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Brakes grinding noise

Lambeth Cali said:
I thought the only place open on a Sunday would be Quickfit. Had limited time.

In 60,000 miles and 15 years the Cali has never had its pads or discs changed. I mentioned this at last 2 MOT/services at the VW specialist I’ve been taking the van to for at least ten years and they checked them and said they were ok.

My Golf which I recently sold was 15 years and 40,000 miles without pads or discs either.

I’m guessing age doesn’t really have anything to do with it. Very low mileages and almost all motorways.

I’ll get the pads done when home.
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I would personally say that at 60k miles and 15 years it’s time they were replaced. Unless you take the wheels off or get the van on a ramp you are just guessing what the problem is.
Most of my mileage is motorway mileage but you will still get wear and I replaced my fronts at 26k miles, not because they were worn out but because they were wearing unevenly which couldn’t be remedied by new pads alone.
I did them myself in a couple of hours and they cost me just over £100 for both pads and discs off Ebay. I bought Febi Bilstein which are as good a quality as the originals at probably less than a quarter of the price.
 
Lambeth Cali said:
That would throw up a red light though yes?
Hope so.
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No. The calliper design has a ratchet mechanism activated by applying the parking brake, the idea being the piston position takes up any wear in the pads. Each time the parking brake is activated it effectively re-adjusts the brakes.
When they start to seize it can cause a slight drag on the disc which generates excessive heat and, in my case, boiled the fluid resulting in a long pedal (no brakes). This was in very high ambient temperature, something you’re unlikely ever to experience in Wales.
take it for a run then hop out and touch the wheels, see if any of them are unusually warm.
 
Just noticed the rear passenger wheel is covered in orange dust after an hour journey yesterday. Not sure that’s good news - only rusted disc ? - or not…?
 
Lambeth Cali said:
Just noticed the rear passenger wheel is covered in orange dust after an hour journey yesterday. Not sure that’s good news - only rusted disc ? - or not…?
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Grinding noise could well have been rust build up. The orange dust just means you've scraped some of the rust off, are they still grinding?
 
andyinluton said:
Grinding noise could well have been rust build up. The orange dust just means you've scraped some of the rust off, are they still grinding?
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Will find out tomorrow. 250 miles. On the whole it’s very intermittent and mainly 10mph to zero.
 
Heavy (50mph - stop) breaking will clean up a rusty disk, after a few turns.
you’ll then not notice the grinding.
 
Lambeth Cali said:
From what I read last night, on cars the fronts go first but on suvs and vans they are set up differently to deal with extra weight and load so the rears go first.
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I've had scored & spotty rusted discs from too low a mileage, infrequent use & short journeys with insufficient hard braking, but now accept it's just the cost of doing business for my Use Case.

I was under the impression it was the other way around though; that the Transporter / Cali primarily used the front brakes & the rears only came in under heavier braking - but don't know that for sure.
 
Lambeth Cali said:
Do you mean electrical indicators? On the dash? It’s a 2008 SE. Maybe not fitted to the rear pre 2010?

When I looked at discs earlier I couldn’t see anything and couldn’t actually really see the pads but honestly wouldn’t know what I was looking for.
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You had To spec it up on T5 Calis. It'll Tell you on your PR codes.
 
sidepod said:
They’re fitted on my 2003 and have been for donkeys years. It’s just a single core lead embedded in the brake pad. When the pads wear, the cable earths out on the disk and flags a warning on the MFD.
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The sensors are only on NSF and OSR wheels. Not all round .
 
No-ones mentioned it, but have you tried reversing the van? A noise like that is often a stone or other debris stuck between pad and disc, and reversing for a short distance will often dislodge it. Otherwise, pads worn to the metal is a distinct possibility - I've had vehicles with wear indicators that fail.
 
sidepod said:
Just be careful the calliper isn’t seized/starting to seize and dragging on the disc. They have a habit of doing so.
It can lead to overheating brakes and loss of pressure due to boiling the fluid.
Ask me how I know!
Sleep well. :thumb
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This is what happened to me on a trip to France. Needed to replace calliper, disk and pads when we got back.
 
Well, back in one piece. Thought I could smell burning at one point but that could have been a dpf regen or my imagination.
No change in noise or intermittency. Braking fine.

I’ll get it looked at when I get a chance next week or so. I’m now guessing rear pads, now 15 years old, worn to nothing. I had MOT at the start of the summer - when I asked for brakes to be checked - and the noise appeared at the end of summer holiday when we had driven home from Spain so perhaps that finished them off.
 
