Brake grinding as 95 legacy stops

[mp]

I have a 95 legacy wagon. the other day I noticed a grinding noise in the
front driver side brakes when the legacy came to a stop. The grinding did
not appear to be there through out the braking, just in the last few
feet/rotations/etc.

I pulled the tires all the way around and all of the pads (4wheel disc) have
plenty of material left.

I removed the pads from the front driver side & the rotor *looks* fine and
the pads are fine. After reassembly, the grinding went away for a drive
cycle, and then came back again today, a lot louder.

I removed the caliper today & the rotor about fell off the hub.

The Chilton's manual (only one I could find) said that you need to remove
the castle nut and then thread bolts into the rotor to push it away from the
hub. Mine came right off & I do not know why the castle nut would need to
be loosened.

I checked everything out. Reassembled everything. And took the car for a
spin around the block

There was no grinding. I haven't had a chance to drive it again.

So, the pads are fine. The rotors *look* fine. And after
disassembly/reassembly, the grinding goes away for a period of time.

I've done a bunch of searches on the newsgroup & the web. The only good
reason I have come up w/ is from a 1997 post:
"rough section on the brake pad" - & that some semi-mettalic pads may be
flawed and have *harder* areas than others - sounds like an urban myth to
me.

Any thoughts?

 

[John]

My 95 works the same way, the rotor is not held on by the castle nut, the
wheel hub is.
The rotor is actually held on when you place the wheel and lug nuts back on.

If in doubt, turn the rotors to see if that helps any. Metallic pads have
always had a bit of grinding.
Depending on where you live, dirt/dust/sand/salt can be a factor. I know
winter here in the NE is hell on rotors especially if you have the open
alloy wheels.