High pitched noise when lightly braking
 

My FR-S has been sometimes making a noise when lightly pressing the brake pedal. The noise seems to have appeared once the cold weather started and does not happen when the pedal is pressed down further. It also will continue to happen after driving for prolonged periods of time. I took a video of the noise that you can hear: [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Z8jwD60GU"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Z8jwD60GU[/ame]

The noise can be heard pretty well at 0:07 seconds and at 1:17. I have an appointment at the dealer this week but does anyone have an idea what it might be?

High pitched noise when lightly braking
 

You are probably hitting the wear indicators. That’s what it sounds like in the video anyways and by your description. Time to check your pads.

^

Yep, that would be my guess.

How many miles on your brake pads .. ?? How much track time, if any .. ??


humfrz

I have about 44k miles on my brake pads with no track time (unfortunately...). I forgot to mention that the noise is only coming from the passenger side. Do the OEM pads have indicators on both sides?

Well, I reckon, if a lot of those 44,000 miles were stop & go type miles, the OEM brake pads could be used up.

It wouldn't be uncommon for one sides pads to wear down quicker than the other side (one of them has to be first).

The brakes should have wear indicators on both sides of the car.

It could be that sound appears to be coming from the passenger side because the sound is bouncing off things along the passenger side of the road.

Whether or not the sound is caused by worn down brake pads, or glazed brake pads, or a rock stuck in there somewhere or a sticking caliper, it's best to have them checked out and fixed.


humfrz

Well I took my car to the dealer and they weren't able to find anything wrong with the brakes. They said the pads still have 6mm left and they aren't glazed over at all. I'm fairly confident the noise only comes from the passenger front wheel. Does anyone have an idea what else it could be?

hmmm...... you might try jacking up the front, spinning the wheels while someone lightly pushes on the brakes to see if you can isolate the sound.

Maybe a rock is stuck in there, but surely the dealership would have noticed that ...... should have ..... ;)


humfrz

The pad backings tend to dry up after a while and then resonate with light braking. You can pull the pads, clean them up and reapply some anti squeal.