I can't get rid of my dragging brakes
It isn't as bad as before the
first major brake cleaning back in January, but it's still louder (sometimes MUCH louder) than it should be.
Today my bro-in-law/mechanic and I took off the rear wheels to see what is scraping. The discs had lots of rust and filth on them. They were worn down about 1mm where the pads touch, but terrible elsewhere. It turned out that the scraping noise was not from the pads, but from the gunk that was caked on the edges of the discs, which would rub against something. We knocked as much off as possible with a small hammer, then filed down what was left, on both sides of each disc. Then we filed down the pad edges so that they are easier to move. The wheels now rotate more freely, and are much quieter.
The left wheel looked much worse than the right, this is also the louder of the sides. There is water inside the left cable housing of the e-brake, which may cause the pads to slightly stick on frosty mornings. The reason may that the car is usually parked facing east, so the left (north) side doesn't see any direct sunshine, while the right side quickly warms up and dries during the day. Our dog also seems to prefer the left side of our car when doing his peeing rounds.