(Yeah.. I used spell-check to see if I spelled anomaly right..)

When I left you all a few months ago - I was having electrical issues out the wazoo. Since you all made the enormous mistake by helping me -- I am back with another 'stumper'.

The wife's '01 Accord EX V6 has been to Honda on several occasions now because of an extremely obvious noise coming from the front-drivers-side when applying pressure to the brakes. I have done everything short of laying one of their technicians down on the ground and running over them while, of course, gently applying pressure to the brakes. You know.. just so that they can have an 'up close and personal' look and listen to it.

They have had the rim off.. the caliper off.. the rotor off -- basically everything... and it all "looks good" according to them.

Here's my best explanation of the noise. From inside the car as soon as you begin to brake, you can hear what SOUNDS LIKE a rubber on rubber / grinding noise and it's on a rotation basis. The faster you go -- the faster the noise is. (as if the issue is only with one portion of the brake/caliper/rotor/whatever).

From the OUTSIDE, it is clearly a metal noise that almost sounds like two metal objects are catching each other, then release with a PINGing noise.

What's up with this? I can only crank the radio so loud anymore..

 

Did someone make sure that the caliper pin slide bolts are well lubricated?

 

Has any work been performed on the car within the last 6 months?

 

I would hope that Honda did that when they put new front brake pads on. If that was it though, wouldn't it make noise for the entire duration that my foot is on the brake pedal?

When I'm braking, it'll make the noise when I am pressing the brakes lightly -- to come to a nice easy stop. If I jam on the brakes (not to the point of locking them up though) - they do not make the noise.

And again.. it makes the noise at a certain point in the rotation of the wheel.. it is not a constant noise.

 

I decided to be a cheapass about a year ago and had brakes put on by meineke. After about 2 months, they started squeaking - really annoying. So I took the car to Honda, and they told me that although the pads had plenty of meat on them, places like Meineke use cheap brake pads (blah blah blah -- reel me in to buy "Honda" pads). So Honda replaced them AND resurfaced the rotors.

No more squealing. I'd say not even 2 months later, this noise appeared. I had Honda look at it while they were doing an oil change and they couldn't find anything. I had it there last week for (4) new tires, oil change, front end alignment and to look at the brakes -- couldn't find anything.

I must say though -- the first time I drive the car in the morning.. I can't notice it until about 5 minutes into my ride. The rest of the ride into work, I can hear it.. then my entire ride home from work and if I go anywhere that same night - I hear it. It's almost like once they warm up, this happens. It is also difficult to hear the noise in the rain (either because it is not doing it, or because of the added road noise of driving through puddles, rain hitting the windshield, running down little 14 year olds that ride their bikes down the highway at 10pm..)

 

Okay so it's obviously a rubbing issue. We can rule out a caliper problem. But it sounds like something that's impossible to diagnose unless you can hear it for yourself. Take it to a different dealer?

 

I don't want to sound stupid, but how often do you rinse your wheels of brake dust?

are the dealer installed pads ceramic? cause they should be...

and how far is your ride to work? anywhere else?

are you on a dirt road home, work, etc?

any of these conditions can cause/imitate a metal to metal noise periodically.

best I can come up with.

 

Could it be the (bent??) dust shield rubbing on the rotor???

 

I tend to be pretty thorough when it comes to cleaning the car, so I try to hit the inside of the rims every 2nd time I wash the car (and when I rotate the tires).

The brakes that were put on are Honda Genuine replacement pads -- so whatever they are is what I got.

25 miles to work -- no dirt roads, man! I might live in the sticks, but we're all paved 'round these parts! Haha

 

I will take a look at that. When it first started making the noise, I pulled off the tire and was thinking that may be the suspect.. but all the clearances were good. I wish I had a friggin lift.