Rubbing Brakes

[DJPT]

1997 R Renault Clio 1.2 RL Paris

Recently my car has started making horrible and very loud grinding noises when travelling at 60 MPH on the motorway. When I drive in residential areas at 30 MPH I can hear the driver's side front brake rubbing as it rotates (can only hear it when I have my head out of the window).

Is this a big deal? The brakes are working fine and my mechanic can not find any faults with the brakes. He has also give both sides a good clean but the noise is still there. Might I need new pads and discs?

[saxo-stew]

i suggest you get a FREE brake check from the likes of kwik fit. they will tell you whats up.

[greenv8s]

Probably means one of your brake pads has worn down to the back plate which is definitely a big deal (although I would be astonished if your mechanic failed to spot this) but it could just be a stone trapped between the disc and the caliper/backplate.

[Justin S]

might also be the caliper piston is slightly siezed so not retracting enough.Take out the pads and exercise the piston to free it up.

[DJPT]

My mechanic said the brake discs and pads are brand new. It dosen't make the grinding noise anymore thank god, but I do get a funny rubbing noise when I apply the brakes to stop - from the front driver side.

[GreenV8S]

Your mechanic may be able to track the noise down by jacking the car up and spinning the wheel by hand. In any case he should be able to tell you whether there are any witness marks from metal-to-metal contact on any of the moving parts. If not, the noise could just be coming from the pads toching the discs, not normally loud enough to hear but could be as simple as some debris on the face of the pads.

[djpt]

At last, Renault in Wakefield found the problem. There was a small hole in the driver's side drive shaft - gradually the grease came out causing it to run with no lubrication.