Loud sound near the driver side
 

Hello guys I’m new here and just recently got a 2016 Scion - FRS with 49k miles. Everything was fine until recently. I heard a super weird sound that only occurs when I’m driving on low speeds below 20mph and press on my brakes. Even when I put my car in idle on the drive gear and press my brakes down the sound is still there. If I drive above 20mph the sound goes away and only occurs if I slow back down/press down on my brakes. The noise will also automatically go away when I change gears from Drive to park/neutral/reverse. I only hear the noise when I’m on drive and it’s driving me crazy. I went to a mechanic and after inspecting it he said it’s probably the belt tensioner. I got a new belt tensioner installed and the same sound is still here. After that my mechanic said it might be something with the heat shield but after lifting the car up everything seemed fine. So now we’re going to try and change my brake pads but I really don’t think that’s the problem. This issue is really annoying me and was wondering if anyone can help or has idea of what it may be. I know it is super hard to know what the problem exactly is with out a video but I will post one soon when I get the chance. Thank you in advance for the help :/

Here is the sound I was talking about, I finally got time to record it. The car makes this weird sound when I ONLY press on the brakes under 20mph or come to a complete stop. In this video I am just in idle with the car on Drive and just pressing on my brakes. https://voca.ro/12Z8Gju2J3Ci

Can you describe the sound?

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Better still record and post the sound.

Obvious things to check:

Check to improperly tightened lug nuts. I've seen this often.

It happens when you touch the brakes, so check for a loose caliper or caliper bracket. Check for worn or missing abutment shims letting the pads giggle around and hit (instead of rest on) the caliper bracket.

If it's not in the brakes, it may well be when braking force is applied to the suspension. Check the ball joint, tie rod/end and control arm bushings.

Hey I have updated the thread with the sound, I hope that helps you get an idea of what im talking about!

You may wish to also check the wheel bearings - :iono:

Will do for sure thank you so much.

Not impossible, but less likely. By the time a wheel bearing could be loose enough to cause loud sounds at low speeds when braking, it would be so loose that the brake pedal would feel abnormally soft and the driver would have had to ignore the "loud howling" phase of the bearing wearing out.

Definitely seen it happen though. "My car started making noise and I'm driving across the province in an hour for the funeral of my 3rd aunt's neighbour's cousin which is conveniently scheduled on this 3 day weekend!" - The wheel bearing is so loose the brake disc is wearing through the caliper bracket.

Update:Just got new brake pads on and the sound is still there :/

if the car don't feel weird to drive and you weren't modding it, who cares? we all know the twins make a symphony of noises, some more unpleasant than others...otherwise this will be a very mind numbing rabbit hole to chase after and IMO really silly to throw parts at especially if the car drives fine. get a louder exhaust, turn up the radio or always drive above 5 K RPM will all solve your problem.

When you recorded that, was the car moving? Unclear in your description. If the car was standing still, this is some loose part vibrating. I would be extremely bothered by it. Your mechanic should be able to find it. Find another mechanic.

New brake pads? Why?

You edited in that sound after my first suggestions, I didn't know what kind of sound you had. Listening to it, of course brake pads wouldn't do that.

It sound like a rattle caused by engine vibrations when it's loaded in D. Easy enough to find, offer a beer to a friend to sit in the car while holding the brake in D while you look for something rattling against something else on and around the engine.

Also, driver side doesn't mean much if you don't put your location in your profile, lhd? rhd? Using mph could be either US or UK so both sides of the car are valid "t" doesn't mean much... Could be Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, could be Twin Falls in Idaho. People have found the exhaust the swaybar on the right side of the car, which is the side the engine should be trying to rotate towards when loaded. Modded could aggravate the situation, but it's something that could happen with a steady heat shield or sloppy engine mount

I really appreciate the descriptive feedback. Thank you so much. I needed new brake pads anyways so I got them anyways and was just hoping it was something small but like you said I was just dreaming lol. I’m getting my car checked out again tomorrow by a different mechanic and I hope they will be able to find the issue smh. Thank you though I now have an idea of where to kinda look. I will also update my location sorry about that I didn’t notice that typo in my profile.

I was thinking that after he said to replace the tensioner :bonk:


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