Hey guys,

I know this definitely isn't a good sign, but I still need to get some details about it anyway. For awhile now my rear passenger brake makes a grinding noise when I hit the brake. It seems to make this noise more when outside there is a lot more moisture... when we had heavy rainfall, it made the noise more... usually it will make it for awhile, and then stop as I'm driving... but the more wet outside it is, the more noise it makes.

First of all, what could this be?
Second of all, how much $ estimate will it be to fix it?
Third of all, how bad is it really if I am pretty much running on 3 breaks instead of all four?

Please don't flame, I understand it'* a stupid question, but money is really rough, I'm sure someone has been down that path.

had this kind of thing happen to me. ended up being a broken spring getting caught between the pad and the drum. the nice thing about the bonnevilles is that the brakes are easily accessible. just remove the wheel, and the drum will slide right off with the wheel gone. from there, you should be able to see anything obvious <like lack of pads, anything broken, etc>. thats the way was mine anyway.

If it turns out to be too expensive, you can just put a block on the line going to that brake. Personally, i wouldn't have an odd number of brakes working, so if you block one wheel, block the other too. As long as your fronts are working, you SHOULD be okay. However, your braking distances will increase. You can always unblock the lines, and fix the brakes if the brakes aren't strong enough. I blocked off my rear wheels when my lines rusted through.. but at the time I also didn't have power brakes, so that isn't a fair comparison. However, with only front brakes, and no rears it took about 1000ft to stop from 60. Not safe, not safe whatsoever. Just be careful, and test it out on back roads.. just in case.

Also, I may not have had that problem, but the only thing that could really cause a grinding noise are the springs, or drum cover. Rjolly may be on the right track.

Try to fix it before using the above method.. is it really worth saving money, with a high risk of a wreck? Always remember that when doing something with a car [or anything else for that matter]. I may have done what I did to my car, because I wasn't fully aware of the consequences. I didn't know I was going to have a 1000ft stopping distance from 60 [I parked the car until the brakes were fixed after that]


-justin

I definitely do not want to have to run off of 2 breaks for the front, you're right that'* not safe and I'd be better putting up with a grinding noise, hehe. Someone in the past has said something about a worn down pad, or that I'm grinding the actual breaks, which are really bad... however what you guys are telling me doesn't seem to sound half as bad as what I was originally told. I'm hoping you guys are the ones correct, because at least it isn't such an urgent issue as once believed.

check it now so that you can find out if it is serious. dont deam it nothing until you know it is nothing.

A couple of other thoughts... My brakes do that in the back sometimes when it'* wet out, and there'* nothing wrong with them. I suppose it'* just light rust from the moisture, or the moisture itself on the pads. At any rate, it did it bad over the winter, and it went away when warmer weather came.

On the other hand, it could also be that your pads have worn down to rivets. That would grind too. If that'* the case, just new pads and drums (or maybe turn the drums...) on BOTH rear wheels.

At any rate, just look at it and see. Better safe than sorry. However, depending on how long it'* been since those drums have been off, you might have a heck of a time getting them off. You see, the pads dig into the drum over time, forming a ridge at the inner edge of the drum. The ridge doesn't hurt anything until you try to get it over the pads. There is a way to back off the self adjuster mechanism, but I've never been much good at that with the drum on. Good luck!