Honda Car Forum

Hi all-

Have a 99 altima (sorry, but the nissan group wasn't any help...seems like a
universal problem), about 6 months ago I replaced my front rotors and pads
(raybestos, chinese made), and for some reason, since day 1, when I applied
the brakes I heard this grinding (Grrrrrrrrrr) sound come from the front
passenger brake, I kept on driving...after 6 months of putting up with it my
pad wear sensor started going off (the passenger front one), when I replaced
the pads this time the passenger front ones were worn to the bone where as
the driver side still had some meat left on em. Again, 2 days after I
installed the new pads, the same grinding noise comes from the passenger
side (it didn't when the pads were brand new)...allbeit, its less than
before (no I hear it right before i coem to a dead stop, not from the
begining of the braking as it did with the pads before.

Can someone tell me whats causing this? Id say it was warped rotor, but it
was doing that on a brand new rotor as well, plus i dont feel any pulsation.
Also, when the mechanic replaced my pads last week, he showed me how there
was a lateral movement (play) of the front passenger side wheel, he said the
inner tie rod has to be replaced, is that the cause of the grinding noise?

any help would be appreciated, the car has 60k miles on it...

On 10/13/04 12:27 PM, in article
qCjbd.16154$NC6.5249@newsread1.mlpsca01.us.to.veri o.net, "elmo" <m@vfd.com>
wrote:

> Hi all-
>
> Have a 99 altima (sorry, but the nissan group wasn't any help...seems like a
> universal problem), about 6 months ago I replaced my front rotors and pads
> (raybestos, chinese made), and for some reason, since day 1, when I applied
> the brakes I heard this grinding (Grrrrrrrrrr) sound come from the front
> passenger brake, I kept on driving...after 6 months of putting up with it my
> pad wear sensor started going off (the passenger front one), when I replaced
> the pads this time the passenger front ones were worn to the bone where as
> the driver side still had some meat left on em. Again, 2 days after I
> installed the new pads, the same grinding noise comes from the passenger
> side (it didn't when the pads were brand new)...allbeit, its less than
> before (no I hear it right before i coem to a dead stop, not from the
> begining of the braking as it did with the pads before.
>
> Can someone tell me whats causing this? Id say it was warped rotor, but it
> was doing that on a brand new rotor as well, plus i dont feel any pulsation.
> Also, when the mechanic replaced my pads last week, he showed me how there
> was a lateral movement (play) of the front passenger side wheel, he said the
> inner tie rod has to be replaced, is that the cause of the grinding noise?
>
> any help would be appreciated, the car has 60k miles on it...
>
>

Unlikely that its a warped rotor from your symptoms. You may or may not
need a tie rod end, but that would not account for the grinding noise and
premature wear either.

If it ate the pads faster on that wheel, the most likely cause is a
sticking/stick caliper. Take the caliper off on that side and see if the
caliper pins move in and out freely or are stuck.

elmo wrote:
>
> Hi all-
>
> Have a 99 altima (sorry, but the nissan group wasn't any help...seems
> like a universal problem), about 6 months ago I replaced my front rotors
> and pads (raybestos, chinese made), and for some reason, since day 1,
> when I applied the brakes I heard this grinding (Grrrrrrrrrr) sound come
> from the front passenger brake, I kept on driving...after 6 months of
> putting up with it my pad wear sensor started going off (the passenger
> front one), when I replaced the pads this time the passenger front ones
> were worn to the bone where as the driver side still had some meat left
> on em. Again, 2 days after I installed the new pads, the same grinding
> noise comes from the passenger side (it didn't when the pads were brand
> new)...allbeit, its less than before (no I hear it right before i coem to
> a dead stop, not from the begining of the braking as it did with the pads
> before.
>
> Can someone tell me whats causing this? Id say it was warped rotor, but
> it was doing that on a brand new rotor as well, plus i dont feel any
> pulsation. Also, when the mechanic replaced my pads last week, he showed
> me how there was a lateral movement (play) of the front passenger side
> wheel, he said the inner tie rod has to be replaced, is that the cause of
> the grinding noise?
>
> any help would be appreciated, the car has 60k miles on it...

I agree with the other poster, it sounds like you may have a brake caliper
problem causing the brakes to drag on the right side. I also agree that
it's unlikely that a loose inner tie rod could cause the problems your
experiencing. However, you should get that taken care of as soon as
possible as you don't want to loose steering control of your car while your
going down the road.

The following information is from one of my prior posts discussing brake
caliper diagnostics. Rather than rewrite it, I'll just post it as quoted.

> Check the function of your calipers fist before deciding to do any work.
> Use a large pair of channel lock pliers to gently squeeze the piston into
> the caliper for just a second or two. After releasing the pliers, you
> should see the piston may back out. This is due to the function of the
> piston seal pulling the piston in the opposite direction it had originally
> moved. This motion is the primary force responsible for releasing your
> brakes after they've been applied. If there's a problem with the piston,
> e.g., corrosion, then the piston will not move back out after you've
> squeezed it in with the pliers. Note that the amount of motion supplied
> by the piston seal is not great, perhaps within 1-2 mm, however it's
> enough to prevent the brakes from dragging.
>
> The other function that's critical to prevent dragging brakes is to make
> sure that the caliper body moves freely on the jail's sliders (the caliper
> body contains the piston while the jails are the brackets bolted to the
> steering knuckle). The sliders use a special lubricant to help ensure
> free movement of the caliper body as the brakes wear down. If the sliders
> are stiff, then it's fairly straight forward to clean them up and relube
> them. Though you should check to make sure that they move freely before
> doing any work on them.
>
> As alluded to above, you should inspect the boots on the piston and
> sliders to make sure that they aren't torn, cracked, etc.

While I'm not familiar with the brakes on a '99 Altima, the above
information is fairly basic and should be applicable.

Eric

its either the caliper or you have an abs braking system problem.