Grinding sound and feel from anti lock brakes

[NewEdgeForMe]

Occassionaly while driving my 2011 awd edge, I get a grinding noise and feel from the brake pedal. This only happens when sliding a bit on snow covered roads. There are a lot of gravel roads near me, so they are snow covered at this time of the year.

 

Is this normal? My prior vehicle, a 4x4 dodge durango, had anti lock brakes, but I would get a pulsing sensation from them, not a strange grinding feel.

 

Everything seems normal on my edge. No warning lights. Traction system and awd are both on.

[ThinLine]

Normal sound of ABS working. The grinding sound is rather disconcerning but that is just the design of the system.

[JusDaFax]

Thinline is correct.

 

Here is the section from the owners manual about this:

 

 

 

Four-wheel anti-lock brake system (ABS)

Your vehicle is equipped with an anti-lock braking system (ABS). This

system helps you maintain steering control during emergency stops by

keeping the brakes from locking. Noise from the ABS pump motor and

brake pedal pulsation may be observed during ABS braking and the

brake pedal may suddenly travel a little farther as soon as ABS braking is

done and normal brake operation resumes. These are normal

characteristics of the ABS and should be no reason for concern.

 

[rwolson]

I only hear the noise after the car sits for hours during the day. Once I'm moving, car heats up, etc I don't hear the noise anymore. Yes, a bit disconcerting the first time you hear the noise.

[Alain Jean]

I only hear the noise after the car sits for hours during the day. Once I'm moving, car heats up, etc I don't hear the noise anymore. Yes, a bit disconcerting the first time you hear the noise.

 

 

thats not the abs noise, if when its heat up not noise, ???

[Grey]

Sounds like surface rust on the rotors - once it is rubbed off, noise gone. It only takes a few hours to develop again in damp weather.

[sphinx805]

Grey, my thought exactly since i've observed the same issue. i get a rough feel/grinding sound that i know is from the rotors themselves against the calipers and not any other mechanical part. i'm almost certain it's not the ABS like Thinline and JusDaFax said. it happens when i dont drive for a while and feels like typical brakes that are cold. they just need a lil warmin up

[a2zed]

Noticed the same thing recently after the brakes were serviced (mandatory under warranty). Brakes were previously fine - after service I get the grinding noise may times on first start.

Can this be a brake pad issue, pins perhaps rather than rust? No issues before service..

The service guy tells me they probably won't ever be the same. WTF?

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

May be the rotors and pads settling back into a comfortable "groove".

[Totally_Ripped]

Mines been doing the same thing and the grinding was becoming more consistent. We could tell it was coming from at least one of the rear wheels but every time I checked the brakes, all looked fine with plenty of brake pad life remaining.

 

Yesterday, I decided to pull the passenger rear wheel and once again, brakes looked fine. This time however, I made the decision to pull the caliper off and check the inner pad since it was difficult to inspect on the Edge. Not expecting to find anything wrong, I was surprised when the inner brake pad was down to the rivets and the outer pad had plenty of life. I had to replace the rotor on the passenger side since it was deeply grooved and new pads on both the rears. Although the drivers side rear brakes were fine, they also show evidence of unequal wear but at least the rotor was in good shape.

 

Car no longer grinds and stops great but I wonder why with all the technology built into the Edge, Ford seems to have forgotten to put in something as basic as brake sensors. No warnings or codes that I feel should have given advanced warning that something was wrong.

 

I hope this gives everyone a place to look as the culprit for their Edge grinding noise.

 

Best of luck.

Ron

Edited November 9, 2014 by Totally_Ripped