The only acceptable noises emanating from your ride should come from Big Boi, throttling up your twin-supercharged V16, and excited children as you enter Disney World. Your brakes should be as quiet as a tomb. If they’re grinding like someone who wears a mouthguard to sleep, then you’ve got a problem.
Grinding brakes are an all-too-common problem among motorists. But with a little knowledge about what could be causing the noise, you can very quickly remedy the situation. Let Car Autance’ harmonically attune editors drop some knowledge to help you resolve your problem and silence your ride. Now peep this.
Why Are My Brakes Grinding?
Your brakes are grinding because there’s something wrong within the braking system. This could be caused by debris, broken and worn parts, or something as simple as installing the wrong part onto your car.
What grinding brakes do tell you is that you need to get them inspected. Grinding noises aren’t good and could affect your car’s braking performance and thus, endanger the safety of you and those around you.
What Could Be the Cause of Your Brakes Grinding?
Honestly, a bunch of things. Here are just a few potential reasons why your brakes could be grinding.
Debris
Road debris is a common cause of grinding brakes. A pebble, rock, sheared off car part, or piece of glass can get wedged within the braking system and cause a grinding noise if lodged between the friction surfaces.
Warped Rotor
If a brake rotor is warped enough, the undulating surface can cause the brake system to produce a grinding noise.
Broken Brake Pad
Though uncommon, brake pads can break. This can be caused by improper construction methods, bad materials, or extreme usage. If that occurs, the broken pad can produce grinding noises.
Worn Brake Pad
As a brake pad wears down, it reveals a part affectionately known as a “squeaker.” Many will associate the noise a squeaker makes with grinding. This is to tell you it’s absolutely time to replace your pads.
Broken Caliper
Parts break, and when they do, they can become dislodged or lodge broken pieces into the braking system, as can happen with a broken caliper.
Broken Rotor
Far less often than broken brake pads, though it has been known to occur, a broken rotor can produce grinding noises.
How to Fix Grinding Brakes
Fixing your grinding brakes will depend on what’s causing the issue, as shown above. Here’s what you’ll need to do for the above reasons.
Debris
You’ll have to pull apart the brake system and find the debris, dislodge it, and put it back together.
Warped Rotor
You’ll have to replace the brake rotor.
Broken Brake Pad
You’ll have to replace the brake pads.
Worn Brake Pad
You’ll have to replace the brake pads.
Broken Caliper
You’ll have to replace the brake caliper and dislodge the debris from the rest of the system.
Broken Rotor
You’ll have to replace the brake rotor.
Car Autance’s Brake System Glossary
Welcome to Autance School.
Disc Brakes
Disc brakes are a type of braking system that is used on almost all new cars. They use calipers, rotors, and brake pads to halt the momentum of your car.
Drum Brakes
Drum brakes are a type of braking system that has fallen out of favor in the automotive world due to their complexity and performance. Older cars, as well as a small handful of more affordable rides, still use drum brakes, though they’re becoming scarcer. Rather than rotors and pads, they use drums and shoes.
Brake Pads
Brake pads are the friction surface a caliper presses into a brake rotor.
Brake Shoes
The shoe is what presses the lining friction surface into a drum brake.
Brake Rotors
A brake rotor is what a caliper presses a brake pad into to halt the momentum of the car.
Brake Calipers
Brake calipers press brake pads into the rotor to halt the momentum of a car.
Your Questions, Our Answers on Grinding Brakes
Let Car Autance’ editors answer all your burning questions!
Q. Can You Drive When Brakes Are Grinding?
A. You can, but you shouldn’t, as grinding brakes indicates your braking system has a serious issue somewhere in the system.
Q. How Much Does It Cost to Fix Brake Grinding?
A. How much you’ll pay to fix grinding brakes will vary. It could be your calipers, a warped rotor, bad brake pads, or something as simple as debris caught in between the pad and rotor.
Q. Can Grinding Brakes Catch Fire?
A. That depends on whether or not what’s causing them to grind is flammable or will spark onto something that is. So yeah, it could!
Video on Brake Grinding
Car Autance’ editors understand that not everyone is a text-based learner. For those kinesthetic people out there, we have your back with a video showing you exactly what brake grinding can entail and how to fix it. We pulled it from one of our most trusted sources and it’s a great additional resource.
Car Autance’s Favored Brake Related Products
You can buy tools to fix your grinding brakes at almost every auto parts and home improvement store. As well as online stores like Amazon. You have a sea of options to select from. To aid in your search, here’s a resource for Replacement Brake Pads and Car Jacks to get your ride up in the air.
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