Crap, front brake caliper rubbing against the wheel.

[dcdomain]

Thread necro responses so now this belongs in The Garage instead of OT.
admin allisolm

Ok, how serious is this? The front left brake caliper is rubbing up against the wheel. There are metal shavings all over the inside of the wheel. And it has already shaved off a good outline into the wheel.

I have a freaking 370 mile drive to school tomorrow morning. I just switched cars with my uncle today, we both drive the same car, QX4 1999 I think, the one before the 240 hp and exterior changes. I drove from NYC back to NJ, 25 mile drive, and it wasn't until I turned into my driveway with the windows down that I heard the grinding noise. At first I thought it was the shocks, then on closer inspection, I found out that it was the caliper rubbing up against the wheel. I'll try to get some photos up soon.

What should I do?

Damn Infiniti dealership's service department is probably closed. Not sure if any other garages around here are still open.

update: Ok, the top of the caliper doesn't move, which is a good thing, only the bottom does. What do I do? I can freely rotate it back and forth, but how do I make sure it stays in place? Is there a screw on the bottom?

 

[Squisher]

Did you take off the wheel? Sounds like a retaining spring/clip has come dislodged. An easy fix if it didn't fall off. Take off the other side and look to see if anything is missing.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Wow, never heard of this one before. Sure it isn't the brake pad worn down all the way?

 

[BCYL]

I wouldnt recommend driving that car anymore with the brake rubbing like that... go get it fixed ASAP! you dont wanna damage the parts further by driving, and end up being more expensive to fix than it's suppose to be....

 

[Soybomb]

I don't personally expect that a clip could score the wheel deeply. TYou need to jack up the car and inspect the brake caliper and be sure it is bolted down properly. I'd guess a bolt wasn't reinstalled after a brake job or something and the caliper is rotating up and into the wheel. Be sure to center the wheel when you put it back on too. Personally I wouldn't drive teh car anywhere near 370 miles if its eating at the wheel.

 

[Thegonagle]

I've never heard of that, and the only possible reason it would happen is if a bolt broke or fell out. I shouldn't need to say this, but it is dangerous to drive now. I assume you're under warranty, so call the dealership and have them tow it in ASAP.

EDIT: Rent or borrow a different car for you trip. This is a matter of life and death.

 

[dcdomain]

Would home depot happen to have the bolt I am looking for? Gotta take the wheel off now and see where I can insert this bolt... crap. I was hoping it would still be there hanging on or something, but I guess I gotta go find another bolt now.

 

[Pepsi90919]

so-called "normal" cars have 2 huge bolts holding the caliper on, who knows with yours...

 

[Soybomb]

You'll probably have no luck at home dept because part of the bolt is a smooth sleeve. If I were you I'd just go to autozone, pep boys, or some place like that, I'd imagine they could help you out finding a bolt tonight.

 

[dcdomain]

Argh, damn this area... there are no such places around. Closest thing would be Sears... there's a car place for white trash (sorry, but that's the closest description I have of the place) called Van Iderstine that has car products, but they are closed already.

Guessing I'm going to have to take my mom's car up tomorrow. I hate driving that freaking thing. %&@(*&#@# wish I still had my car instead of my uncles.

 

[TRUMPHENT]

10 years ago, I bought a brand new Toyota Pickup truck. By the time I left the dealership I had developed a deep and neverending hatred for the dealership. My truck had a warped front rotor. I took it to a local tire chain for the brake job. 150K miles later it is still driving like it was brand new. I love my truck, I hate the dealership.

 

[TRUMPHENT]

(][) []-[] . . []\[] (][) []
.......................... *

Is that ASCII ART? I like!

 

[Squisher]

Like I said in my first post, take a look at it and the assembly on the other caliper on the other side and see if anything is different. It might not be a bolt. It may just be the retaining clip that fell out a hole or jumped over a tab. If its a clip a pair of pliers will fix it 5 min.

 

[Pepsi90919]

I don't understand TRUMPHENT, why do you hate the dealership again..?

 

[Emulex]

my car did this too, the last place that did the breaks didn't tighten one of the huge caliper bolts. It allowed the caliper to move along its axis, scraping my rim. Fortunately, there are two, if the other one had fallen out the whole break system would be on the road , i would have lost all break pressure and probably crashed.

Take it to a dealer, they are not easy bolts to find, and must be grade 5 or better bolts since they essentially torque very hard when you are stopping quickly. Whatever you do don't let a bubba break shop find something that just fits. It needs to be hardened steel.

I reemed out the last brake place, when that happened to me.

 

[rmblam]

As mentioned, there typically are two bolts that hold a caliper on; an upper and lower. If the lower one is missing then you'll have to find a replacement. Check your local parts stores and any local junk yards if you can't get one from the dealer.

fixed caliper mount

floating cailper

There are other types of caliper mounts but these are the two most common that I have seen.

 

[dcdomain]

Squisher, thanks for the advice, I took a look at the calipers, and I'm pretty sure the bolt fell out. Either that or I'm not looking hard enough. If it was only a spring clip problem, shouldn't it somehow snap back if I pushed the caliper in? I tried pushing the caliper in as hard as I could, but was still able to move it back out with ease. I was going to take the wheel off, but after several attempts to loosen the bolts, I figured it wasn't worth the trouble. I would have had to take off both wheels and try to match both sides to each other since I've never had experience doing this. And if I did something wrong it would suck if some other problems developed during my drive.

In addition, the reason I switched cars with my uncle was because he was over his mileage by 2000 miles already (lease). So there's more of an incentive to just take my mothers car (although I hate driving it) at this point. And as of now, I'm already behind in packing and loading the car...

Thanks for all the advice guys... time to finish packing.

 

[Squisher]

No Problem. Just I didn't want you overlook an easy fix if it was there. I far to often have done this.

 

[Thegonagle]

OFF TOPIC REPLY to TRUMPHENT:


<< (][) []-[] . . []\[] (][) []
.......................... *

Is that ASCII ART? I like! >>


Well, yeah, thanks. I guess it is, but I'm not really much of an ASCII artist. I put that in my siggy after there was a thread about people calling themselves []D[][]V[][]D (PIMP). I saw that someone had put []D[][]V[][]D[][]\[] (PIMPIN) in their signature, so I put (][)[]-[] . . []\[](][) (OH NO!) in mine as a kind of a protest. You're the first person to ask about it.

 

[dcdomain]

Hmmm, looking at the second link, http://www.autosite.com/garage/subsys/09-26a.asp

Since when I swing the caliper away from the center, the rotor doesn't show, that could mean that a piece similar to the outboard pad is swinging and not the entire unit. In that case, then I would have to say it isn't as serious as I made it sound. But I'm still going to take the other car just in case.

Thanks again!

 

[Dstrk50]

I have the same thing just happen. I have an 89 ford bronco with a 4.9 L6, granny low 4speed trans and custom orders Interior meaning I have the painted head liner and not fabric. I think it's the combination of bearing blowing out offsetting the short side spindle causing the whole compass of the the wheel to oscillate. I have the split front and tomorrow I will let you know how bad it is amongst the combination of things lead in my to the leavel I'm at vs what signs you can hopefully catch early on to help mitigate extensive wear

 

[UsandThem]

I have the split front and tomorrow I will let you know how bad it is amongst the combination of things lead in my to the leavel I'm at vs what signs you can hopefully catch early on to help mitigate extensive wear

I'm not sure the OP (original poster) can wait until tomorrow to find out the answer. They've already been waiting for 18 years, and I bet their caliper is pretty bad at this point.