Jack front of car (secure w/ jackstands or blocks) and turn front wheels.If there is resistance, you have a hung-up caliper. Good news is, lots of junkyard parts available. You'll need both caliper and rotor, new pads from auto parts store, and a buddy who knows something about cars and has a toolbox, simple fix.
Its your brakes, with the mileage on this one, most likely you need all pads replaced and rotors turned.
First off, you gotta be glad it's only a grinding... Explosions, fire and certain death are usually the typical Chevy problems.
grind? when? at the time of changing gears or on driving, it could be bad gearbox too get it checked soon or you will have to pay huge sum.
You should have all four wheels with disc brakes on that car. I'm sure its probably brakes sticking. Make sure your emergency brake isn't engaged partially first. Putting it on when it doesn't get used often can make the cables they are connected to stick on. If that's not the case one or more of your brake calipers is probably shot and keeping your brake engaged. If you don't have tools an easy way to tell is drive it a mile or two come back and feel the rims of the car or if you can put your hand close to the rotor " round metal thing behind tire" the ones hanging up should have heat radiating from them. They get pretty hot. Good news is most calipers are under a 100$ a piece when you bring the old one in because they charge you like 30-70$ more if you don't bring the old ones in. Pretty easy fix if you know anyone mechanically inclined.
might be the brakes,stuck piston or something like that
hope that helps
I have a 2001 Chevy Malibu, with about 135000 miles on it. Whenever the car moves (forward or reverse), it grinds very heavily. I am afraid to take it further than around the block, and have just been driving my motorcycle. Whatever is doing the grinding is actually impeding driving function, because the car hardly coasts now. It sounds almost like gravel is caught somewhere, and it drives like I am going up a large hill. I have to apply a lot of gas and the noise is unbearable. Any ideas as to what this might be?
