The Doctor
Registered User
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2009
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- 1,390
- Reaction score
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- Location
- Notts
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Well, the other day I was driving home from work and I heard a faint whining sound coming from the rear of the car. Immediate thoughts were towards the rear diff. Then as I went over a bump in the road there was a definite "clonk" and the noise became louder, although still relatively quiet. By now I had slowed down in case there was something seriously wrong and the rear diff was about to disintegrate or something!
Anyway, when I arrived home I inspected the diff and all looked fine. It was just warm to the touch so I tentatively ruled it out. The next day I drove to work slowly and the wine subsided. Driving along with the windows open, with ears on full alert (!), I noticed a metallic rattling sound every time I went over a bump in the road. It was definitely coming from the off-side rear wheel, not the centre of the car. This made me feel a bit better and I started thinking more about wheel bearings, brakes or linkages on that corner of the car.
Yesterday I got the rear of the car up on axle stands, removed both wheels and had a proper look. To my horror I found that half of the inner rear brake pad on the off-side corner of the car had broken off and was lodged in between the rear disc and the metal guard plate behind it. This explains all the noises I'd heard. The original "clonk" must have been the point that the part of the pad broke away. When I removed the caliper, the other part of the pad just fell away from the backing plate!
These are EBC Red Stuff pads that have only covered 20k miles since I fitted them! I've ordered a new set and have sent the photographs below back to EBC to register my complaint. Thankfully the disc seems un-marked.
Has anyone else experienced this with EBC or any other brand of brake pads? Thankfully part of the pad remained in place, otherwise the backing plate would have come into direct contact with the disc under braking.
Here are some pictures:
The piece of the pad was lodged in here:
Anyway, when I arrived home I inspected the diff and all looked fine. It was just warm to the touch so I tentatively ruled it out. The next day I drove to work slowly and the wine subsided. Driving along with the windows open, with ears on full alert (!), I noticed a metallic rattling sound every time I went over a bump in the road. It was definitely coming from the off-side rear wheel, not the centre of the car. This made me feel a bit better and I started thinking more about wheel bearings, brakes or linkages on that corner of the car.
Yesterday I got the rear of the car up on axle stands, removed both wheels and had a proper look. To my horror I found that half of the inner rear brake pad on the off-side corner of the car had broken off and was lodged in between the rear disc and the metal guard plate behind it. This explains all the noises I'd heard. The original "clonk" must have been the point that the part of the pad broke away. When I removed the caliper, the other part of the pad just fell away from the backing plate!
These are EBC Red Stuff pads that have only covered 20k miles since I fitted them! I've ordered a new set and have sent the photographs below back to EBC to register my complaint. Thankfully the disc seems un-marked.
Has anyone else experienced this with EBC or any other brand of brake pads? Thankfully part of the pad remained in place, otherwise the backing plate would have come into direct contact with the disc under braking.
Here are some pictures:
The piece of the pad was lodged in here:
