Spongy Brakes/Grinding at slow speeds.

[sumemt]

When coming to a complete stop, my brake pedal gets awfully spongy and I can hear a grinding (and feel a vibration in my foot when it's happening). The car still stops fine, just weird noises/vibrations. Also, the grinding noise/Vibrating will continue if I make a left turn at a slow speed (5-10MPH). Just had the brakes and rotors replaced about a year ago, so those can't (better not) be the case. Also, the noise/vibration only seems to come from the front driver side tire. I did have the wheel bearing replaced about 1.5 years again, so again, that better not be the case!

Any ideas? I just noticed this happening maybe within the past month.

Thanks for the help!

 

[djthumper]

Have you jacked it up and checked it out? What brand bearings did you put in there?

 

[sumemt]

I have not jacked it up yet. The bearings were put on by Tire World (above my level of confidence), so I have no idea what brand they are.

 

[BlazingTrails]

How many miles since they were replaced?

 

[sumemt]

I average about 9k-10k a year, so maybe about 10k since the brakes and about 12-13k for the wheel bearing.

 

[Playsinsnow]

Could be the other wheel bearing. Or a junk cheap one. Get Timken brand wheel bearings as others have had their new bearings fail in such a short time like yourself.

Find a shop that will install the parts you want or even bring in to them. Expect to pay full labor rate if you bring them the part(s).

 

[sumemt]

But would a bad bearing have that effect on my brakes being spongy?

 

[The_Roadie]

I'd be not driving it until I could check out the caliper. Members (more than one) have reported very bad things happening if a loose mounting bolt comes out, then the caliper falls off and then neither side will pump up well and you're left with the ebrake and everybody could die.

How many miles do you have, and when's the last time you checked the fluid level in the front differential? Changed the transfer case fluid? Wiggled the CV shafts for inboard bearing looseness on both sides.

Taking the truck to a shop doesn't mean you can let them get away with installing Cheap Chinese Crud parts - maybe they used reputable suppliers, but it's still worth demanding all the details of a repair in case there's a lifetime warranty that you could take advantage of if you were out of town and needed it swapped again.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

On the sister site ORTB, another failed Timken was just mentioned and it was the second one under warranty in less than a year. I would not say they have any better history at this juncture.

 

[freddyboy61]

I'm wondering if the problem might not be a flaky or coroded wheel speed sensor. These can cause the ABS to engage at slow wheel speed, Sometimes a cleaning of road grit from around the sensor head will correct the issue.

 

[sumemt]

I'm wondering if the problem might not be a flaky or coroded wheel speed sensor. These can cause the ABS to engage at slow wheel speed, Sometimes a cleaning of road grit from around the sensor head will correct the issue.

Now that you mention it, the feeling/noise is close to what I'd get with ABS, but that it's only out of the one wheel, so I never considered that to be a possibility.

Thanks gentlemen!

 

[sumemt]

Sorry for the late reply, I forgot I had a couple out there that I needed to close out!

The verdict came out to be a bad Wheel Speed Sensor... Some kind of cable came out after a shitty job by Tires Plus. Took it to a regular mechanic who replaced the entire hub.

Thanks for all the help!