Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting new wheel bearing... now issues with the brakes

Hey all,

I had a new passenger's side wheel bearing put in my front end on Monday of this week. That cured the loud growling sound coming from my front end. Now the issue is that I'm getting a squeaking from the brake assembly on that side when I'm not touching the brakes, and a fluttering sound/slight vibration in the pedal when I brake. I have been told that if the bearing was bad long enough, my pads may have worn unevenly and are now hitting the rotor at a wierd angle. In my experience, these things just don't wear themselves back in properly over time... they just keep wearing unevenly. As of yesterday, that fluttering sound has become a slow thunk as a come to a stop, and I was getting a fast thumping coming from the front end as I was cruising down the highway.

Any ideas as to what's going on here? I have new brembo rotors/bendix pads as of last summer when I did the SVT brake upgrade, so I'd hate to have to get that rotor turned and buy new pads...

Any help would be great, I'm really at a loss for what's going on.

the rotor would have tipped and been hitting the caliper and also worn into that if you left it long enough.... did you notice at all when your bearings were going that the brakes needed to be pumped twice to actually stop? The pad will be worn and the rotor might have hit the caliper and worn a spot there also - check it out. -JOE

This kind of noise can be generated from lack of lubrication of the caliper slide pins and the pad backing plates. Im sure that you disturbed the brakes while installing the wheel bearing.

I suggest that you take the brakes back apart and lubricate the caliper slide pins as well as the pad backing plate everywhere it makes contact to the caliper. For consistancy, you may want to do both front brakes.

That's exactly what I was thinking, JIm. Had I done the job myself I would have surely done these things... but I didn't have the tools to do the bearing job myself. It's unfortunate, because had my father still had his garage it would have been a piece of cake. I'm going to pick up some caliper grease and pull everything apart on Sunday. I'll let you know how I make out.

Thanks.