Rocks in brake calipers

[Ditch Pickler]

I went in a fishing trip recently.. I towed the new boat through a 5 mil stretch of hwy that had repaving full of small rocks. Got so many rock chips on the trailer. Also few under the boat to which kinda sucks . But I notice I’m getting some decent squeal from the trailer on the way back. Notice the rotors have some grooves on them. Should I remove the wheel and calipers to make sure the rocks are out? Or would they natural come out on there own.


don’t want any future damage and I’m not any expert in brakes etc. attached are pics of each rotor. I jacked the trailer up and spun the wheel and it sounds like something is stuck in there for sure. Lmk what my best option is.

[bgibson]

No way rocks did that. I would be pulling my calipers and make sure you brake pads and hardware are correct. Looks to me you had brake pads come delaminated to cause that damage to the rotors.

[Ditch Pickler]

No way rocks did that. I would be pulling my calipers and make sure you brake pads and hardware are correct. Looks to me you had brake pads come delaminated to cause that damage to the rotors.

thanks for the info bro! I’ll pull them off. It’s a brand new trailer/boat from basscat. So I don’t know how they would have used the wrong hardware. I didn’t have any issues till after I drove through that stretch of rocky hwy.

[ifishinxs]

Rocks will groove the crap out of a rotor as you have seen. I remove the caliper and dig the rock out of the pad. If the rocks are left they can and will ruin a rotor. Its amazing what can get kicked up on the road then jammed into that very tight space. Pretty common in dual axel trailers.

[bgibson]

I didn't say the hardware is wrong. I am saying hardware could of come undone. I had brake pads become delaminated (unglued) from the metal backing. If that happens the metal backing of the brake can float around and groove up the rotor and make metal grinding sounds (obviously). I noticed it on 1 wheel so I checked the other 3 wheels on my dual axel trailer. Sure enough 2 others where loose and caught them just in time. These where UFP brake pads on a 3 year old trailer. I changed all my brake pads out with Riveted pads that cross referenced to a 1996 Kia Sophia. I have never had a problem since!

[99R93S]

I have speculation, but it’s not relevant. Get the calipers off though, see what’s going on. Just by the pics though, I’d probably recommend new pads and rotors. If you put new pads on those rotors they are going to likely squeak/squeal. The new pads will wear into the grooves on the rotors and when they shift around they are gonna rub the edges and sound awful.