Scraping sound - passenger rear wheel area

Hello all!

First time posting. I have a 2014 limited with about 80K miles. While driving a few days ago, it developed a scraping sound - almost like the dust shield was rubbing against the rotor. Varies with speed, definitely metallic in sound. interestingly, the sound changes slightly as I go over bumps in the road, and disappears entirely when I apply the brakes. Sound will also change slightly as I turn left or right. In reverse, the sound is much deeper, but not always present.

Based on those indicators, I was convinced that possible the parking brake shoe came apart, or the dust shield did in fact rust out somehow and was rubbing on the rotor.

- I've removed rear wheel - no signs of rubbing
- Rotor looks good - both on the main surface and the inside surface for the parking brake.
- pads look good. lots-o-meat on them.

I'm at a loss. Has anyone else experienced anything similar?

Thanks from a newbie here!

Doug

 

I had something similar when a shop excessively over torqued a wheel on my 07. Has anyone worked on it recently?

 

No, the last time the rear wheel was off was about 2 years ago when I did the rear brakes.

 

Hey guys!

I am experiencing the same thing right now! I can’t figure it out for the life of me. Seems to be when the wheel rotates under load. Checked for signs of a bad bearing and brakes. A shop mentioned something about the parking brake boot? Did anyone have any luck?

Thanks,

Troy

 

I’ve had rusted/dry caliper slide pins cause noises like a loose heatshield on my old Sienna. But that wasnt a scraping sound, more like metallic rattling on bumps.

 

Does the sound change if you sway back and forth while driving? Does is do it more or less in reverse? Have you raised or lowered the spare tire recently?
Reason for the questions, as it sounds like a brake pad squeeler is rubbing. Which is an indication your rear inner pad is below 25% and will be more noticable when you sway the car or drive in reverse.
Could also be a wheel bearing which you will hear change its pitch when you sway the car.

Other thing it the spare tire heat shield is known to rub/ vibrate against the exhaust if it gets bent just right. And its not hard to bend it either. Take a quick look, give it a tweek towards the spare tire just to be sure.

Good luck and keep us informed of what you find.

 

Hello, I experienced this very issue recently and was able to determine the source, which I feel is an inappropriate 4Runner problem since my rig only has 65k miles, consistent with others in this thread. After removing the tire, I observed metal shavings on the outer brake pad and caliper. There was also damage on the disc on the upper edge. After removing both pads, the outer pad was completely worn down to miniscule lining left on it, tapering to metal-on-metal at the forward end. The inside pad has about 30% remaining, as do all the other wheels. I have no clue as to how one pad could be worn to this point with the others showing "normal" wear condition, but from this forum, I see that it has happened to others. The fix was very simple to replace the disc and install new pads. It will be important to check brake pads more often going forward. If anyone has insight on why the outer pad was so worn, please provide some reasoning for the group's benefit. Cheers

 

Was this on the front brakes or the rear brakes?

If front, each caliper has two pistons per pad. You probably have a seized piston on the side that is worn out.

If rear, it’s a sliding caliper with only one piston. The piston either seized, or the two slide pins could be dry.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. It's the passenger rear, and I didn't get the impression of a seized piston issue because the piston retracted smoothly when I put a C-clamp on it. Seal looked good as well. The upper pin (where pad lining was gone) had grease on it. The lower pin could have been dry, though it was not corroded (pad lining was about 0.002". Inboard side had a uniform 1/4" of pad.