My freshly finished swap is grinding. Please Help!

[McGyver]

I just finished the front of my 5-lug swap. The rear were running nicely with no problems after a moderate fender roll.

The fronts are grinding bad, and based on the perfect condition of the inside of the wheel it has to be the brakes. I'm running e36 m3 brakes that I just rebuilt. The inside of the wheels were also coated with greasy metal particles. I hadn't put any grease on the metal part that the pads slide on when i bolted it back up though.

When driving you can hear/feel the grinding. It also drives like shit. It sorta feels like it dives when the wheel is turned. The tire doesnt appear to be rubbing the fender. The brakes were properly bled, but feel spongy. It did lock up the front wheels when I put the petal to the floor.

Could my calipers be frozen on the rotor? How can i fix this tonight? I'm supposed to drive to DC tomorrow and I really want to take this car.

[Kershaw]

brake dust shield?

[McGyver]

didnt use one.

It is grinding BAD. Like stopping the car quick, not just rubbing like a backing plate would. I didnt lube the sliding pins, so im going to try that with some grease i have laying around.

[McGyver]

no advice? i tried greasing the par where the pads slide and the rods that slide through the bushings. it didnt help at all.

[BigD]

When you install the calipers, do they go on easy or are you forcing the pads over the rotor? Like before putting the caliper on, are you able to push the caliper piston all the way into the caliper, and the brakes don't bind, you can spin each wheel by hand?

[McGyver]

both wheels spin by hand, but the pads rub more than i would expect they should. i am basically just slipping the caliper and pads onto the rotor.

[YeOldeBuggy]

Sounds like a fucked wheel bearing, judging by your description of the greasy metal particles, were the parts used?

Thad.

[nrubenstein]

Pull the calipers and see if the noise persists when you spin the wheel. It's pretty much got to be either brakes or bearings.

[BigD]

both wheels spin by hand, but the pads rub more than i would expect they should. i am basically just slipping the caliper and pads onto the rotor.

Any difference with the engine turned on? (maybe air in the abs causing problems?) Did you also change the booster/master? (maybe there's preload on the mc?)

[evil_twin]

sounds like a wheel bearing.

[McGyver]

brand new wheel bearings. all i did was swap out the suspension components. I also went from rubber to SS brake lines. is it possible that air somewhere in the lines or behind the brake pistons is causing this?

[blueapplesoda]

air in the brake system would cause the side that has air in it to barely work at all.

take pics?

[gearheadE30]

This doesn't sound so much like a brake problem as a bearing problem.... If the hubs were subject to impact when they were installed, they could already be bad.

[mikeedler]

are your wheels rubbing on the strut tube?

[McGyver]

Well I did bleed the brakes in the exact wrong order (FL-FR-RL-RR) and I had the engine running when I did it. So when I get home i'll try it properly. The bearings were pressed on and both roll smoothly. It seems like the front brakes just wont release. Thanks to everyone who posted for trying to figure it out for me!

*mods, since its not urgent any more, could you move this to the 5-lug conversion section?