Volvo 480 Club Europe

theres a noticable-bad sounding grinding noise comming from the front left wheel (i think) when i reverse or brake heavily after driving for long periods without braking,

at first i thought it was rust building up on the surface of the disk (what with the wet weather an all) but it shouldnt happen that quickly?? & it doent explain the revering thing...

the car was standing for just over a week at christmas, and when i used it for the first time i notice that the hand brake had welded itself to the disks somehow.


Oh, and my mid section exhaust a
has developed a crack, right where it joins the rear section, ha ho, its a 480 so now ive got a headache.....Joy

could be the pads are worn down to the metal. check the level of brake fluid and if its quite low then check your pads!
all i can think of other than that is a wheel bearing on its way out!?

yep, shone a torch in there last night to look at the pads, near side very thin offside non existent!!

theres obviously no brake warning light operation for pads then?

yes, there is. theres a warning buzzer for when your pads get low, it sounds like a kinda grinding noise

hmmm, yes .


crude but effective.

If they have ground down to the metal and you've had metal to metal, then you'll need pads, and discs.

theres obviously no brake warning light operation for pads then?

Even if there was, you should never rely totally on it, there isn't an electronic substitute for good maintenance, especially where brakes are concerned.

And i'm not preaching here, when i had my 440, age 18, i drove it untill the brakes made grinding sounds, I now check them regularly, (as in every other week or so) and would never ever let them get down to less than 2-3mm now, and shudder at the thought of what could have happened back then!

matbat wrote:If they have ground down to the metal and you've had metal to metal, then you'll need pads, and discs.

What he said

Ahh there was the time my oz aloys on the ibiza chewed through the flexible hose. I clamped it off with mole grips, and drove home 40miles. That was scary braking! Think it was jealous, since my dad was driving my 480 in front...i'd just gone to pick her up!!

fixed that then, discs were ok,

replaced cat & mid section at the same time

everything was well in 480 land............. UNTILL.......