I have recently noticed quite a loud scraping/rasping noise coming from the rear driver's side when driving. When I brake, it stops, then comes back again. I had a look at the brakes today and the brake disc doesn't look to be wearing very evenly at all. I changed the pads about 18 months ago, and everything was fine up until a few days ago...

Could it be a knackered caliper? I remember the piston looked a bit dodgy on that side when I changed the pads. I don't think it's to do with the handbrake, as it isn't especially tight. Help?!

could be the innner pad worn, or it could be the shims broken OR could be a stone stuck between the disc guard and disc. Best remove the wheel, so you can inspect the other side of the brake disc.....

I'm with clivey, Wheel off and look. Its either a pad down to the metal, Or calliper stuck. Unlikely to be a stone in my opinion.

Muppet1 said:

I'm with clivey, Wheel off and look. Its either a pad down to the metal, Or calliper stuck. Unlikely to be a stone in my opinion.

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well, I do agree, less likely to be a stone, but, i had a very similar issue a while back on my old Mazda MX6. same thing, grinding, rasping type noise that actually stopped when braking. Took me ages to fathom it until one day id had enough of people staring at me as I drove down the road (nice looking car mind...) so i stopped the car, lept out, got my crow bar and WHACKED the disc shield, sure enough, a stone dropped out! As far as I could see, was stuck between that and caliper and disc somehow, movement of caliper was pushing it off the disc, disc protector pushing it back on, was weird....just a thought!

If you check the brake disc colour, this problem (if caliper) causes the disc to overheat, causing the rust on the brake disc to turn reddish rather than brown. Compare the two discs and if the rust is different colours this indicates the more reddish disc is overheating. The pads may also discolour as well, and be worn more on one side.