2001 Chevy Silverado Front Braking noise.

HARVEY VAN SICKLE

MEMBER
2001 CHEVROLET SILVERADO
V8
4WD
AUTOMATIC
48,000 MILES

I am experiencing a scraping, rasping kind of noise as in front brakes as I apply the brake pedal at lower speeds. Do not hear it at higher speeds. It is worse if I apply the brakes and step on the gas at the same time.
I pulled both front wheels, brake pads, brake pad holders, and calipers and made a very close inpsection. I could not see anything that might have caused this problem. Pads and rotors seem to be in good condition. Truck has only 48,000 relatively easy miles on it.

5 Replies

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

Hi there,

Thank y for the donation,

Re inspect your pads, look for a small metal tab to one side of the pad, if fitted this is a wear indicator, check that it is not just starting to touch the rotor, these are an audible warning that the pads are due for replacement, on first glance the pads can look in good condition, just check this first.

Mark (mhpautos)

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Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 AT 4:44 AM

HARVEY VAN SICKLE

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2 POSTS

I did inspect the prake pad tabs when I had them off and they are all far from any contact with the rotor faces, but I think this was a logical suggestion on your part. What else could this problem be? Any other suggestions. The problem seemed to start gradually and has now gotten worse. The harder you apply the brake pedal the louder it gets. As I said orginally, I only hear it when braking at slow speeds.

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Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 AT 12:59 PM

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
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I would be wondering if the brakes are glazed up, this would make a squeal type nose at low speed and tend to fade as brake temp increases, are they a cheap pad? As these will often squeal due to a high resin content, it will be a pad problem as if it was anything else I feel it would be there all the time.

Mark (mhpautos)

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Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 AT 5:08 PM

HARVEY VAN SICKLE

MEMBER
2 POSTS

The pads are original (Chevy) since the truck only has 48k miles (and most of those light duty). I inspected them carefully for signs of glazed up surfaces and did not see any. The pads clearly show dark and light srreaks with a silver metal particle pattern and do not look like any glazed pads I have ever seen. Rotors are flat and smooth and almost like new other than discoloration on the surfaces. I have wondered if I just replace the pads with originaly GM pads or a good quality after market pad whether the scraping noise will be gone. What do you think about that? Maybe that is all that is left to consider. I still drive it some, becuase I could not see anything that indicated a safety problem. The vehicle stops okay. I just hate the scraping sound and the attention it gets when I pull up to a stop sign and people are staring. A little humor there! Do you think replacing the pads is the best (or perhaps the only) approach to solving this?

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Thursday, August 26th, 2010 AT 1:09 AM

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

Hi there,

I would consider this after closely inspecting the edge of the rotor and look for any evidence of touching anything, check that the backing plate is well clear and there is no movement in the wheel bearing allowing any disc movement, I would also consider having the rotors skimmed with any new pads, they should only need to take off a few thou. Pads may be your salvation as I cant see it being anything else at this point.

Mark (mhpautos)