Over the last little while, I’ve noticed a very slight ticking noise when applying the brakes. It seems to only happen under moderate braking at lower speeds. (It may be happening at higher speeds, but I have been driving with the windows down, and the wind noise could be masking it). It seems to be consistent with the tire rotation - as the tire slows in rotation, the noise also slows.
I thought it sounded like it was coming from the rear passenger side, so I pulled the tire and drum off, and did a bit of poking around, but couldn’t see anything amiss. I was secretly hoping to find some sort of uneven wear on the brake shoes or some sort of sign of uneven wear, but I couldn’t see anything amiss. (Although it was a good reminder that I need to replace my rear shoes soon). I also checked out the front disks and pads, and they seemed fine. (Although I suppose I could replace the disks as well - it’s probably getting close to replacement).
It’s a 2001 Honda Civic - drums on the back, disks on the front. Any guesses on what it might be?
One thing I didn’t check for was stones stuck in the tire. I’ve been running my winter tires through the summer, as they were working poorly as winter tires last winter, and I figured I’d put a new set on this winter. I suppose it could be possible that there’s been a large stone caught in the chunkier tire tread, but it seems unlikely that such a stone would remain lodged there for several weeks. I would also think that such a noise would be apparent even if I wasn’t applying the brakes, which makes me want to rule that out.
I’ve never done the CV joints or wheel bearings, but I would think that would make a consistent noise - especially for CV joints while steering.