Hi all, our car the front disk brakes sound like a old car with worn out brakes, like the metal to metal sound you get if your brake pads are worn out. I was told by the dealer they all do it if the car is left outside at night and rust builds up overnight and the noise is just it being cleared off. Of late the noise is not going even after a long run.

My zone does the same, even when not raining and no rust, had it checked and they said everything is fine and it's normal

I was told by the dealer they all do it if the car is left outside at night and rust builds up overnight and the noise is just it being cleared off.

I don't buy that. You would have to leave your car parked up and unused for at least a couple of weeks before there was significant rust build-up to cause any sort of grinding noise. Whatever they're telling you, it's not normal.

Now, what CAN happen, is that if the brake discs are pretty old, they get a heavy build up of rust not on the face of the disc, but on the edge. This gets to the point where it's so thick it overhangs the surface of the disc by a couple of mm, and catches on the edge of the brake pads. Ordinarily even that won't cause a problem, until you renew the pads and you'll likely find that you can barely get the new pad in due to the amount of rust around the edge of the disc. In that case you can either chisel it off carefully, but you're much better off renewing the discs as the problem will be as bad again before long.

Might be worth investigating...

It has done this since new, its coming up to a year old in march and done 7.5k miles, our old car (not a ford) did this once when i went on holiday and it was not used for 2 weeks but after i did about 20 miles it cleared it and was fine, Our new one has had so many problems with it that are still not sorted its putting me off Fords big time.

Hi ,

Lucky enough to have just got a brand new Fiesta and when i pull away after the car has stood overnight the front brakes "grind/scrape" the first time they are used.It seems to be a thin rust film wearing off.Will have to keep a look out for any problems arising.

Mine has just come back from ford because of this and they have put it down to "overnight rusting"

Forgot to add it only has 8000miles on it

I have 13k on mine and I have a sound like the disk is warped anyone know if this would be covered by the warranty?

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I have same kind of thing on mine just feels a bit grindy. was the same with my last car 1ltr focus (both owned from new). i honestly think there is nithing to worry about did 12000k in my focus and had no issues arise from the brakes

Rust does not grow outward and overhang the disc. It is simply the outer edge of the disc, and the inner part has worn. It's just the outer edge lip. The lip rust should never be pointing down enough to interfere with the pad, even if it were to, the rust would be so brittle to snap off.

Any grinding noise is certainly not normal and should be checked. If the pads are extremely old then they could be crumbling and that can cause grinding noise also. Cheap pads are never worth it either. Always go oe spec or better.

Matt it's not really the sound of a warped disc, you'd know if it was warped just by pedal feel alone mate and the judder.

My 13 plate Fiesta Ecoboost Zetec suffered the same problem and I posted here about my 'hissing brakes'. There was no hint of rusting discs. The rear drums operated silently, so I knew it was the front pads. The Ford dealer tinkered about for a day and made not the slightest difference. The noise was such that in town it was an embarrassment, they were that loud.

A reply here said the known cure was to replace the pads with the Fiat version, but I sold the car instead.

My new 14 plate car is slightly better but the pads are nowhere near as quiet as my 2001 Mondeo, so it can hardly be rocket science to get silent pads. It is indeed a warranty claim item.

Mine feel "lumpy" in a morning.. Audible rubbing sound in the cabin.. Soon goes away though.

Have to say, it's a little odd at first. Especially combined with the slight odd engine vibration you can feel through the seat and pedals. Heh.

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Hi, I have just bought a second hand Fiesta and had the same issue, constant rumbling noise, the noise changed with speed and when you apply the brakes it gets even crunchier.... I found the issue to be over inflated tyres. Mine were up to 41 PSI all round, so dropped them down to 31 front and 26 back and the noise has all but disappeared. I get a small noise between 30 and 40 otherwise fine, so now suspect either wheels need balancing or need to replace a tyre due to being run way over pressure. Hope this helps others.

On 23/01/2014 at 11:04 AM, BigD said:

I don't buy that. You would have to leave your car parked up and unused for at least a couple of weeks before there was significant rust build-up to cause any sort of grinding noise. Whatever they're telling you, it's not normal.

Now, what CAN happen, is that if the brake discs are pretty old, they get a heavy build up of rust not on the face of the disc, but on the edge. This gets to the point where it's so thick it overhangs the surface of the disc by a couple of mm, and catches on the edge of the brake pads. Ordinarily even that won't cause a problem, until you renew the pads and you'll likely find that you can barely get the new pad in due to the amount of rust around the edge of the disc. In that case you can either chisel it off carefully, but you're much better off renewing the discs as the problem will be as bad again before long.

Might be worth investigating...

Mine does it if left for only a day or so, although once on the road it clears pretty quickly.

Mine (and probably everyone's) does it the next day if it's been raining or we have damp weather. 

It does depend on the car, the ST uses stock pads which have an especially high metal content. The result is that they often do sound scratchy the first time you use them after it's been parked up over night. That being said the noise quickly goes away once you use them a few times.

Stripping down the brakes would 100% show if anything was wrong and wouldn't take very long at all.

Had mine from new and they do this all of the time. The car has only covered 5000 miles. I stripped both sides down and could find no fault. The pads did look to have a high metallic content. Having checked them out, I am content that the noise is normal for my fiesta. 

Mine is the same, although most noticeable in the damp of winter. Not really noticed it for a while now. I took mine to the dealer, he told me the pads we're at 15% and thats why it probably made the noise. I'd like to think at 15% there would be some life left in them.... oh wait, that was four months ago and they're still fine....