Car is temporarily disabled. Awful screeching sound when going forward?

[JMG]

Just 30 minutes ago I had just made a quick stop by the post office and was on my way back to my office while on the phone with a friend. I had stopped at the post office with no problem, got back in and drove about 2 blocks to the red light when slowing to the stop I heard a LOUD awful metallic screeching sound.

I thought I had picked up something on the road and was dragging it (and just hoping the sound was amplified by the buildings surrounding me). I looked under the car and nothing was there.

The sound is not present when in reverse, but moving forward at any speed it varies from a slight scratching sound at slower speeds (with a metallic sound that you can even feel) to a attention grabbing loud squeal at 5mph or higher.

I called Tesla roadside and he had me put it in reverse and aggressively hit the brake to try to dislodge a rock or some type of foreign object that might be in the brake pad but it didn't make any difference. I cannot specifically tell if it is one specific wheel or both, or neither.

*Roadside just called me back and after talking with his supervisor he suggested trying the method of going forward and hitting the brake aggressively and then backwards again a few times to see if that would dislodge it.

I hope this works because I'm about 120 miles from the nearest service center.

 

[JMG]

Just got back from some more troubleshooting. I backed out (of course this had to happen in our town square......) and it made the noise even in reverse when cutting the wheel this time. It got kind of quiet and so I forged ahead through the red light into some side streets. The worse of it was gone, but you could still hear something faintly scratching and it was in a rhythm that obviously indicated it had to do with either the wheels or the axle.

I turned on a side street to do some more aggressive stop and reversing while cutting the wheels and it came back ferociously this time. While turning on another street, a lady was in her front yard and gave me this look.....

Another side street turn and aggressive stop/starting/reverse and it finally stopped. I drove the last 2 blocks back to the office with no noise.

Hoping it stays that way.

 

[daxz]

Had a similar symptoms with our Acura. Steering wheel would also shimmy at a higher speed even when not making noise. One of the front brake caliper bolts was missing. The other bolt and rim was holding it in place. The torque setting on the bolt was much - I'm considering safety wiring them at some point. I was able to see shiny mark on inside of rim where the caliper was rubbing and was able to move caliper with my finger through the rim.

 

[freeewilly]

Had similar loud screeching noise on my BMW i3, the noise went away after a few miles of driving. Sent the car back to the dealer but they found nothing wrong.
i3 forum said it's common, because we don't use brake as often as ICE car, so the pebble has higher chance to get stuck between the brakes.

 

[dabbler]

I experienced this same situation last week. I was leaving a construction site and noticed a very loud scrapping sound was coming from the left front wheel. This sound occurred in both forward and reverse at any speed.

My solution was to move the car back a forth between forward and reverse slowly (waking speed) until the sound was gone. This took about three or for tries. I suspect that a stone became trapped between the brake rotor and the dust shield. I have owned many different vehicles over the years and have never had this happen.

 

[Zaphod]

Depending on which wheels you have, it should be fairly easy to check all of the brake rotors to see if there are any noticeable marks from something that may have lodge between a pad or caliper.

 

[anthony]

Depending on which wheels you have, it should be fairly easy to check all of the brake rotors to see if there are any noticeable marks from something that may have lodge between a pad or caliper.

This happened to me in VT on my way back on a long weekend. SC blamed it on the rotors. If you ask me it sounded like one of the brake pads became loose, and sat at an angle.

There is likely a clip that holds the pad into the piston, and without it there, it can sit at an angle, eventually eating into the rotor.