This will be a little vague, but i'm hoping someone may know what's going on. I have this horrible crunching noise, sounds almost like metal on metal just grinding together, from my left front brake. I've taken it to midas several times, but to no avail. The rotors are brand new one month ago (the sound has been there since summer) and the pads are, and i quote mr. midas "high-quality ceramics with A LOT of life left." The noise is only when braking, and due to it's nature of making the noise rapidly then slowing down with speed, we thought it was the rotor, but as i said new rotors didn't help. And it ALWAYS makes a crunch as i come to a complete stop. Any help welcome.

 

It sounds like your caliper might be dragging. Check the rotors yourself, both sides, to see if they look alright and not eaten up. Other than that the only thing that pops into mind is that you didn't put any anti-squeal compound on there when you installed the pads

 

check the guide pins on the calipers. if they get stuck because of lack of lubrication only the inboard pads get pressed against the rotor during braking and the outboard pad doesnt do squat because the caliper cannot properly "float" or slide.

 

The last time I ever had the brakes making a grinding noise years ago, one had cracked from being worn to thin and the cracked edge was grinding into the rotor. Two new rotors and a set of front pads later, I learned the valuable lesson of checking my damn brakes once in a while.

 

well if midas didnt find a problem you probably dont have anything too serious or they woulda bent you over and stuck one to ya

 

My '98 integra LS had a similar problem, even with new disc and pads. It was the metal retainer clips for the pads. One retainer clip was rubbing against the outside edge of the disc making the noise. It took me a while to discover the problem.

I was able to get the clip to not rub the disc by using a flat srewdrive and leveraging the clip away from the disk, by inserting the scrwedriver between the disk and the retainer. It sounds stupid, but I have not had the problem since doing this 6 months ago.