I was driving today, and I noticed that I'm getting a dragging sound when I'm braking, and as I'm accelerating from a stop. It sounds like metal on metal and it's pretty loud...

Anyone have a clue as to the problem?
-Need new brake pads?
-Warped Rotors?
-Bad Caliper?

Or are there any tests for these problems?

Edit: The sound is coming from the drivers side rear.

DOUBLE EDIT: While i'm at it, I've noticed that my brakes are soft as hell and have no stopping power. If I want to stop, I do not stop, I only slow down.

Does anyone else have this problem and have a fix? Is it a problem w/ the master cylinder or what???

Triple Edit: I jacked up my car, and that wheel is not smooth at all, and there is definetely some type of rubbing. Do I need a torque wrench to do the wheels? Would I be better off just having a shop do my brakes?

 

Do your brakes get progressively soft (fade) as the car gets hotter? If so, I think you might have really old brake fluid that has so much moisture, that is causing vapor lock, water in the brake fluid boils and converts into gas, causing air pockets in your fluid, therefore reducing it's compressibility, and you get the soft brake pedal feel. Try bleeding/replacing the brake fluid in your car with some good DOT-4 fluid (I like Valvoline Supersyn DOT4 in all my cars).

As for the brakes dragging, when I recently changed all four rotors, I had a rear brake issue where I was having a metallic grind when I stop, and coincidentally, coming from the rear driver's side wheel. Turns out the inner brake pad was down to the metal due to owners neglect (never done the rear brakes in 92k is my guess).

I would take the caliper out, and inspect the pads. If your bad was so worn out that it ground the rotor, I think you might need to replace it.

Also, jack up the rear driver's side, and with the wheel in the air, try rotating the wheel (with the e-brake disengaged). If you hear scraping/dragging when the wheel turns on at a certain point, your rotor is definitely warped and needs replacement.

Just some thoughts.

 

Do you have OEM pads on there?
The scrappig might be the brake springs. They are supposed to sit all the way in the pins.
Alot of time they don't and will barely rub on the outer edge of the rotor.

 

Thanks for the help guys.

My brakes do not get worse as the car gets hotter. They are horrible. Period. I wonder though, maybe it might be a fluid problem because if I depress my brake a lot during driving (like in a traffic jam), one of my taillights likes to go out. But once I start driving again, it will come back..

I'm going to go over to some guy on VolvoSpeed's house today, and I'm going to borrow his torque wrench and see if I can get it figured out... I'll update if I find anything.

The pads are most likely OEM.

 

I don't think your brake light issue has to do with your problem. I had a bulb that would intermittently go out. Turned out to just be a bulb going bad and after replacement, it's never happened again.

If it's in the rear and there's visible grinding, it should be easy to see. One other thing to look at would be the emergency brake. Pull the rear calipers and rotors and inspect the emergency brake setup (inside the 'drums' of the rear rotors). Outside of the that, I doubt that the rear wheel torque is causing contact, unless the wheel wasn't tightened at all. - AB

 

I took my car to a VSer's house, and this is his reply.
And here was mine.