renault clio 00 brake problem

tricky-dicky87

hey all..
i've got a problem wit my little renault clio, here's a brief history...

i bought the car just 2 months ago from a renault delearship.. it came with a 6 month warranty so when i noticed a few problems after a few weeks i didn't hesitate to bring it back to them.
the problems were:
1) rear seatbelt wouldn't come out
2) idling so low, she died out a few times
3) brakes made slight grinding noise

When i got her back... seatbelt fine, cleaned throttle and idling better and said the brake pads were new so they just cleaned them. said new brakes pads may make this noise cos they're getting "broke in". and although i noticed the noise again for a few days, there was noting after that.

then a week ago i put second hand alloys on - 15". they seemed to fit fine, no rubbing or anything although the steering then vibrated at about 65 mph +. I figured this was the tracking as i changed the wheels myself.. had same issue when i put 14" alloys on my nissan sunny but they weren't too big either....

anyway didn't get a chance to do the tracking yet.. and now yesterday, after driving the car for about an hour - no high speeds and no heavy braking - the brakes suddenly made a grinding noise but much louder than ever before. it has now gotten increasingly worse despite my attempts to drive very slowly and brake as little as possible - only done about 15 miles since. i believe it's the brake pads as i experienced something very similar in a friends car and it turned out to be worn brake pads which had worn so much the discs needed changing too. but could it be anything else????

any one any thoughts on this?? discs were very hot when i pulled up after first noticing it...
i figured it's the garages fault as i specifically asked them to check the brakes only a month ago. i do not see how the pads could worn out after 1000 miles
also thought maybe i should change the wheels back to original alloys as they may try to wriggle out of warranty because i changed the wheels!!
please help!!!
thanks

Darragh29

What you need here is new pads & new discs.

Mr.David

tricky-dicky87 wrote: »

hey all..
i've got a problem wit my little renault clio, here's a brief history...

i bought the car just 2 months ago from a renault delearship.. it came with a 6 month warranty so when i noticed a few problems after a few weeks i didn't hesitate to bring it back to them.
the problems were:
1) rear seatbelt wouldn't come out
2) idling so low, she died out a few times
3) brakes made slight grinding noise

When i got her back... seatbelt fine, cleaned throttle and idling better and said the brake pads were new so they just cleaned them. said new brakes pads may make this noise cos they're getting "broke in". and although i noticed the noise again for a few days, there was noting after that.

then a week ago i put second hand alloys on - 15". they seemed to fit fine, no rubbing or anything although the steering then vibrated at about 65 mph +. I figured this was the tracking as i changed the wheels myself.. had same issue when i put 14" alloys on my nissan sunny but they weren't too big either....

anyway didn't get a chance to do the tracking yet.. and now yesterday, after driving the car for about an hour - no high speeds and no heavy braking - the brakes suddenly made a grinding noise but much louder than ever before. it has now gotten increasingly worse despite my attempts to drive very slowly and brake as little as possible - only done about 15 miles since. i believe it's the brake pads as i experienced something very similar in a friends car and it turned out to be worn brake pads which had worn so much the discs needed changing too. but could it be anything else????

any one any thoughts on this?? discs were very hot when i pulled up after first noticing it...
i figured it's the garages fault as i specifically asked them to check the brakes only a month ago. i do not see how the pads could worn out after 1000 miles
also thought maybe i should change the wheels back to original alloys as they may try to wriggle out of warranty because i changed the wheels!!
please help!!!
thanks

First off - was it a new car when you bought it? If so, I wouldnt be happy with the throttle body being cleaned to resolve a low idle. 6 months on a new car shouldnt necessitate that.

I reckon your new wheels havent been balanced properly - have they? Also, were there tyres already on them? Are they new? The highspots of runout on the wheel & hub could be stacking (as opposed to cancelling out by matching a high and low spot) causing the vibration.


About the brakes - you will always get more noise under light braking pressure than heavy pressure. Check the pads yourself, see how much material is left on them. Also check to see if there is any debris (pebble etc) between pad and disc. Is the noise coming from both wheels or just one wheel?

tricky-dicky87

Mr.David wrote: »

I reckon your new wheels havent been balanced properly - have they? Also, were there tyres already on them? Are they new? The highspots of runout on the wheel & hub could be stacking (as opposed to cancelling out by matching a high and low spot) causing the vibration.

i'm afraid i'm no expert at this kind of thing.... but i figured they needed balanced and tracked... the alloys had tyres already on them but with v good tread...

the car is not new, it's a 2000... i am not entirely sure if its one or both sides but i will check now at lunch break... but this is a very severe noise, it doesn't really matter at the moment if it's hard or easy braking.. just that someone said if the discs were very hot, hard braking would warp them...could this be right?

personally i think it's the pads based on the similarity to my friends peugeot.

thanks for the reply!

itarumaa

if your brake disks are really hot, then most likely the brake caliber is stuck, so basically your brake pads are connecting the disks all the time, even when you dont want it to happen.

