Grinding Noise When Braking But Pads Are Fine: Fixes & Causes

A necessary part of cars is the brake. Brakes make sure that vehicles can stop on the road. They can also be a good safety measure for those who use cars to go from home to work. Brakes can save anyone, both vehicles’ drivers and passengers, from accidents on the road. Be sure that your car’s brakes work well to keep yourself safe from accidents every day.

If you hear grinding noise when braking but pads are fine when you check what’s wrong with them, you may need to get your breaks checked out. There could be something wrong with your brakes. They may need repairs at the auto repair shops.

Let us look at why there is grinding noise when using brakes even when the pads are working fine. We will also look into how to fix faulty brakes here. Read to the end of the article to find answers to why there is grinding noise from your brakes. Just changing pads may not be enough to fix this. You might find a fix to your unsafe brakes.

5 Reasons Why Are My Brakes Still Grinding After Replacing Pads?

There are many reasons why your brakes still grind after replacing your pads. Here are five of those common reasons why they do:

1.     Your brake pads are worn

When you hear grinding when stepping on your brakes, it could mean your pads are worn out and old. Backing plates can lose material over time. This is why metal meets with the rotor’s metal. It could be this. It can also be the caliper that comes into direct contact with the rotor. See if your brake pads are still good so that this doesn’t happen with them.

Rusty brake pads.

If left alone like this, your brakes can get severely damaged. The backing plate can destroy your rotor, too. Consequently, your auto’s grooves can be just as impaired. The rotor, in turn, will mangle the caliper. Replace your brake pads with new ones if you do not like this to happen to your brakes.

However, if you continue to hear grinding noise despite new brake pads, continue reading to the end of this article.

2.     You can be using bad-quality brake pads

Poorly made brake pads can cause much damage to your brakes. You know brake pads are the worst and the cheapest when chunks of metal on them scratch the rotor. These pads can damage your brakes entirely.

To avoid further damage to your brakes, invest in good-quality brake pads. These are pricey. They can, however, save you the trouble of dealing with faulty breaks in the long run.

You can choose from many good brands what brake pads to buy to break the cycle of getting poorly made ones.

3.    Your shims are worn

Make sure to replace the shims when you get your brakes repaired. If you are replacing some parts of your brakes yourself, do the same thing, replace the shims.

Unreplaced brake shims can get worn down. If this happens, then some pieces of brake shims can make contact with the rotor and other parts of the brake system. No one wants some metal parts to meet with other metal parts of the brake system. This not only makes a grinding noise when you use the brakes, but it also causes damage to other parts of your brake system.

When repairing your brake system, ensure the replacement of other worn-out parts to avoid damaging the system further.

4.     The brakes may have some debris stuck on them

Brakes should be cleaned and maintained often. Pieces of gravel and rock can get stuck in the caliper. This can cause further damage to the brake system.

Debris stuck to your brake system can cause a grinding noise when you step on your vehicle’s brakes. This is dangerous because the debris can scrape any metal in your brake system. Similar to the other reasons here, it can harm your brake system if left alone.

Routinely check your system for debris stuck in there. Remove pieces of debris stuck to some parts of your brake system. This way, you minimize the damage to your brake system by cleaning out the debris there. You can protect undamaged parts of the brake system by keeping it free of debris daily.

5.     You infrequently drive your car

It takes 30,000 to 70,000 miles of driving to cause a pair of brake pads to wear out. Driving your vehicle less can cause it to develop brake system problems. Infrequent use of vehicles can cause metals in the brake system like the rotor to develop rust. This corrodes the metals in the brake system and renders them unusable.

Even if it is winter where you are, don’t let your car sit in your driveway. Drive it as frequently to keep your brake system in good shape. Warming your brake system up in the colder months of the year can keep it from damage due to rust that forms in metals over time.

Rarely used cars have aged brake systems that grind when used for the first time in a long time. Be careful of these vehicles. They can get the passengers and drivers involved in road accidents by rusting brake system parts left unreplaced.

Why Does My Car Sound Like Its Scraping When I Brake?

Your car’s brake system can emit varying noises like grinding, thumping, squealing, or scraping. These noises tell the car owners that something is not right with their brake system. Different things can cause the scraping sound you hear your car produce when using its brakes. In this section, let’s check out why your car produces a scraping sound when using its brakes.

Rocks that get into your brake system and between your rotor and backing plate can cause the scraping sound you hear when using the car brakes.  We’ve mentioned before that this also causes a grinding noise. In this case, the noise produced is like something dragged across a tin plate when you drive or turn into a corner.

If you hear this sound, pull your car to a stop and check to see if there are foreign bodies that made it inside your brake system.

Close up photo of the backing plate.

Another cause of the scraping sound is the backing plate itself. It scrapes against the rotor if it is bent. The bent backing plate hitting the rotor is responsible for that awful sound. See if your backing plate is straight and not bent to avoid hearing the horrible scraping sound.

You can stop the scraping sound your brakes produce if you clear the rotor and backing plate of foreign objects like rocks that get in them. You can also straighten the bent backing plate to quiet your car’s scraping sound when using the breaks.

How Do I Fix It?

If left unattended, grinding noises from the car’s unchecked brake system can cause it to fall apart, leaving you vulnerable to road accidents. If you hear grinding noises from your car’s brake system, you should get it checked as soon as possible.

There are different ways to fix the awful noise made by cars’ faulty brake systems.

The first way is to replace old and faulty parts of your vehicle’s brake system yourself. This means replacing your brake pads with new ones when worn out from daily use.

If you’re not confident with fixing and replacing old and worn-out parts of your vehicle’s brake system on your own, you can always opt to get it checked in the auto repair shops instead.

Getting your vehicle’s brake system repaired can cost around 500 US dollars. 500 US dollars is a small price to pay to keep your car running smoothly and protect yourself from future road accidents.

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About Matthew Webb

Hi, I am Matthew! I am a dedicated car nerd! During the day, I am a journalist, at night I enjoy working on my 2 project cars. I have been a car nerd all my life, and am excited to share my knowledge with you!

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