Scraping noise mysteriously came and went

[GPinzone]

I was driving locally on Sunday when I began to notice a metallic scraping noise the would change with speed. I pulled into my driveway to check if anything came loose, but I couldn't see anything hanging from the vehicle. I checked the rear brakes since it that was the most obvious place where the noise would be coming from, but they looked okay. I called Tesla customer support, but they were closed for the weekend. I waited a half hour and then tried driving again. The scraping noise was still there. I drove for a few blocks and then pulled into a gas station to pick up something from the convenience store. When I pulled away, the noise was gone and has not returned.

I called Tesla service at 9 AM on Monday and they said it could have been a rock got stuck in the brake pad and then dislodged itself. I've never heard that happening, not even on any of the Tesla forums, but the service-person said that it happens from time-to-time.

Has this ever happened to anyone?

 

[LMichel]

This has happened to me - in my S75D. Terrible, pretty loud, "milling" noise. I made an appointment for service, but the noise was gone before I even had the appointment. Since they were scheduled to do the annual service, they looked all around the split axle, brakes, etc.. No signs of any unusual wear, loose parts, missing parts.
I've seen references in TMC forums that mention a thin, fiber spacer behind the rim that delaminates over time and can get caught up as it moves out from the center and flakes apart. I have zero evidence of this, but your story certainly does seem to match mine.

 

[csphili]

Yes, actually. I used to work in a place that had very fine gravel for its driveway/parking--think like the tiny colored rocks at the bottom of a fish tank.

They would get caught somewhere in peoples' brakes from time to time and the noise was horrific. Loud, metallic milling noise. I saw this happen to several different vehicles at that one location.

I don't totally understand how it happens, but I assume that the rocks wind up in the calipers between the brake and the rotor. Lots of brake pads have cooling/dust slots that could catch a rock temporarily. It makes a scraping noise until it gets dislodged, but it doesn't do any noticeable damage (as far as I know).

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

I have a clicking from the rear left wheel on my M3 after Service replaced some spring on the brake that was causing it to squeak in Reverse Drive gear. The clicking has been getting louder and noticeable at low speeds going forward and reverse. I have a service appointment on Saturday to take a look at it. Hope it's nothing serious!

 

[neptunesfinest]

This happened to my car a couple of days ago. I noticed a horrible scraping sound coming from the front passenger side. I thought maybe the brake pad was stuck so I tried braking a few times and it didn’t seem to change. I pulled into a side street to check it out. Couldn’t see anything obvious so I did a k turn to get back on the road and the sound disappeared. Id say it lasted about a quarter mile. Hasn’t returned in ~50 miles so I’m assuming it was a rock that got stuck. Very unsettling.

 

[BenR]

Rock for sure. I always drive with aero covers on, but took them off a couple weeks ago to get my tires rotated and didn't get around to putting them back on for 3 days. In that time I had terrible scrapes and rattles come and go twice - first time scared the crap out of me, but went away by the time I reached my destination. Second time I noticed it pop up as I was halfway down my 400-ft. gravel driveway so that gave me a pretty good idea of what it was. When I got home that time I had to be like "hey kids, we'll have dinner in a little while, I have to get these covers back on first." No scraping since!

 

[Jay-Z]

This exact behavior has happened to me twice. Both times it sounded like it was coming from the front passenger tire. The noise changes with speed and sounds horrible. I looked around all four tires each time and could not find any obvious cause. Both times it stopped just as abruptly as it started. A rock makes sense given where it started both times.

 

[GPinzone]

BTW, I have not had the issue since. Must have been a rock.

 

[neptunesfinest]

I wonder if there's something weird with the spacing of some of the brake components with these cars that makes them susceptible to trapping small rocks. Never experienced anything like this on any other car that I've driven.

 

[IM_1406]

We have a long gravel driveway and have had the loud "milling" sound a couple of times now. I all cases for us it disappeared rather quickly usually when changing directions for a brief drive. Usually gone prior to exiting the driveway. I too thought it was a stuck caliper but a rock etc. makes more sense. No visible damage on any of the rotors.

What we are now hearing (5K miles) is a noise just prior to coming to a complete stop. Hard to describe but a low sounding "sticky" noise - not a high pitched noise and happens right as the vehicle comes to a halt. I HATE noises and find myself maximizing the regent stop trying to barely apply the brake to full stop. I have seen this on another thread too. No answers yet, as braking seems smooth and effective.....just an annoying sound.

M3 Performance AWD

 

[Stretch2727]

I had the same issue on my model 3 performance on the right rear wheel. I had to rescue my wife as she thought something was seriously wrong. She was shopping and it started on the drive there. I decided to drive it home about 6 miles. I took the wheel off, could not really find anything. I called Tesla and scheduled a pick up the service center. I tried reversing the car several times and this worked. Pretty sure it was a rock. I have only had this happen on 1 other car, a BMW about 15 years ago.

