Grinding Braking Noise Mystery?

[Oggie]

Hello people. Newbie here!

I am starting to lose faith in my ford fiesta zetec 2003. Read my story and u will understand. I will do this bullet points so it's better to see the events.

- 6 months ago I hit a curb. Alloy went bent

- £50 for new alloy plus £35 for wheel alignment

- noise started occurring which seemed like the front left wheel. Took it to garage and they said it's the bearings. Think I paid £120 for part and labour

- garage mentioned that my pads were too thin so changed them too £90

- 1 week later front right wheel started making noise when I brake at around 10mph. Kind of a grinding noise. Took it to garage they said cos it's new pads they take time to settle.

- 2 weeks later noise increased and started to make noise even when I'm not braking. Around 5 mph and the noise will be there

- 1 week later the steering wheel would shake when I'm driving over 60mph and when I brake above 30mph the steering wheel would shakes aggressively.

- took it to another garage and explained everything to them. They sed the disc and pads need to be changed cos the discs may have been damaged by the new pads. So I forked out another £170 for parts and labour.

- car was driving fine for a week until the grinding noise appeared again. Now I'm scared the steering wheel shaking will happen all over again. Clearly the problem hasn't been resolved.

Please someone help!!!!!!

Ps. Sorry for the long story

[wase16ll]

doesnt really make any sense to me...the problem i mean, not the post.

cant see how or why new pads will cause a grinding, thats a new one on me

cant see the brakes causing a major wobble in steering yet not feel a vibration in the pedal itself...wobble is far more likely to be caused by wheel/tyre/bearing/steering or suspension.

then to have new discs and pads only to have grind return a few weeks later...again, doesnt really make any sense

shame you havent been informed how/what damage first set of pads did to original discs??..which by the sound of it, changing them hasnt cured anyway.

not easy over www as im sure you realise, but it doesnt sound like an actual brake problem to me unless there is a misalignment with the caliper or backing plate...im wondering if the problem maybe related to the wheel bearing that was changed, which can cause noises/wobbles etc...im wondering if bearing was pressed in or hammered in, if hammered then may have damaged the bearing, if when you took the car to 2nd garage they may have found slight play, having been told the bearing was new, just tightened it up...play in a new bearing is as sign of it breaking up...all pure guesswork, but this would make far more sense to me than disc/pads causing your symptoms

[Oggie]

Thanks for the reply. What would you recommend? Change the wheel bearings?

[Philf1]

You need to get an independent evaluation. Take it to an MOT approved garage and ask them to check out the fault they should be able to tell you exactly what is wrong.

[Oggie]

Ok cheers Phil..will do that.

[mixmasterlooney]

Go to a garage that can give you a print out of the alignment, MR Clutch can do this. It may be aligned but how well is questionable.

It looks like this

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.allonwhite.co.uk/data/images/gallery/large/95.jpg%3Fcd81664aa5f82adc22e72c2f2d008839&imgrefurl=http://www.allonwhite.co.uk/4-wheel-alignment/&h=585&w=612&sz=40&tbnid=9peYZkWDQJxq7M:&tbnh=91&tbnw=95&zoom=1&usg=__a16SK0PvOKfpqnl0hJIVPJl_LEI=&docid=AOK9Zq2smK6JhM&sa=X&ei=1tBVUqDdHeyS0AW--oCwCw&ved=0CDMQ9QEwAA

[jeebowhite]

When you have the alignment check done, take the car to a council MOT centre, and not a private business. Councils can check cars over for MOT but cant do any work to them, thus they have no reason to try and exagurate a problem to make you buy parts in fear of losing something....