Hi everyone,

A real surprise, happened on my girlfriend's '98 Ford Escort. She called to tell me that while making a low-speed turn, she heard a loud "thump" and then the front end started making a scraping noise, relative to wheel speed. Immediately I thought brake hardware or perhaps CV joint? Well I was sort of correct.
I took a look at her car, took off the front left tire, and noticed that one of the brake pad GUIDE PINS had broke free (spring/clip was missing, had fallen off), and slid out during a turn, and slid out of the steel wheel hole by about 1.5", then as soon as the wheel turned enough to close the opening for the pin, the pin was immediately bent and continued to scrape against the inside of the wheel. I'm glad that was all that happened as a result of the guide pins breaking free and sliding out. I replaced the pins and clips on both front wheels. Here is a picture of the old guide pins (and the bent one). Hope you guys know what I mean. I feel really bad b/c I was the one who changed the pads about 2 months ago, I just thank God that that's the noise was all that happened, and it happened at a *convienient* time, leisurely Sunday morning. I always check and secure pin clips during a brake job, this must have been some kind of freak accident. That is all. Have a nice day all! Hopefully this helps someone out to double-check brake hardware?

Here's a picture of the old pins:
http://hometown.aol.com/moogmaster21/pins.jpg
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'94 854 N/A.