 

[Gohan]

Could this issue possibly be related to moisture/water getting into places it shouldn't be? I've had my Model 3 for about 50 days now. Everything has been perfect. Just this morning, was driving the wife to work and drove through a large, somewhat deep puddle of waters bit aggressively. I dropped her off and noticed the HORRIBLE grinding/milling sound. I had no idea what it was and freaking me out. I noticed it was only at slow speeds, so I took it on the highway and when I exited, it was gone. I truely feel it may be related to the puddle and water getting into places it doesnt belong... which really is a whole other set if concerns when it comes to fully electric...

 

[VT_EE]

We have a long gravel driveway and have had the loud "milling" sound a couple of times now. I all cases for us it disappeared rather quickly usually when changing directions for a brief drive. Usually gone prior to exiting the driveway. I too thought it was a stuck caliper but a rock etc. makes more sense. No visible damage on any of the rotors.

What we are now hearing (5K miles) is a noise just prior to coming to a complete stop. Hard to describe but a low sounding "sticky" noise - not a high pitched noise and happens right as the vehicle comes to a halt. I HATE noises and find myself maximizing the regent stop trying to barely apply the brake to full stop. I have seen this on another thread too. No answers yet, as braking seems smooth and effective.....just an annoying sound.

M3 Performance AWD

I’m at the service center now getting some kind of clamps replaced on the rear passenger wheel assembly. I think he said it was a brake shield causing the problem? This is a known issue, and he knew exactly what was wrong before I had even finished explaining it.

 

[Lon12]

I might have had this as well. After a car wash it sounded like I was dragging a piece of metal somewhere in the rear. I pulled into a parking spot and looked under the car. Didn't see anything. I had to back out of the parking spot. As others have mentioned, noise was gone after that. We have lots of very small gravel on our roads right now.

 

[VT_EE]

They replaced some “Shims”, which solved the problem. No more scraping/squealing sounds.

 

[MountainRatMat]

I just had it happen as well. Drove through some snow on the road and some cinders on the road too. I believe it is gone after about 5-10 miles of driving and I did do one very hard brake on purpose to see if that would fix it. Didn't fix it immediately but did about a 1/4 mile after that. Rock theory seems very plausible with the cinders on the road, hope it is gone for good. If it comes back I'll take it in to the service center.

 

[TradingInvest]

Out of blue, this high pitch noise just happened to my Model 3. It's very loud. After a few miles the noise was still there. I could hear two parts of noise, the very loud high pitch, and in the background there was a little bit noise at lower frequency. So I figured it's a small piece of stone got stuck between the brake rotor and the back plate. Lower frequency came from the black plate. I pushed the back plate slightly, nothing came out. I drove the car back a few hundred feet at very low speed, then forward a few hundred feet, I could hear the stone moving positions. Then I parked the car, pushed the back plate slightly, the stone came out. It's very small, 2~3 mm on each side.

They are re-paving the road in my neighborhood. I guess that's where the stone got picked up.

By looking at the structures, I think it's unlikely for a stone to stuck between the brake rotor and brake pads. Even if that happens, pushing the brake slightly should solve it.

 

[khaltire]

Hey guys, this happened to me today. I drove about 1.5km and hear this horrible squealing, grindy metal noise. Almost like when your brakes have no pads and it's metal on metal, but much worse and more scraping sounds going on. I pulled over, looked at the car didn't notice anything unusual. I drove more down the hill , then to flat and pulled over as it continued. I smelled some burning of some kind. I think I narrowed it down to front driver side but wasn't really sure. I wasn't sure if I should turn around and go home but I decided to as I wasn't too far. Reversed for a bit , but that didn't fix it. I drove some more the sound just seemed to be getting worse , this time it was screeching and scraping but also making some sort of whooshing noise like the tire and wheel was unbalanced, like if you were to spin something that couldn't roll freely, almost like the disc was warped . But then, after driving back another 0.5km it just went away. J feel the cars not driving the same but I feel it's in my head. Im wondering if I should take it to Tesla or not I'm scared to drive it. Will do more testing later . Hope it didn't damage the rotors, but j have no way to check. It sure sounded like it did.

Also, what's someone saying above about a known issue with shims or brake shields ?

 

[g1000x]

Had this issue today. Pulled over to try and record it, but it disappeared.

 

[jboy210]

Brakes on Tesla can make more noise than on ICE cars. If you have an ICE car up on a rack and spin the wheel you can hear the brake pads lightly dragging on the rotor. If you do this on a Tesla you see little if any drag. Which is great for efficiency since there is less drag. But it means dust and road debris can get in the gap between the pads and the rotor. Also, the rotors can build up rust. Look at your rotors after a rain and parking for a day or two and you will see rust. This rust makes noise as it ground off. And this can take longer on cars with regen braking because the disk brakes pad are not touching the rotors as often.