[winnie51189]

Ok, so I was driving down the highway and all of a sudden I heard a noise like I hit something but I never saw anything that I could have hit. I look in the mirror and I see something small go flying down the road behind me. The light ahead of me turns red so I press the brakes and all of a sudden I hear an awful grinding noise. It sounded like I was dragging something heavy and metal behind me.

I turn off the first chance I got. Just happened to be a walmart parking lot. I looked around/under the car but only found that I had a low tire, which I just filled about 2 days ago. The brake pads that I could see looked fine. So I've come to the conclusion that one of my brake pads on the other side of one of the wheels came off randomly while driving. I had a meeting I had to get to so I had to leave the car at walmart until tomorrow.

Has this ever happened to anyone before? Any other Ideas of what it could be?

Also what's the best looking size tires to put in the rears for when I get my new ones. I have stock 17's on it and the current tires are 245/45/17's

[6ER THEN I 8ER!]

you can throw a 275 on the rears just fine and keep the 245s on the front...as for the pads...just jack it up there take the wheel off and take off the caliper...it will be ez to check the pad and replace if needed...bring a c-clamp with you

[00BlueMustang]

Winnie your not having any luck with your car are you?

[winnie51189]

Originally Posted by 00BlueMustang Winnie your not having any luck with your car are you?

Hell no and it's pissin me off.

[winnie51189]

Originally Posted by 6er_w/a_Vengance you can throw a 275 on the rears just fine and keep the 245s on the front...as for the pads...just jack it up there take the wheel off and take off the caliper...it will be ez to check the pad and replace if needed...bring a c-clamp with you

Yea I'm not worried about it. But hopefully I'll be getting 275/40-17's for the rears. Which means only one more revolution per mile compared to the current 245/45-17's.

[AMmuslGT]

thats crazy. ive never heard of a brake pad flying off before

[winnie51189]

I'm not 100% that is what actually happened b/c I was in a rush to get to my meeting, but we will surely find out this afternoon when I get out of my other meetings.

[AMmuslGT]

cool

[goren813]

Doubt it was a brake pad unless whatever you hit was enough to damage the calipers/bolts enough to break it loose.

[winnie51189]

IDK why it would've come off period unless they were old and when the last owner took it in they half-assed it. Which would be my guess, because the last owner never did work on it. He always took it in.

[99mustang232]

there's only one way to find out... take your tire off and inspect the tire, brakes, rotors, caliper and lines.

if your pad broke apart you could of heard the metal backing to the pad scraping against the rotor. did you go back and look to see what fell off your car? you should be able to check the rotor for pitting and gouging with the wheel on which may help quickly identify. but I wouldn't drive it much further or you may end up needing a new caliper, rotor and pads. not sure what's up with the wheel going low, check it for nails when you have it off, or there could be a leaky valve.

[winnie51189]

***UPDATE***
Took the wheel's off one at a time to check all the brake pads. All were still intact and surprisingly looked really good.
My dad paid for it since I'm broke but didn't want to replace both the rears so I ended up having to stick with the 245/45/17's.

Then I drove it around the parking lot and let it coast to a stop, turns out it is in fact doing it when I'm off the brakes. The only thing I can think of is that when my parents decided to pay for my clutch to be fixed the shop didn't do it right. It was supposed to be a gift for my birthday but of course there were strings attached. I had to take it to my dad's friend's shop whom I really don't trust with working on my car. Turns out he only paid 250 for the install which I thought was a little low for quality work.
Then again I did provide the brand new spec1 clutch and the brand new flywheel.
Since I'm broke that means I'm going to have to leave getting my car fixed to my parents. Which also means they will probably be taking it to the same shop as before.

I'm gonna be really pissed if the asshat charges them for installing my flywheel wrong.
I've thought it was the flywheel grinding ever since I got the car b/c I could hear the flywheel rubbing slightly since I first drove the car again after the install.

I think if the guy is going to redo the flywheel he better let me pick out the flywheel so I know it's new, good quality, and it better be aluminum to replace the one he let his employees fuck up by installing it wrong.

[luv2shuv]

It just happened to me today. My brakes sliped, and when they finaly caught, it made a very loud metalic griding sound, but i actually got off on the spot and found it, it was wasted all the way down to the metal. when i lifted the car too check it out it was the rear iner driver side pad but the other 3 were close to new... now im just wondering how that happens/ the sliping out, and the pad getting wasted when the other 3 are still close to new...

[BlueScreaM]

Yeah, reading it I was trying to figure out how a pad could fly off.

[Toph6888]

Is the sound coming from the front or the back? if its coming from the back maybe check your caliper floating pins. I've had mine rust solid on me about three times now, the rubber boots that cover them suck and let moisture in with the smallest of holes. If that pin is rusted then your brakes could be riding any time you arent braking. Just a suggestion.