Disc brakes whats going on?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

i have a 2000 olds alero gls 4cy 71000 mi.–when i back up-just in the morning i hear the grinding noise and the same going forward?by the time i apply the brakes again i will not hear it again? i checked the pads and they are fine… the thing i noticed was— the outer side on the disc was was working like it was suppose to "with the shine look"where the brakes are applied, but one the other side looked like it has not been used at all. no shine at all.just the usual surface rust which would be normal but not the whole disc. i was wondering- what could be going on? the car brakes work fine —no grinding the rest of the day.thanks for any help

2

You have a stuck caliper. I’d recommend replacing both sides.

You’ll need pads and probably rotors too.

3

thanks for the reply. shouldn’t i be smelling any brake smell— i don’t smell the usual from a stuck caliper???

4

No. It’s not sticking closed it’s sticking open. It diminishes braking.

5

It sounds like the caliper slide pins are rusted. If the outside face of the rotor is shiny but the inside face is rusty, it means the caliper piston is forcing the outside pad onto the rotor, but the caliper slides are frozen where the inside pad isn’t being drawn into the rotor.

Have someone check the caliper slides to make sure they’re free and aren’t frozen from rust.

Tester

6

thanks for the eye opener

7

thanks tester, i only checked the driver side so far? i will check the other side sat. the funny part is i bought the car from my mechanic in 2009 in may. ( it was from a person i know who owned the car) my mechanic told me he replaced the rotors and pads-- he is very trust worthy and usually very through. i will bring it back to him to take a look at it. like i said the inner side of the rotor looks like no brakes have been applied compared to the outer side. I’m hoping the other side is o.k.

8

He may have replaced the rotors and pads at that time and the calipers were working. Stuff on a car that age can easily be fine in May and bad 10 months later.

9

i agree with you . no doubt. i just got a notion to ck. the brakes on a whim. just because i kept hearing the grinding noise when i backed up and went forward—did not hear any grinding again till the next morning. until i put the brakes on again — so i got curious— the car brakes worked just fine all the time-- did not notice any braking problems? kind of glad i got curious. thanks again for all the great advice.

10

Sincere best.