Grinding Brakes????

[chuck U. Farlie]

My girl friend has a 2001 Rav 4, which has been a great little car until now .

The problem started out with a slight grinding and screaching noise just as if the brakes had worn out, so I checked out her brake pads and they were kind of low but not to bad. I went ahead and replaced them, the noise went away for a while but returned (2-3 months)?? The pads where still pretty meaty, but the rotors looked glazed so we tried to kill 2 birds with one stone and replaced both!

1 month later the grinding and screaching have come back !!!!!

The car is a daily driver and she does drive around L.A. a lot, so I understand that this will cause the brakes and rotors to heat up, but the way that it is grinding is as if the breaks and rotors were gone?

Any ideas or suggestions would really be apprecieated.

Thank you,

[chuck U. Farlie]

Well, I checked the rear brakes/ drums and they looked glazed so we had them turned/ resurfaced and so far no noise. I will report back after a while.

Thank you,

[burch2217]

Charlie,
My wife owned a RAV4 for about five years. I fought this battle continually and never found a good resolution to it. As a matter of fact, I just got to the point where I took the glaze off of the pads continually - about every six months. It was a pain... and, to be honest, we were happy with the vehicle --- except for this problem. My wife typically described it as a "thump, thump, thump" and that it was baaaccckkkk.....

[stargazyrr]

I had this problem last year and am in the midst of it again. The first time it happened, I took it to get new brake pads. The technician at the dealership said I didn't need anything done and attributed it to sudden changes in the weather.

Right now it's happening again and sure enough, our weather has gone from hot, to rainy and cold, back to hot again.

Has anyone else been told that the weather is causing this to happen?

[jklBruin]

i've got a 2002 Rav, purchased "pre-owned". the card drove wonderfully the first six months. then the brakes (on the right front i believe) began to squeek. had the dealer look at it during a routince checkup, said it was just brake dust and would normally go away in a few hundred miles or so.

that was about 4000 ago. the brake still squeeks, but not all the time; only if i go above a certain speed, or turn the wheel to the right just a couple degrees.

both pad and rotor are in good shape.

i don't know what's up. hope you find a solution to help both of us.