BuieBodach said:
No-ones mentioned it, but have you tried reversing the van? A noise like that is often a stone or other debris stuck between pad and disc, and reversing for a short distance will often dislodge it. Otherwise, pads worn to the metal is a distinct possibility - I've had vehicles with wear indicators that fail.
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Somebody mentioned at the start I did a thorough reversing and braking thing many times. Fortunately I live on a private road.
 
Abnormal noise when using the brakes, abnormal colour dust over the wheel... To "live with it" seems a little irresponsible. It's a safety issue for you and others, get it looked at!
 
Tim T said:
Abnormal noise when using the brakes, abnormal colour dust over the wheel... To "live with it" seems a little irresponsible. It's a safety issue for you and others, get it looked at!
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Really , the op says his breaks work fine (stopping) , they just create a bit of a grinding noise at the last Phase under 10mph
The fact that they grind (noise) does not detract from the fact they stop the vehicle Efficiently. (Despite the noise)
occasional use is the issue , high steel content in the discs (which is good) causes.surface corrosion issues.

VW garages love this type of chat ! , get real , if the breaks work as intended , the noise is slightly irrelevant!

im not advocating dangerous situations, but you need to keep it real !
 
Perfectos said:
Really , the op says his breaks work fine (stopping) , they just create a bit of a grinding noise at the last Phase under 10mph
The fact that they grind (noise) does not detract from the fact they stop the vehicle Efficiently. (Despite the noise)
occasional use is the issue , high steel content in the discs (which is good) causes.surface corrosion issues.

VW garages love this type of chat ! , get real , if the breaks work as intended , the noise is slightly irrelevant!

im not advocating dangerous situations, but you need to keep it real !
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Are you kidding??? Apart from the grinding noise being a wear indicator, advocating we should ignore unusual noise when braking (grinding) because Vw garages love to repair brakes for money...

Seriously, I do not drive vehicles that exhibit unusual noises under braking, but then I'm quite an experienced mechanic and can diagnose most issues. In my humble opinion, (and being aware this is an internet forum so I have not seen the vehicle OR DRIVEN IT), I would say there is a distinct possibility that the rear discs are very worn and that the wear indicators are now grinding against a pronounced "lip" on the disc, possibly... :)
 
Tim T said:
Are you kidding??? Apart from the grinding noise being a wear indicator, advocating we should ignore unusual noise when braking (grinding) because Vw garages love to repair brakes for money...

Seriously, I do not drive vehicles that exhibit unusual noises under braking, but then I'm quite an experienced mechanic. In my humble opinion, (and being aware this is an internet forum so I have not seen the vehicle OR DRIVEN IT), I would say there is a distinct possibility that the rear discs are very worn and that the wear indicators are now grinding against a pronounced "lip" on the disc, possibly... :)
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sensationalism , as you say you have not seen the vehicle Or driven it !
I suggested surface rust early on.
the op started the thread by saying they haven’t driven the vehicle for a period of time, but it still stops OK for the breaking phase until the last 10mph, which from experience is surface rust on unused disks.
Lip my ar@e , what suggests a severely lipped disc other than it suits your narative ?

wear indicators will bring up a warning light as they are designed to do
 
LOL, I'm sorry you are absolutely correct. The OP's diagnostics must be absolutely gospel and verbatum, otherwise why need to ask, and of course you should ignore any odd noise from the brakes it being irrelevant when the vehicle is at a standstill no matter how softly you may or may not be braking, even though it suits my narrative not to. But Cali rear discs being what Cali rear discs are when not used, like being very prone to rust and subsequent excessive and accellerated wear, and being on the vehicle for some time without being near a VW garage, I would expect some groves which may suggest that opposite which may be a "lip". So please keep your posterior to yourself.

I don't care what you think, ignoring any grinding noise from the berakes is not ok, you do not live with it, you check it yourself or get someone else to.

"The wear indicator is a monitoring device used to inform the driver promptly when the brake pad has reached its minimum thickness/wear limit. For disc brake pads, this is usually two millimeters. The wear indicator may be electronic or acoustic, depending on the brake system."

This is usually a grinding noise if accoustic...

I'm away from this forum.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just go to any tyre fitters, kwikfit etc, explain the noise and ask them to take the wheels off and have a look for you.
 
Did he just storm out?
 
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