Scraping Sound When Stopping Car

You are driving along with the window down. You’re coming up to a light and start slowing down. You hear a scraping sound when stopping the car. What is it?

Although we tend to humanize our cars, they are really just mechanical devices. When running normally, that make a sound we inherently come to know even if we don’t think about it. As soon as that sound changes, we tend to perk up and realize there may very well be a problem. Scraping sounds certainly qualify is sounds to be concerned about.

Scraping Sound

The key factor in this analysis is that you hear the scraping sound only when stopping. This tells us it is most like being caused by some part of the deceleration process. It could technically be something in your transmission, but it is much more likely to be a problem with your brakes.

There are two basic types of brake systems – disc and drum. A disc system has two pads on either side of a rotating rotor. When you go to stop, the discs squeeze the rotor to slow the wheels. The drum system works a bit differently. It is similar to the head of a drum. If you took that head and held it sideways, the stopping mechanism would be found on the inside of the edges much like where your fingers go when holding a Frisbee. When you press the brakes, these mechanisms push out against the inside of the edge. The friction causes the wheel to slow and stop.

Most modern cars have one or another form of disc brakes. They work well, but the friction and heat created in the stopping process leads to the wearing of the pads. When the pads wear excessively, a metal warning flat spot will be exposed. When you apply the brakes, it hits the rotor and makes what could be called a scraping sound by many people.

The good news is replacing the pads is a pretty cheap process even at a shop. The bad news is you need to act quickly. While brake pads can be replaced cheaply, brake rotors are much more expensive. The scraping sound is a warning. Keep driving with the brakes like that and you’ll ruin the rotors.

If you hear a scraping sound when stopping a car, it usually means you have a brake pad issue. Get it fixed immediately and the cost of repair should be small. Procrastinate and you could end up paying a lot more of your hard earned money.

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