Hello guys, this is my first post so bare with me.

I’ve done a lot of researching but I can’t seem to find a solution.

I just did a wheel bearing hub assembly and rear axle upgrade yesterday. My concern I was having was after reinstalling everything back in, I’m getting this popping/grinding noise that’s consistent when I’m driving less than 5mph and gets louder/harsher as I drive. (I barely made it out of my driveway)

I’m assuming it’s the Caliper/Rotor after going into the drivers seat and testing everything the brakes feel almost mushy coming back up. It only pops/grinds on the Driver’s side but not the passenger. (It’s scary enough where you don’t want to drive it to the next block, and definitely not on the freeway)

The rotor and brake pads are new (non Brembo) with stainless steel lines. (Already drove to work a couple months before with the new pads/rotors everything was fine). I inspected the wheel well and I noticed small piles of dark gray dust combine with shiny metal particles almost like the brake pads color. The passenger side also showed these symptoms but there wasn’t any noise grinding/popping noise coming from the passengers side.

Only things I can think that I probably did wrong was incorrect torque spec for the rotor maybe over tightened? Or maybe over tightened the 32mm bolt? I didn’t mark that line when replacing the entire Wheel Bearing Hub Assembly and Axle? Or improperly re-installed calipers onto the rotor (maybe I need to reset something?) I greased the wheel bearing, the splines, I’m just baffled.



Here is the gray dust piles I spotted in the wheel well.




If you look close you can see shiny particles in them as well. Not sure if it’s metal or the hawk hps pad material.


Side note: I made sure I didn’t let the caliper hang from the stainless steel brake lines, I zipped tied it onto the traction bar and reinstalled by just putting them back onto the rotor with the 2 bolts.

Any help would be appreciated!

Edit: Problem solved! Apparently I missed re-installIng one of the washers that went with the 2 caliper bolts and it cause the rotor to make contact with the dust shield. The noise would go away when I brake because it would hold the rotor in place!