My 2013 tC has a noise near the front left tire that sounds just like the noise the brake pad indicators would make if the pads were wore.....except they aren't. The car has 16,000 miles and we took the front left tire off and inspected the brakes and they look brand new still. Didn't see any rocks stuck.

It makes the same noise consistently on or off the brakes or while turning. Even took the rotor off and it was perfect as well. Any ideas other than the shield maybe rubbing some where? Thanks.

 

Check the rotor dust shield.

 

Yeah, Russian is right. Sounds like the dust shield.

 

This may have been meant to be lol...but this SAME exact thing happened to me last night. I did my own brakes a few weeks ago (i've done my own brakes for awhile, but first time for my 2013 tc). I also took my car in for my 30,000 service last weekend (Toyota Service Center) and everything checked off green (good)...which is why I'm a bit confused as to why my car started making this noise yesterday. It doesn't happy every single time, but more so than not..and it sounds terrible.

I'm not saying that I DID NOT do something wrong when putting in my new brakes, but i've switched them out on my old '09 tC a few times with NO problems. Unfortunately I called Toyota to schedule an appointment since they were the last ones to have my car..but they are all booked up until mid next week. I'm having a good friend of mine (who happens to be a mechanic) check it out tomorrow afternoon. If you guys are suggesting that is the dust shield, I'll pass the info on to him when we look at it and see what he says.

What makes this happen out of no where? I'm not THAT great with cars, just know the basics lol (and always trying to learn more). Does the Dust Shield shift or something?

 

Didn't see the dust shield rubbing and didn't appear to be bent but I'm going to inspect it again. Thanks!

 

Well, My problem is fixed and it was actually really stupid on my part.

Aside from the grinding noise, my car started making a knocking noise and whenever I ran over a bump...something sounded loose. Long story short, I pull over to see my caliper coming off. I changed my brakes about a month ago (I've changed my own brakes for the last few years to save money and never had a problem.) This time i guess i didn't tighten the top bolt good enough and it eventually just unraveled over the last few weeks until it actually fell off. Really stupid on my part but you live and you learn.

I called Toyota, they actually had ONE bolt left so i rushed there yesterday. Came back home and popped it on and tightened it up generously and put the wheel back. All my problems were gone with a grand total of $1.60

 

Glad you figured it out. We all have had our share of "omg I can't believe I just did that" moments. Least it was a cheap fix.

 

Noice.

 

Thanks for this. Much appreciated.

Chris, did you find your problem yet?