Hello everyone,

First, the intro:
After driving my 88 Mustang GT for 17 years, I have finally replaced it with a new 05 sedan 6MT. I got it about a month ago, after deliberating over it vs. the TL and 330i. Loved the TL, but couldn't see myself quickly pulling into a hole in traffic with FWD. Liked the BMW a lot also, but it was too small, and a 5 series was too expensive. Their $4200 incentive they are running right now was helpful, but there were no manuals in the area. I think what really sold me on the G was the quieter highway ride and the smoother engine for 05. Oddly, I haven’t read much on this forum in the past 8 months about the noticeable difference. Maybe its just more noticeable to me?

Now the question:
Now that the pollen cloud has somewhat subsided here in Atlanta, I've had a chance to drive around with the windows down (love the new exhaust note, by the way). While driving through my neighborhood, I heard kind of a cyclical scraping noise coming from the right front wheel, below 20 MPH. It slowed and sped up with the car speed, but didn't change with either the clutch in or out, or the brakes on or off. Its a bit hard to describe, but it sounds a bit like two flat pieces of metal rubbing together, for about 1/4th of the circumference of the tire. It was almost like what you would expect if the rotor was warped, and were hitting the pads through a portion of their rotation. That said, the car only has 1500 miles on it, and I have yet to “try out” the braking potential of it. Haven’t come close to engaging ABS. To complicate things further, its not consistent. It has both made and not made the noise on different drives. It may be more prevalent when warm, if that makes a difference. I’ll probably be taking it to the dealer next week, and hopefully checking it further today, but wanted to pass it by the group for your opinion.

 

Take it to the dealer.

 

I agree it sounds like maybe a warped rotor. Definitely take it to the dealer and don't let them say they could not reproduce the sound. Take a tech with you on a test drive if needed.

 

Either a warped rotor, or more likely a bent heat shield-which you can easily check yourself. The heat/dust shield is directly behind the rotor, and is made from very flexible sheet metal. Sometimes, it can get bent against the rotor and make that scraping noise. Just try bending it away from the rotor.