Technical Slight noise from front brakes on brand new 500e

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Technical Slight noise from front brakes on brand new 500e

beedub60

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I have a brand new 2014 500e. Yay! I have noticed, however, a slight amount of noise coming from what I think are the front breaks. It reminds me of the noise that old brake pads make (kind of a tinkling crossed with light grinding).

Is there a break in period for new brake pads? Because the car is a quiet electric vehicle, I can hear stuff more easily. I first noticed it when driving next to a wall that would reflect sound, and then later confirmed by riding my bike along side the car.

I'm taking it into the dealer next week.
 
Problem solved! This is a known issue with the "backing plate", which is a thin sheet of metal that is near the break pad and is designed to keep dirt etc. from getting up into the gap between the break pad and disk. Either it gets bent or isn't mounted right, or something, and it rubs on the wheel. The service desk at Capitol Fiat in San Jose understood the problem immediately and fixed it in about an hour (no charge).
 
Yes, the backing plate is fairly thin sheet metal and it obviously can't be anchored around the outer edges of the disc, so it's essentially unsupported. If it's slightly twisted during assembly (or if you drive over rough roads) it can contact the disc.. either tapping it or grinding against it.

Brakes do make a gentle grinding noise when applied though.. the brake pad friction matriel grinds against the disc to slow the car down. If the noise is consistent when you press the pedal it's usually nothing to worry about. If it's loud or the brakes feel strange, then there's something wrong.

Ralf S.
 
There's a speed bump at the end of my road and when I brake on it to turn onto the main road my brakes make a grinding noise. They only ever do it here so I'm not worried. Should i be?
 
There's a speed bump at the end of my road and when I brake on it to turn onto the main road my brakes make a grinding noise. They only ever do it here so I'm not worried. Should i be?

When you brake, the front of the car goes down. If it only happens in that particular spot, I'd say what you're hearing is the lowest point on the front of the car scraping along the top of the speed bump.

But it's also perfectly normal for the brakes to grind when first used after the car has been standing for awhile, especially in damp weather.
 
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Also, you should avoid braking on a speed hump. Brake before and run over the bump at a steady constant speed. This eases stress on the suspension arms and linkages, and saves those front end scraps too.

Anti-dive geometry as the effect of 'locking' the front suspension when you brake, it's not a good time to be adding a big bump into the mix.
 
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