I have a brake noise problem with my 97 960, which I would like to get some advice for. I bought the car as a non-preowned car with 5000 miles from a dealer. It has now 85000 miles on it.

The noise I am talking about comes from the left front. It appears when the brakes are applied and sounds like a grinding metal to metal noise. It is way stonger when the brakes are warm after several minutes of driving. In cold condition it is barely audible.

There is quite some history to it. It was not there when I bought the car. It developed after about 20000 miles in the same way as I can hear it today. Several checks by the dealer confirmed that the pads, brakes, and the rotors were all ok. After 35000 miles the dealer changed the brake pads and rotors and told me, that he would order special soft pads. Those soft pads were really wonderful, no noise at all. I drove them up to 70000 miles when new brake pads and rotors were needed again. The dealer obviously did not bother to put the soft ones in and I have the same old problem, even louder now. When the present pads were put on, I first had a squeaking noise for a long time. The dealer told me that this is part of the break in period and I should not worry. But after half a year it all developed into the grinding noise again.

Is anybody out there with similar experience? Does anybody understand where it comes from? Is it really the difference between "soft" and standard pads? Or could it be the installation as well? I could even think of some part in the front suspension being bad, although most bushings were already replaced once or twice. I had never any warning lights come on such that I believe the brake system is ok.