rubbing noise on braking

I had an accident a few months back and ever since I got it back on the road I've been hearing a rubbing noise when I brake

it's only when I brake. when I hear it, if I lift off the brakes, it stops...and I can vary the sound by playing with the brakes.

also, the brakes are very soft. My dad hasn't had time to show me how to bleed my brakes(I may need a new master cylinder also, but iono, I'll bleed first then see)

anyways, anybody have any ideas as to what it may be? could it be that one of the calipers isn't clamping well onto the rotor and just touching it so I get the rubbing noise? possibly warped rotor?

all i replaced after the accident was a control arm and a ball joint, everything else seemed to be fine. oh, and also, it's on the passenger side, where the accident happened. I can't tell if it's front or rear tho.

If the mastercylinder/rotor needs to be replaced, is it true that the S13 stuff will work w/o problems, or is that just a myth?

Thanks in Advance.

Does the "rubbing" sound like metal on metal? If so, maybe your announcer is rubbing but not squealing like it's supposed to. Prolly just need brake pads. If you didn't bend a rim into your caliper in your accident, nothing would be wrong with the brake itself.

Bleeding brakes is real easy, but you need a second set of hands. Well, a foot anyways. lol

The bleeder valve kinda looks like a grease fitting with a little rubber cap over it.

Step 1: FILL BRAKE FLUID RESOVOIR
Step 2: Remove wheel
Step 3: Person in car pumps brakes til pedal is hard then holds pedal down.
Step 4: Person at bleeder valve loosens valve then closes valve and watches fluid coming out, observing for air. If air bubbles come out, repeat Step 3: and 4: until air stops coming out. If no air bubbles comes out, all done. Move to next corner.
Keep an eye on brake fluid level. If you empty it, you'll have to start over.
Note: If you have drums in the rear, the bleeder valve is on the back side of the backing plate.

If your pedal is still soft, you might have over heated your calipers and boiled your fluid during a hard stop. In that case you'll need to flush the whole system with new fluid if you want your pedal back. Nothing more than bleeding, but you repeat Step 3: and 4: until you see fresh clear fluid coming out.

Step 1: FILL BRAKE FLUID RESOVOIR
Step 2: Remove wheel
Step 3: Person in car pumps brakes til pedal is hard then holds pedal down.
Step 4: Person at bleeder valve loosens valve then closes valve and watches fluid coming out, observing for air. If air bubbles come out, repeat Step 3: and 4: until air stops coming out. If no air bubbles comes out, all done. Move to next corner.
Keep an eye on brake fluid level. If you empty it, you'll have to start over.
Note: If you have drums in the rear, the bleeder valve is on the back side of the backing plate.

Make sure you start with the wheel farthest from the master cylinder (should be the passenger rear). Then the driver rear, passenger front, and finally driver front.

thanks guys.

I've read up on bleeding, so I know generally how its done. but I like having my dad show me how to do something like this first before doing it myself(with friends) so I learn it right.

one rim DID bend and break...but I it broke at the bottom of the wheel..and shouldn't have hit the caliper.

hmm how abot a slighly bent rim thats rubing on your strut.... at low speeds it hearable but higher speeds it to quick to hear...????

nah, it's only under braking. and I'm using the stock wheels now, not the wheels that were in the accident.

So, what kind of rubbing noise is it? Does it sound like the tire on the plastic guards in the wheel well? Or is it more of a metallic rubbing noise? Without hearing it, it's hard to diagnos. If it does it at low speeds, maybe you can get a friend to run along side the car to determine if it's front or rear, which will help narrow it down a bit.

it kinda sounds like if you like move around on a leather couch...sorta like that

and it's intermittent. so I'm thinking it may be a rotor thing, cause it if were a pad thing then it would be constant through braking right?

and yea, it happens at all speeds when i brake.

I would definitely get a friend to help you determine which wheel it is coming from. Then take the wheel off and see if you can find any rubbing marks anywhere. Not that you'll be able to see much if it is in fact the rotor, but if it's something else, you might see something.

I have had a few accidents just like yours and I had the same werd noise and it was only under braking. On the last one it was pritty bad. And becouse it was so bad I was able to figure it out. When you brake your castor is changing and this effects the toe. My tire where "fethered" in the front. Replace your tention rod brackets, get new bushings geind the spacer 1/8'' to 3/16'' and get a 4 wheel alignment. I did this and now its all good. I was to poor for an alignment so I had eye/balled alignment for a while. My rear sub frame is bent so it used to dog-track like a bitch.

damn...

yea, if you look at the pics of my car lowered, you can see how bad my castor is.

anybody know how much the bracket costs?

localy if I can find them $5-$20 each in the yards.

I actually don't even know how to take off/install the tension rod bracket

I always thought it was welded onto the frame. heh

1. Unbolt the swaybar from the bracket (both sides)
2. losen the tention rod and remove
3. losen the 4 bolts and nuts holding the beacket :)