Hi, this is my first post on this forum and this is also my first car. Since I’m young and this is my first car I have little mechanical knowledge about the car. I have a 2012 Acura TL SH-AWD with 65,800 miles on the odometer. I live in the rust belt in the eastern half of the U.S. and the rotors are slightly rusty. Lately I’ve been hearing a grinding noise under light breaking and it’s concerning me, the break pads have plenty of life in them and the rotors aren’t in bad shape. I think the rotors have a dust shield behind them (although I’m not sure) and I think it’s rubbing on the rotor in a certain place and making a grinding noise, the noise only happens under light breaking and it is not constant, sounds like rubbing in a certain spot. Breaking is not affected, car feels fine (a super minor vibration) but that’s it, I have attached a video of the sound and a picture of the outer edge of the rotors to show the amount of rust on them. The noise seems to get worse as the breaks warm up (maybe due to the expansion of the metal when it warms up), also there is a noise coming from the breaks when I am not breaking, it sounds like a rub but is very faint. Listen closely in the video because my phone didn’t pick the grinding noise up very great, but you can hear it. If you recognize the noise and know what the cause is, please comment, it would be appreciated... thanks!

 

i have the same exact problem, changed pads and rotors, still hear it. mine is not all the time, def intermittent for me. I would love to know how to get rid of this.

2011 tl base 109k

 

perhaps a caliper is dragging?
inspect the pads, are they wearing evenly?

 

Happened to me last winter, driver rear caliper had made my pads have an uneven wear. Changed my calipers pads and rotors and they are perfect.