Periodic Grinding Noise While Braking

[lebowski2]

Hi All,

So I've been lurking the forums for a while and have checked out the FAQ and all permutations of "ES300", "Brakes", and "Grinding" I could think of and I don't *think* this particular case has been covered. I just bought this 1995 ES300 from a nice couple in SoCal (relevant because it's only driven in a warm, dry climate. Rust is a non-issue here I'm led to believe). This puppy's old (190,000 miles) but the prev. owners say they replaced all the belts, brake pads, and tires 3 months ago as part of routine maintenance.

Everything about the car feels great - no wobbling or funny driving on the highway up to 80 MPH, but about 60% of the time when we brake and come to a stop (no matter how slow or soft the stop) the car rewards us with a little slow grinding noise as if the ABS were kicking in. It happens *so* frequently that I'm getting a little worried about it. Is this a known issue? I've only owned one other car in my life ('94 Subary Legacy) and it's ABS felt very similar but only kicked in during hard stops. What do you guys think? Could it be a brake issue or an ABS calibration problem maybe? Are the struts about to give out and send my fiance and I to a fiery death?

Thanks in advance for any input!

P.S. I have very little ownership experience, but grew up doing fairly extensive mechanical repairs on my dad's car (as a little helper) so despite not actually knowing very much I'm perfectly happy pulling things off and getting dirty. I do have the repair manual PDF from this forum on my computer.

[gbhrps]

lebowski2,

If you don't have an ABS warning light come on the dash when you brake, the problem is most likely in one of the calipers rather than the ABS pump or sensors.

I would suspect that a stone or such is lodged in between the pad and rotor, or that a single brake pad, slide pin or caliper piston is sticking. What the grinding is won't be sourced until you swing the calipers off the rotors and check them out. Something is corroded or severely worn and needs replacing. If its a sticking caliper, I'd bet that the brake fluid has never been changed, a job that Toyota recommends doing every 4 years. Good Luck!

[James Horning]

If you can conceptualize which wheel is doing it and it feels exactly like a ABS cycle, it may be debris , a bad sensor or a crack in a tone ring for one of the sensors the front is easy .L look very carefully for a crack ( latitude) in the tone ring . This can be intermittent and will not set a DTC .

[lebowski2]

Thanks for the feedback, folks. I'll see if I can take a look at the calipers.