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3 Most Common Brake Noises: Causes and How to Fix Them

by Eddie Carrara

As a mechanic, the three most common brake noises my customers come in for are grinding, thumping, and squeaking.

Why Are My Brakes Making Noise?

“My brakes squeak” is one of the most common complaints I hear about brakes. Brake noises can be annoying, but they can also alert us of potentially dangerous issues. It's best to play it safe and have your brake noises checked by a trusted mechanic.

In this article, I cover three of the most common brake noises I encounter on a daily basis and try to shed some light on what the repair process looks like for each. Some of the repair techniques I share here are unorthodox, and you will never find them in a service manual or Technical Service Bulletin. If you decide to try them, please be cautious and safe.

Now, let’s take a quick look at the three most common problems that cause noisy brakes. Each is discussed at length in the sections that follow. Helpful videos are included throughout the article, and an FAQ section and a list of related articles can be found at the bottom of this page.

The 3 Most Common Brake Noises and What They Mean

Grinding Noise When Brakes Are Applied
Thumping Noise From the Rear When Braking
Squeaking Noise While Braking or Driving

Other Noises That May Not Be Related to Your Brakes

Thumping or Squealing Caused by Rotors Rusting Overnight
Scraping Noise While Driving or Turning

Brakes Grinding? Stop Driving!

If your brakes are grinding, your brake pads are likely fully worn down. Continuing to drive is dangerous, and the longer you drive the vehicle in this condition, the more expensive the eventual fix will be. It's time to pull over and call for a tow.

1. Grinding Noise When Brakes Are Applied

Hearing a grinding noise when you apply your brakes is really like hitting a rumble strip on the edge of the highway; if you hear this, you need to wake up and stop driving! A grinding noise on braking is usually caused by a lack of brake pad material; the pads and rotors are now metal to metal, with no braking material left.

Why Do Brake Pads Wear Down?How to Fix it

Brake pads are like bars of soap. Eventually, they get used up, and you have to spend a little money to replace them. If you don’t, and your brakes get to the point of grinding, just imagine dollar signs rising into the air every time you step on the brake pedal, even just a little.

Think of the grinding noise as a little voice in your ear whispering, ”You’re killing me!” Mechanics have an acronym for this, it’s called CPR (calipers, pads, and rotors). And when you get the bill for your brake job, you just might need CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation)!

If your brakes are grinding, stop driving and call a tow truck. The cost of the tow will be worth it in the long run. If you're lucky, you'll just need to have your brake pads replaced. You are supposed to replace the pads so they don’t grind your rotors down to a tissue. If you replace your pads on time, you can often keep your rotors. If you've been driving and braking despite the grinding noise for a while, expect to replace your rotors and maybe some other parts as well.

2. Thumping Noise From the Rear When Braking

This brake issue is one that will annoy the heck out of the driver and suck the life out of the technician. Initially, it took me months to figure out what was causing the thumping noise in the rear of a vehicle. After tearing apart the rear of the vehicle, lubing every bushing, and checking the clearances of every part imaginable, I came to the conclusion that it was the rear drums causing the noise.

What Are Drum Brakes?

Many cars have drum brakes in the back. In drum brakes, a shoe stops the car by pressing on the inside of a metal drum. Brake drums, like rotors, get resurfaced once in a while. The cutting bit on the brake lathe removes the old braking surface and leaves a nice, new mating surface. During this procedure, the cutting bit creates a groove in the brake drum so slight that the naked eye can’t see it; it’s like a groove on a vinyl record that the needle of the record player follows.

What Causes the Thumping Noise?

When the brake shoes ride on the new surface, they will follow the groove like the needle of your record player follows a track. If the groove is interrupted, the shoes snap back, hitting the backing plate. This phenomenon happens very quickly, causing a thumping noise that will drive you crazy and have you wondering if your car is safe to drive.

How to Fix It the Normal Way

There are several ways to fix this noise. One is to replace the rear drums. A second, less-drastic way is to remove the drums, install them on a lathe, and sand the crap out of the mating surface with coarse sandpaper.

How to Fix It Using the Emergency Brake

The third way I found by trial and error (and pure frustration) is a quick fix using the emergency brake. You will not find this procedure in any service manual or car repair manual—not even on car repair talk radio. It can be dangerous if not performed correctly, so please be careful. Nevertheless, I have done it on over 100 cars, including family members’ cars, and I would not recommend it if I thought it damaged the vehicle.

How this works is that you get your rear brakes to do 100% of the braking for a few seconds at a time instead of their usual 30%, and this causes the brake shoes to polish the grooves out of the drum. For safety reasons, only try this on cars that have an emergency brake handle in the center console; emergency brakes that come up out of the floor can’t be set and released quickly enough.

