Grinding Brakes

Any pulling to one side when braking? Can you isolate sound, is it from one wheel or both front wheels? What are your road conditions like? Drive over any gravel or rough roads? (I had an E250 that kept getting gravel caught in caliper and would grind until it spat it back out, or I had to pull the tire and fish it out.) That problem went away when I switched to a different wheel rim. MOST grinding noises are caused by worn parts, when either the backing plate or caliper makes contact with the rotor as the brakes are applied. Since your parts are all new, I suspect foreign debris, or possibly a bent backing plate or dust shield coming into contact with the rotor. Try jacking up vehicle and removing the wheel. Spin the rotor by hand and have a helper gently apply the brakes, and listen for any noise.

Thanks for the help. It does not pull to one side when braking and sounds like the noise comes from both front wheels (although that may not be accurate. It sounds like both). Light braking does not make the noise, just when more pressure is applied. Always worse when slowing down to a traffic light coming down a hill, etc. I have a short gravel driveway (1/2 mile) then everything else is sealed roads. The tires the Suburban runs are Firestone Destination H/Ts on factory stock alloy wheels. I will take the wheel off and do what you suggested regarding the dust shield and spinning the rotor. Thanks again for your help.

In my case, gravel would get stuck between dust shield and rotor or one time it wedged in against brake pad so when caliper compressed it pushed the piece against rotor.