2002 Chevrolet Cavalier Strange whirring noise while braking?

2002 CHEVROLET CAVALIER
84,000 MILES
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LENAYALS013
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So I bought a 2002 Chevy Cavalier from a used dealership about 2 months ago. It's an automatic. After about a week of driving the car I noticed a strange whirring sound while braking. It doesn't really matter the speed I'm going but when I start to break you can hear the whirring noise and it continues until it comes to a complete stop. It doesn't sound like a grinding noise either. It's a difficult noise to explain. We thought it was the brake pads maybe but I don't have one single person who really knows what they're doing when it comes to a vehicle so we're kind of just going off very little background knowledge and what we find on google. I'm an 18 year old college student so I don't have a lot of money to go and get it looked at. Any ideas?
Jul 31, 2013 at 2:13 PM
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JACOBANDNICKOLAS
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Glad you're in college... Keep it up!!

As far as the noise, it sounds like you need brakes. Have you removed the wheels to check?
Jul 31, 2013 at 7:47 PM
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LENAYALS013
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We did take the wheels off but like I said, we really don't know what it is we're looking for. We could've been looking right at it and never known! The blind leading the blind really!
Aug 1, 2013 at 12:46 PM
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JACOBANDNICKOLAS
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If you go to our homepage under the DIY section, there are directions for changing both disc and drum brakes. Your vehicle will have disc in the front and drum in the rear. I believe there are pictures that show the brake pads and rear brake shoes. Take a look at that and see if you can locate them on the vehicle. Once located, you will need to determine if they are good or bad. Let me know when you get to that point and I will explain how to check.

Joe
Aug 1, 2013 at 8:46 PM
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LENAYALS013
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I can't seem to find the DIY section. Sorry!
Aug 1, 2013 at 10:40 PM