Drive your car in a remote area with little or no traffic at a speed of about 40 miles an hour.
Lightly pull up on the emergency brake handle while holding the release button; this is so the emergency brake handle won’t lock in the braking position, and you can release it quickly.
Only hold the emergency brake on for about three seconds because you don’t want to overheat the drums. Do this three to five times while keeping a steady speed, and the noise should disappear or at least be 90% gone.
After this, drive the car at normal speeds and use the brakes the way you normally would. If the noise has not changed, you may have a different thumping noise than what I have described here in this article. Give up on this remedy and try something else.

My sister came to me with this noise after she had her brakes checked at her local garage. They had adjusted her rear brakes so the emergency brake handle had less free play in it, and this is when her troubles began. I took her car out on a test drive for about 10 minutes, performed the procedure described here, and poof! The noise was gone. She was happy because the garage that had caused the noise had no idea how to fix it.

The brake pad wear indicator will cause a brake to squeal when the pads get too thin.

3. Squeaking Noise While Braking or Driving

Squeaky brakes can be very annoying, and furthermore, they might mean something. A squeak may be a sign of danger of some kind, or it may just be a sign of cheap brake pads.

Most Common Cause: Cheap, Low-Quality Brake Pads

Most commonly, brake squeaking is caused by inferior pads. A cheap brake job sounds good when you’re paying for it, but it may come with years of painfully annoying squeakiness. Cheap brake pads have large metal flakes in the brake material, and when you press the brakes lightly and a flake drags along the rotor, it will squeak. The squeak may go away when that particular flake wears away, but usually, there is another metal flake right behind it. The best way to avoid this type of noise is to choose quality brake pads.

What if the Squeaking Happens When I'm Driving but Not Braking?

If your brakes are squeaking or squealing while driving down the road, but the noise goes away when you press on the brakes, I have a hunch that your brake wear indicator is hitting the rotor and causing the noise.

The wear indicator is a small metal tab fastened to the brake pad. When the brake pads are worn down and need replacing, this metal tab starts to drag along the rotor, warning the driver of the potential problem.

How to Fix It

Don’t ignore the noise too long; the brake pads are thin and need servicing very soon for your safety and to protect the other parts of the braking system.

Bonus Noise 1: Thumping or Squealing Caused by Rotors Rusting Overnight

Especially in cars parked outdoors, rust can build up overnight on the rotor around the impression of the pad, causing a thumping or squealing when you drive the car away in the morning.

Video: Noises Caused by Rust on Rotors

Bonus Noise 2: Scraping Noise While Driving or Turning

I have one other noise I run into a lot that has nothing to do with the brakes themselves. Technically, it has to do with rotors, but I thought it was worth mentioning here because it comes from that area, and a lot of customers assume it's their brakes causing the noise.

If your vehicle makes a scraping noise that sounds like something being dragged across a tin plate while driving or when turning a corner, it's possible you have picked up a rock from a dirt road or a freshly repaired pothole—the kind of place where you hear a shower of pebbles hitting the bottom of your car as you drive through. There’s a good possibility that a rock has gotten lodged between the rotor and the backing plate, creating the awful noise you're hearing.

Alternatively, sometimes the backing plate behind the rotor gets bent while the car is being worked on, and it scrapes against the rotor.

How to Fix It

Just have the rock removed and be on your way. There's an easier way to remove a rock stuck behind the rotor: bend the backing plate a little, as shown in the video below! If the cause is a bent backing plate, get the plate un-bent so it doesn't scrape against the rotor.

Video: How to Remove a Rock From Between Your Rotor and Its Backing Plate

Noises and Possible Causes: A Quick Recap

Grinding- Stop driving! This is usually caused by the brake pad being worn down to nothing.
Thumping from rear- This can be hard to diagnose, but it is usually the rear drums.
Squeaking- This is usually caused either by cheap brake pads or the brake wear indicator hitting the rotor.
Thumping or squealing- If car is parked outdoors, this is probably caused by rusted rotors.
Scraping- You may have picked up a rock and it is lodged between the rotor and backing plate.

FAQ: Brakes, Brake Noises, and Brake Parts

In this section, I'll try to address some of the more common questions I get about brake noises both in person and in the comments on my articles.

How Do I Get My Brakes To Stop Squealing?

The most common way to stop brakes from squeaking is to remove all the brake pads, disassemble the calipers, lubricate all moving caliper parts with high-temperature grease, and lubricate all caliper-to-brake pad contact points with brake pad lube.

