My wife called in a panic! I broke a wheel!

[Cobe]

My wife called in a panic! While driving her 4-month-old MY, her rear wheels suddenly started to scream at her. She pulled into a parking lot and called me. When I arrived, I had her back up slowly to listen to any noise. Wow, it sounded almost as if one of the wheel bearings had disintegrated. I have attached (I hope) a video of the racket.

Long story really short, I removed the rear wheel and examined the brake. There were a few pieces of road-gravel wedged between the brake cover and the rotor. When the wheel rotated, the rocks would vibrate against the cover making all kinds of popping, grinding, and screeching sounds. If this happens to you, you might check the brakes before sending the car to the shop....could save you time and expense.

 

[52 16 57 39]

Wowza. Scary and glad you dug into the problem … easy fix!

 

[el-guapin]

Any damage to the brake disc?

 

[Cobe]

Any damage to the brake disc?

No damage to the rotor that I could see with flashlight. The brake cover serves to protect the back side of the rotor. You have to flex the cover away from the rotor in order to dislodge the gravel. I had to flex it a number of times before rocks would finally fall to the bottom of the cover to be removed. Still only took about 5 minutes total.

 

[BarokPogi]

Coming from Snowbelt region, I will be on the lookout for this. So fa, so good.

 

[MY1stEV]

From the comments on this video, seems to be a common nuisance problem on the 3/Y

 

[PatinCT]

Had a friend with this a few months ago.... googled it, found the pebbles making the noise, problem solved.

 

[JimmySure]

M4 brakes are notorious for this. It sounds like hell, but the rocks do eventually pop free.

 

[thesmokingman]

A simple cut at the bottom of the heat shield should give lodged rocks/pebbles a way out.