What you suspect is most likely right -the caliper is sticking. A sticky caliper will eat a set of pads in no time. My brother went to put rear brakes on his car in our old driveway, I wasn't happy with him at the time and he was taking too long. I pushed him out of the way, got to work and found his calipers were sticking on both sides, one worse than the other. Don't care, slammed the new pads on and buttoned it back up. Like two or three weeks later he said the grinding was back. I thought wow, that didn't take long, figured he'd be good for at least 6 months. The pads on the caliper's piston side get worn out much faster in these cases, so the secondary pad usually looks fine so give it another peek-a-loo.
    1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
    1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

    Comment

      #3
      97...is this one of the rears? If so it could be the parking brake "drum inside the disc".

      Front, I'm with Derek. If the caliper piston has any hesitation retracting, a pad might rub on the rotor. The slide pins could be sticking and preventing the caliper moving away from the rotor also. If you can't wiggle the caliper at all on the slide pins (should have resistance but be willing to move) the cheap fix might be to take caliper off but leave the line attached, get the pins out, clean everything, lubricate them again (there's a specific caliper grease for this) and throw it back together. Not a big loss if it doesn't help, but could save you replacing the caliper and re-bleeding.
      Last edited by kishy; 10-18-2017, 08:54 AM.

      Current driver: wagon
      Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS       | 88 TC | 91 GM
      Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
      Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM      ​ |​ Junkyards

      Comment

        #4
        Sounds like it's big brake time!

        Comment

          #5
          My '97 Town Car has done this twice. First the passenger side, then the drivers side front. Its a sticking caliper both times. Pull the caliper and check the pads, if the inboard pad has more wear than the outboard one, guaranteed the caliper is dragging. Try to compress the caliper with a c-clamp, if it puts up a fight, its time to replace it. Also, as already stated, check the slide pins for binding and make sure the rattle clips are all there and not causing the pads themselves to bind in the caliper bracket, I had my '98 do that due to excessive buildup between the clip and bracket.

          While the rear parking brake can bind and drag, it will make noise all the time, not just when braking. It doesn't move at all with the hydraulic brakes, so if it hangs up, its going to hang up all the time. None of my cars have had a parking brake because it bound up and I removed it.
          -Steve

          2006 Audi A6 S-Line FWD ~132k miles, stock.
          1998 Mercury Grand Marquis LS HPP ~102k miles, slowly acquiring modifications.
          1997 Lincoln Town Car Cartier ~145k miles, Ported Plenum, Gutted Airbox, Mechanical Fan Delete, Contour E-fan Retrofit, Dual exhaust, Cats ran away, KYB Gas-A-Justs, P71 front sway bar, air ride reinstalled, Blinker Mod, Projector headlight retrofit, Caddy 4-note horn retrofit, Wood rim steering wheel, rustbelt diet plan..
          1996 Mercury Grand Marquis GS 117,485mi. R.I.P. 7/14/12

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            #6
            Big brakes.
            03 Marauder DPB, HS, 6disk, Organizer Mods> LED's in & Out, M&Z rear control arms, Oil deflector, U-Haul Trans Pan, Blue Fuzzy Dice
            02 SL500 Silver Arrow
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            12 Escape Limited V6 AWD, 225/65R17 Vredestein Quatrac Pro, Winter 235/70-16 Conti Viking Contact7 Mods>Beamtech LED headlight bulbs, Husky floor liners

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              #7
              Caliper slide pins need cleaning and lubricating. Most people don't do it when doing rotors and/or pads, crap builds up in there, slides lock up and caliper can't self-center anymore, hello worn out inboard brake pad. Be mentally prepared for a new rotor as well, if it got grooved on the inboard side.
              The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
              The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

              Comment

                #8
                also possible the anti-rattle clips have moved and are dragging. Mine do this from time to time.

                Just because you think the brakes can't be bad doesn't mean they are not. Check it.
                86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
                5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

                91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

                1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

                Originally posted by phayzer5
                I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

                Comment

                  #9
                  UPDATE,

                  So I had to put in new rotors and pads since the drivers side inboard pad was non-existent (metal on metal) and the outboard pad was minimal (but still good). The passenger side was in great shape oddly enough. I installed the new parts, lubed the sliders, pins contact points, etc. and buttoned her back up. It was getting late, so I didn't get a chance to bleed the brakes.

                  (OH, forgot to mention, when I did take the tire off to initially investigate the problem, I noticed it was rather difficult to spin the rotor- as if the caliper didn't wan to let go. and all the time up to this I did notice she always pulled to the left)

                  So, I drove her after and it felt much better. The braking was WORLDS different! However, I still noticed the she pulled to the left, of which got a little worse. Additionally, when I hit the brakes and let go of the wheel, it def pulls to the right.

                  I doubt that bleeding the brakes would solve this. I am guessing at this point it is the caliper (driver's side) and/or the hose at fault here.

                  What do you think?
                  "To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"

                  -1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
                  -1986 Honda Magna 700cc
                  -1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
                  -2011 Subaru Outback

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Umm, did you replace the bad caliper? That's why the wheel was hard to rotate, its sticking. Didn't it put up a fight when you tried to force the piston down to accept the new pads & slide over the rotor? If the brakes aren't completely bled and or the caliper(s) are trash it will continue to pull when you jab the brakes. Hate to say it but you gotta go back in there...
                    1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
                    1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

                    Comment

                      #11
                      I didn't know how much is too much of a fight to put up to compress the caliper, I kinda knew I would have to go back in there either way.

                      I will try to bleed the brakes first and see what happens, but I have a hunch its either the calipers or hoses
                      "To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"

                      -1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
                      -1986 Honda Magna 700cc
                      -1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
                      -2011 Subaru Outback

                      Comment

                        #12
                        I didn't know how much is too much of a fight to put up to compress the caliper, I kinda knew I would have to go back in there either way.

                        I will try to bleed the brakes first and see what happens, but I have a hunch its either the calipers or hoses
                        "To Find yourself, you must first lose yourself"

                        -1973 Volkswagen Bus Westy
                        -1986 Honda Magna 700cc
                        -1989 Lincoln Town car Signature Series
                        -2011 Subaru Outback

                        Comment

                          #13
                          The caliper should compress pretty easily with a c-clamp or caliper compressor tool. Obviously there will be resistance, but it should make steady progress and compress in a very linear fashion. Something like 10 foot pounds of torque needed at most on the screw type tool (c-clamp or caliper compressor) to get things going. More torque just makes it go faster. You shouldn't need to wrench on the clamp to get the caliper to give in.

                          Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
                          rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
                          Originally posted by gadget73
                          ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
                          Originally posted by dmccaig
                          Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

                          Comment

                            #14
                            I always use a big pair of channel-locks to compress the calipers - get a much better feel for the force it needs to compress the thing that way, works well even with massive 1-ton dual-piston calipers.
                            The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
                            The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

                            Comment

                              #15
                              Originally posted by porschpow View Post
                              I didn't know how much is too much of a fight to put up to compress the caliper, I kinda knew I would have to go back in there either way.

                              I will try to bleed the brakes first and see what happens, but I have a hunch its either the calipers or hoses
                              While you're there you might as well replace both calipers and rubber hoses. Will buy you piece of mind and you're already there so it's just an additional 10-30 minutes...
                              1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
                              1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

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