There are other methods out there, like sanding the brake pad surface or shaving the leading edge off the brake pads, but the repair above yields the best results by far.

Why Are My Brand-New Brakes Squealing?

The most likely cause of new brake pads squeaking is a lack of lubrication on the caliper-to-pad contact points, most likely from an inexperienced mechanic.

Some aftermarket brake pads have a high content of "bimetal" material, which can cause new brakes to squeak as well.

What Can Cause a Grinding Noise in the Braking System?

A grinding noise can be heard in a brake system when the pad's life is exhausted (when the brake pad is worn out).

Another cause of grinding in a brake system is moisture on the rotor after sitting overnight, but this will usually disappear after you apply the brake a few times.

Another common grinding noise from brakes happens when small pebbles get caught between the rotor and rotor backing plate, or when the backing plate is touching the rotor after a brake service was just done or the wheels were just removed from the vehicle.

How Much Does It Cost to Get a Brake Job?

At the time of this writing, brake jobs can range between $350 and $850 per axle depending on what is wrong and what needs to be replaced. If your vehicle needs to have the rotors and pads replaced, your brake job is going to be more pricey.

If you hear that the rotors need to be replaced, ask the mechanic if they can resurface them to save you a few bucks. Resurfacing them, if they can do it, could actually save you about $100 to $150.

How Much Does It Cost to Fix Squeaky Brakes?

The cost to fix squeaky brakes varies depending on the labor rate and what the mechanic needs to do to stop the squeak. It will cost about one hour of labor per axle to disassemble the brake calipers and lube all of the moving parts and pads.

Why Do My Brakes Squeak First Thing in the Morning?

The main reason brakes squeak first thing in the morning (or after the car has been sitting in a humid area) is moisture on the brake rotors. Usually, this type of brake squeak will disappear after applying the brakes a few times.

Can Brakes Squeal When They're Not Applied?

Your brakes can squeal when they are not applied. Usually, this is because the brake-pad-wear indicator is touching the rotor. If the wear indicator is touching the rotor, sometimes the noise disappears when you apply the brakes and returns when your foot comes off the pedal.

If you hear this type of noise when you're not applying the brakes, have a mechanic do a brake inspection just to be on the safe side. The wear indicator may be warning you that your brake pads are getting low and need to be replaced soon.

Do You Have to Break in New Brake Pads?

You should not have to break in new brake pads; you should be able to drive normally as soon as the brake pads are installed.

Why Is There a Grinding Noise When I Drive?

If you're hearing a grinding noise when you drive, and you're not applying the brakes, it could be that the brake pads are worn metal-to-metal. They should be inspected ASAP! Your brakes may be worn away to nothing, and continuing to drive may be dangerous.

How Do You Check Your Rotors?

Rotors are inspected visually and with measuring tools like a micrometer or a vernier caliper. The visual inspection checks for flaking rust on the braking surface, score marks on the braking surface, heat cracks, and hot spots.

Measuring the rotor thickness is important when doing a brake inspection. If the rotor is too thin, it could crack or fall apart when braking under severe conditions. Another reason to measure rotor thickness is to verify that there is enough material to resurface the rotors.

How Long Do Brakes Typically Last on a Car?

It all depends on driving habits and conditions. If you drive on the highway all the time, your brakes could last up to 100,000 miles. But, if you use your vehicle to make deliveries in the city, you could find yourself replacing brakes every 15,000 miles.

How Long Does It Take to Get a Brake Job?

A typical brake job takes about one to two hours. If they are replacing rotors and pads, it will take about an hour per axle. If they are machining or resurfacing the rotors, it will take a bit longer.

How Often Do You Need to Change Brake Pads?

It all depends on driving habits and conditions. If you drive on the highway all the time, your brakes could last up to 100,000 miles. If you use your vehicle to make deliveries in the city, you could find yourself replacing brakes every 15,000 miles.

Another thing to consider is the type of brake pad you're installing. Some aftermarket pads are very cheap and do not last long. Cheap pads also tend to be very squeaky.

Good Luck, and Take Care of Your Brakes!

I sincerely hope that all the information here will help diagnose that noise that seems to be coming from your brakes. I know that some of my methods are a bit out of the box, but it's what we do sometimes to repair vehicles. There is always a better way, but if you don't try new ideas, you'll never discover it. A wise man once said, "If you do the same things over and over, expecting different results, you must be crazy."

To learn about more common car noises, see the video below. It describes three noises: squeaking from brake pad wear indicators; a clicking in the front end combined with a shaking steering wheel; and a metallic, knocking noise that happens in the front end while turning.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.