It is hard to say for sure how safe the car is and I would not make any judgement from just the correspondence we have had. However, When brakes are involved and possibly axels or maybe even wheel bearing, I would not let it ride.
I am a perfectionist, but letting it go is only going to cost you more money. It is hard to find someone that I trust to touch my car. There are just some things that I do not have the diagnostic equipment or specialty tools for. I found a guy by word of mouth who does not advertise and you could never find his shop because he does not have a street sign to signify where his shop is.
I know that is probably not what you want to hear, but the old saying, "a$100 in maintenence is going to save you $1000 in repairs", is absolutly true.
So, check to general forums on this site and ask for people who live in your area to reccomend someone in this area or try the same on a Nissan froum. I used to go to www. Nissan. Net If you can find someone good it is going to be through a forum like this one first and then through an enthusiast forum. The best way to also judge if a shop is good is finding a word of mouth shop because if they are thriving that waythey are good. Number 2, when you check out the place, see how clean it is and if they have the latest in diagnostic equipment. The guy I let touvh my car starts a file on customers and takes digital photographs of repairs before during and after if it is applicable for his future reference and to show you what was done. Also very rare but the best guide to a good shop is somewhere that pays technicians salary instead of flat rate. Flat rate is when they get 3.O hours to say remove and replace a power steering rack. They always try to beat the time to make up for the inevitable broken bolt or dister that makes a 3.0 hour job 6 hours long.
Even if your issue can be fixed through this forum, start searching for somone you trust if you don't have one.
Anyway, I digress. One thing I would check is the heat shield that is behind the brake rotor. When brakes are replaced they are easily bent to where they ar touching the rotor and will make a great deal of noise and sound different in reverse as opposed to forward motion. Check the clearance all the way around and just pull it away from the rotor where it is rubbing. But remeber when you are doing this it is affecting other areas of the shield so re-checck clearance as you do this.
Sometimes, and this is rare, if you did pads and not rotors especially, brake pads might not seat in corectly or even get a comtaminent on the pad that makes noise. I had an old LeMans that had brakes that would grind and eventually found that a broken pad retaining spring was rubbing the rotor.
These are the thin metal clips that are between the pads and caliper to kepp them in plave and give the pades a smoth surface to move on.
So, in closing, check for anything that might be rubbing against the rotors. Since it started right after the brakes were done, if I understand corectly, that is my first intinct and probably has something to do with it.
Do one thing at a time so you can eliminate the suspects that are causing the problem as it may happen again and it is simply a god practice for many reasons.
Good luck!
Let me know how it goes.
Just to let you know, I will be travelling and cill not be checking posts until Monday. I will try to, but I doubt I can.
Friday, October 1st, 2010 AT 6:05 AM