Do you get smoke & burning smell as well?

Does the car feel more slow it should be?

tricky-dicky87

itarumaa wrote: »

if your brake disks are really hot, then most likely the brake caliber is stuck, so basically your brake pads are connecting the disks all the time, even when you dont want it to happen.

Do you get smoke & burning smell as well?

Does the car feel more slow it should be?

no smoke and burning... dunno about speed, been taking it easy since...

does seem to be making noise even when not braking... it's just a hell of a lot worse when braking!

Bandit883

is it definatley comin from the front, did they check the back brakes for ya?

tricky-dicky87

Mr.David wrote: »

Is the noise coming from both wheels or just one wheel?

it seems to be just the passenger side... as above, u can hear it even when not braking... just gets worse when u touch the brake...

i'm thinking now i may not be covered by the warranty.... it is a used car:(

tricky-dicky87

Bandit883 wrote: »

is it definatley comin from the front, did they check the back brakes for ya?

definately front passenger wheel! but they didn't check the back

Mr.David

Ok another possibility is that its a bearing.

Or a seized calliper as previously mentioned. If you cannot check it yourself get it checked soon as you can as you could damage components that would otherwise be fine if it is a seized calliper.

Darragh29

Mr.David wrote: »

Ok another possibility is that its a bearing.

Or a seized calliper as previously mentioned. If you cannot check it yourself get it checked soon as you can as you could damage components that would otherwise be fine if it is a seized calliper.

OP, if you are only hearing the grinding noise when braking, then the problem is the braking surfaces (brake pads & discs). If you hear the grinding noise all the time, then it could possibly be a wheel bearing, but unlikely on a fairly new car.

If the problem is only evident on braking, get new pads and discs and this will resolve your issue.

tricky-dicky87

Darragh29 wrote: »

OP, if you are only hearing the grinding noise when braking, then the problem is the braking surfaces (brake pads & discs). If you hear the grinding noise all the time, then it could possibly be a wheel bearing, but unlikely on a fairly new car.

so if it's a bearing could that be cos of the 15" alloys???
but i can't help but be doubtful of this was driving there with the passenger window down... u can hear the noise all the time but when u brake it is a very severe grinding...
with the window up u can't hear it all the time, just when braking... but i do hav a back box on it...:p

also it's a '00.... i got a 6 month warranty on a used car from the renault garage!

cheers for the reply!

Darragh29

tricky-dicky87 wrote: »

so if it's a bearing could that be cos of the 15" alloys???
but i can't help but be doubtful of this was driving there with the passenger window down... u can hear the noise all the time but when u brake it is a very severe grinding...
with the window up u can't hear it all the time, just when braking... but i do hav a back box on it...:p

also it's a '00.... i got a 6 month warranty on a used car from the renault garage!

cheers for the reply!

If it is brake related OP, then it isn't related to the bearing. If you are hearing a severe grinding noise on braking, then there are only two probable causes:

(1) Normal brake problem, resolvable by replacing pads & discs on front axle.

(2) I've also seen this happen once, when alloys were fitted (this was an Audi A3 in this case), the inside wall of the alloy wheel was coming into contact with an anti-squeel clip that sits into the brake caliper. This was causing a weird grinding noise to occur all the time and it got worse when braking. Take the wheel off, and if there is any contact going on with the wheel wall, you will see a shiny groove or mark on the inside of the alloy where something is contacting it.

If you have doubts, take off the wheel and take a few pics of the inside of the alloy and I'll be able to tell you by looking at the pics if there is any evidence of contact that shouldn't be happening. If you do this, also take a pic of the wheel hub/brake disc with the wheel removed while you're at it...

tricky-dicky87

Darragh29 wrote: »

If you have doubts, take off the wheel and take a few pics of the inside of the alloy and I'll be able to tell you by looking at the pics if there is any evidence of contact that shouldn't be happening. If you do this, also take a pic of the wheel hub/brake disc with the wheel removed while you're at it...

yeah cheers... will get back to you on that... thanks:)

tricky-dicky87

well darragh...
took the wheel off there... no need for pics... there's definately no marks whatsoever on the alloy.
we have come to the conclusion that its the brake pads.. there is serious wear on the inside of the disc and pretty much no pads left either side.

was just concerned cos this other guy was saying stuff about warped discs and all.... he must of been talking out of his butt

anyway... thanks for all the help people... the garage will be dishing out on the bill for this... trying to give me brown about new pads getting broke in..