I have a 2005 Honda Civic Value Coupe with 70K miles on it. Just recently I noticed a scraping noise that occurs when I make harder left hand turns, above 15 mph. Applying the brakes seems to limit or stop the noise during these turns. I was hoping that someone could give me an idea of the probable cause and tell me if any special tools are needed to replace the part. Also, is this a problem that should be fixed immediately or do I have a couple months before any more damage is done? Please let me know if any other information would be helpful.

Thank you in advance for your replies.

 

Check your brakes

 

Yes that sounds like it's the noisemaker feature that is designed to warn you when the brake pads are almost worn out.

 

My brake pads don't have a wear indicator on them. Do you think some piece of the caliper is scraping the rotor as the result of worn pads, or something like a ball joint or wheel bearing going bad?

 

It sounds like your brake caliper may be either too loose or too tight. Inspect the pins/bolts that hold in the brake caliper and make sure that they are properly secured:


*diagram courtesy of hondapartsnow.com

Also, make note of any inordinate rotor/pad wear that your car may have. This could be another indication that the caliper pins/bolts were improperly torqued.

 

So are all brake pads actually OK on wear, i.e. pad thickness > 2 mm or so? You can easily get the caliper out of the way (remove bottom bolt #14 in techtalk's image and swing it up) for a close look.

 

All brake pads appeared to be OK on wear, though the inside were worn a little more than the outside...about 4mm versus 6mm.

 

At 70k miles, I would just replace the front pads if they have never been changed.

Have you also checked to see if the plastic wheel well liner is secure?

 

The plastic liner was the first thing that I checked. Since the consensus is something with the brakes, I'll just replace the pads and probably the rotors and make sure that the caliper is appropriately secured. If that doesn't fix, I'll be reposting.