I have a 2006 2 litre mx5 with 86000 miles on the clock.
I did a full service as soon as I bought the car about 8 months ago and the only thing that was a cautionary was the break pads and disks. Last week my brother drove the car for about 10 minutes (I was in the car with him) and parked it back in my drive. The following morning I noticed that he had pulled the hand brake really high up, way higher than what I usually pull it. When I started driving the car I noticed a scratching/mild grinding noise coming off the back wheel (passenger side) so my first thought was maybe it was the over pulling of the handbrake that has caused it to get stuck or something. The car is still driving fine without any noticeable drag though so I am not sure if my theory holds true. Also when I speed up the sounds gets louder and being in neutral does not reduce the noise.
I jacked the car up to see if it is the bearing but there does not seem to be any play/wobble in the wheel when I grab it at 9 and 3 o’clock and move it. So I still think the over pulling of the handbrake could be the culprit but would love to know your thoughts on any similar issues you may have had.
It is not the breaks and the mechanic said it is not the bearings as they always do a quick inspection if bearings are healthy when they change the breaks. Still not sure where the sound is coming from.
Difficult to say then. Brakes and wheel bearings are the usual suspects, so without looking at it first hand, I don’t know. I hope you find cause of the problem.
The brake sliders on MX5’s are very common to corrode and if not cleaned and greased with the proper grease when refitted can make the callipers drag on the disks but in a inconsistent way.
Thanks Carl. The video is super useful to see what type of noise your issue caused. Mine is a bit more consistent grind that gets louder with speed. I will next try moving the metal dust panel behind the disk as I have seen in some videos that it could rub against the back of the disk and cause that sound. Will update you if that was the issue.
Just a thought but are the small pins on the In board rear brake pads correctly lined up with the slots on the brake caliper piston? I have heard of brake drag and other problems resulting from pads not being in the correct position relative to the brake disc.
Thanks Alben. I have not checked that yet but my guess would be that it is very unlikely to be those as the issue was there before and after changing the pads and disks.
I have now bought a couple of safety jacks to raise the back, get the wheels spining and see if I can see where the noise is coming from.
Hi All. Thought I’d update you all on the cause of the issue.
The source of the “grinding noise” was the drain hole on the passenger side. So I must have broken a sound proof valve while cleaning the drain hole and that allowed a lot of road noise to come through this pipe. The way I fixed it was to shove a bit of foam in from underneath the car which should theoretically allow water to still somehow pass through but it needs regular removal of the foam and cleaning the pipe to stop it from clogging up with leaves etc.
But the foam reduced the road noise coming through the cabin considerably.
