Emery_

iTrader: (8)

Hey guys I just spent some money on hawk hp + brake pads and slotted rotors... I thought that my left front brake rotor was completely shot, because recently I started getting really bad pulsations while braking, and I could hear the rotor/brake pad scraping while moving it. None the less, they were bad indeed.

But I just finished installing the new rotors and brake pads on the front left, and although it's not as bad as before, I can still here this strange intermittently scraping sound when I move the wheels while lifted. I am 100% the rotor and brake pad installation was done correctly by me... Also the brake cover isn't touching anything.

I suspect it's the wheel hub that needs to be replaced now. Last year I had to replace my front right wheel hub because it was making sounds and I had wheel play. I can feel the tiniest bit of wheel play on the left, one could barely tell it's there though. But when I punch my tire while lifted, I can hear a rattle sound. When I punch the tire on the opposite side it sounds completely firm. I'm pretty sure it's the wheel hub gone bad.... Anyone agree or disagree?

Now my concern is... My front left brakes were completely shot, they were worn out almost abnormally. The inside pad was pretty much eaten until the actual pad. Is it possible that a bad wheel hub would cause uneven brake pad wear? This is my biggest concern right now... I'm scared to drive my car because I don't want to ruin my new rotors/brake pads due to this bad wheel hub.

I just ordered a wheel hub off of ebay but I probably won't get it till next week. I guess I should I avoid driving, and just play it safe? *sigh*

Preferio

- A failed wheel bearing CAN make your brakes wear unevenly and prematurely, HOWEVER it would have to be incredibly bad to do that and not as quickly as you seemed to describe it.

-With that being said, a wheel bearing is very easy to check- grab the wheel from the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions and move it back and forth. Did you feel play? If so, you could definitely have a failed wheel bearing. If not, you could still have a failed bearing, but not bad enough to have movement and cause premature wear. Secondly, drive and load/unload the front wheel bearings by slightly turning left to right and listen for a "roaring" noise. If present then that could also be a failed bearing. I suspect that your cause of accelerated, uneven brake wear is NOT the result of a failed bearing.

-Did the caliper piston collapse back into the caliper with ease?

-What condition were the guide pins in?

-Did you service the guide pins when you did the brake job?

-I'm an ASE certified technician and Service Manager and the majority of the time when there is uneven wear it's a hanging guide pin.

Rorschach

iTrader: (3)

^ +1 Preferio

Reppin my home state

Emery_

iTrader: (8)

Thanks for the response.

Like I said, I can feel the tiniest bit of wheel play, but it's there. The main reason I believe it's the wheel bearing is because of the intermittent noise, and the metal sound of something loose when I bang on the tire.

The caliper piston collapsed easily and was fine. The guide pins were also fine, and yes I pulled them out, cleaned them, and applied some grease to them.

Now that I think about it though, I did have some problems with the brake shims previously, where one of them was contacting the rotor and cause a scraping sound. That could have affected the rotor a bit, but doesn't really explain the uneven wear on the pads. I'm going to post a picture soon comparing the front inner pads...

As a temporary solution, I decided to just buy some cheap front brake pads, and I'm going to keep the old rotors on and put on the cheap pads, and switch out the rear rotors and brake pads with the new parts. Then I'll do the front, after I install the hub assembly.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Just as likely to be a sticky caliper piston...that caused a lot of extra heat and killed the bearing .

If the piston doesn't retract properly it causes the inside pad to rub and wear the inner pads out quickly.

Usually if the slides are sticky...it wears the outer pad out faster than the inside

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Check and see if the rotor isn't cracked in half down the cooling fins. I had one that did that.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

caliper slide pins hung up, rotor overheated and warped and the uneven brake pad wear is just a symptom of the disease at hand

as mentioned the hub may have overheated as a result too, but that is likely the least issue in the overall scenario

Emery_

iTrader: (8)

A sticky caliper piston is a possibility... But it did retract with no problems and the pins moved freely.

As far as I saw the rotor wasn't cracked. I wouldn't doubt if it was slightly warped at this point. The intermittent scraping sound noise would happen with the old rotor and after installing the new rotor and pads. I noticed the noise would be more noticeable with turning the rotor with the wheel on.

The irony is that on the front right the caliper slide pins were open and not fully covered by the rubber covers. These pins were tougher to move and kind of stuck in place, good thing I fixed that.. The pads on this side were fine though!

Emery_

iTrader: (8)

Left pad is the inner front right, and the right is the inner left pad... This looks horrible!

Emery_

iTrader: (8)

Okay so I wanted to conclude this thread.



I got my new wheel hub this week and just finished installing it, you can see the old hub under the brake rotor. I no longer hear that intermittent noise, and I no longer have to worry about this failure point! It seems to me if you have high mileage on your 8, taking a look at your wheel hub assembly is a necessary precaution, especially if you auto cross or track your car.



I also finished installing my slotted rotors and hawk hp + brake pads.