What Should I Do if There’s a Scraping Sound While Driving?

It’s always fun to drive a car. But sometimes, your car makes some shrill metal scraping sound while driving. At first, you are not able to even recognize from where it is coming. Such scraping sound is difficult to detect and can cause extreme danger if not treated quickly. You might require the help of a qualified mechanic to fix it.

So, it’s necessary to figure out this scraping sound while driving as early as possible. Let’s explore further all the things you can follow to deal with such situations.

Potential Reason For The Scraping Sound While Driving

A car working fine isn’t supposed to make any weird noises. However, sometimes you will hear a scraping sound while driving so what does this noise mean? Usually, when a car part fails, it will emit an unusual noise. This is an audible indicator that your car has a faulty component and needs to be repaired or replaced. So what if you hear a scraping noise while driving?

The scraping sound you hear while driving might be annoying and frustrating. Before proceeding further, you should actually be aware of the possible reasons that are responsible for producing this sound. So just using the audio signals, you won’t be able to identify the failing component.

You need to take all the possible causes and cross-reference them with other symptoms that you see. This way you should be able to pinpoint the reason for a scraping noise while driving. Usually, if you hear this sort of sound, it’s often connected to the brake but that doesn’t narrow it down enough. Here we will discuss how to analyze the cues and the possible solutions. A few possible suspects liable for this sound include:

Saggy wheel bearing

This bearing plays an important role in keeping your wheel rolling. It makes sure that there’s little to no friction during the motion of the wheel. Friction can be caused if the wheel bearing doesn’t function properly. So if you notice any scraping or grinding noise coming from your car while driving, noise is often heard when there’s a change in speed especially when accelerating the car, it’s a revealing sign that the wheel bearing can be saggy or loose. Worst of all, it can cause excess wear in those components.

Twisted brake shield

Brake shields are always made from thin metal. If they are stuck or hit by debris, they can warp, crack, and eventually fall. Without the brake shield, the rotor and brake pads will easily wear and tear. The result will be that you will hear the scraping or grinding when applying the brake system and at this time, your car brake will continue to be worn out and eventually damaged.

Worn-out brake components

Over time, brake components especially a brake pad tend to wear out, affecting the safety of operation and causing strange noises. According to the mechanism, pressing the brake pedal will cause the brake pads to press against the rotor, creating resistance that causes the wheel to stop. However, excessive wear of brake pads will make a scraping noise when traveling. 

Items like debris being stuck in the brakes

Sometimes during driving, dirt or some solid object can get stuck on the brake pads, which will cause a scraping sound while driving or applying the brake system. 

Read more:

• Why your Car Squeaks while Turning?
• Why your Car makes a Grinding Noise when Braking?

Steps You Can Take To Fix the Scraping Sound While Driving

Now that you are aware of the possible reasons behind this scraping sound, it’s time to tackle it promptly. If not done in time, it can place your life in danger. First of all, try to figure out where the sound is actually coming from. You can check under and around the car to identify if any foreign matter is stuck or hanging onto the vehicle. Inspect fresh and bright wear regions inside the tires and wheels.
If yes, try to remove it. But how? Try driving the car in reverse by pressing your foot gently on the brake pedal. Now, release the brake and then repeat. By doing this, the stone that is stuck between the caliper and the disk will be removed. Thus, saving you from a long garage bill.

Check out this video to see scraping noise from wheel while driving:

With the grinding noise from the brakes, if you ignore this noise the first time, next time it will be a powerful grinding. When driving, the last part of the pad has worn out, forcing the metal backing plate clamping directly onto the brake disc which makes a scraping sound. The effectiveness of brake has decreased significantly and driving the car is now very dangerous. The solution for this situation is to bring your car to the car repair shop to replace the old brake with a new one as soon as possible. Additionally, if you don’t replace the old brake soon, your repair bill is going up due to the discs needing to be replaced as well.

In case, the sound still persists, you need to visit the mechanic garage as soon as possible. Drive your car to the local auto repair shop and get it treated by a skilled mechanic. The mechanic will diagnose the whole problem proficiently and will implement the best possible steps to correctly fix it. Scraping can often lead to some extreme jeopardy situations if not treated on time. To know more about the causes and effects of scraping, you can read out some car maintenance tips from auto experts.

Conclusion

To prevent these kinds of situations, it’s always advisable to go for regular inspections of your vehicle. It will keep you away from such circumstances. Also, it saves you from paying big garage bills.

By solving the issue at an early stage, you will be able to save a thousand dollars in the long run. So, next time you hear such scraping sound while driving, don’t forget to follow these useful tips. Try to solve such situations on your own. Or else, get it checked by a qualified mechanic.