I have a Mazda MPV and am hearing a noise coming from under my car after I have been driving for about 10 minutes. It sounds like a squeaky hamster wheel that needs to be oiled on one side. It seems to speed up when I am going faster, but as soon as I step down on the brake pedal, it stops completely, even if my car is still moving. As soon as I lift my foot off the brake pedal, the noise is back.
My car guy could not get the car to make the noise, but I hear it everyday. He checked the brakes and said they are fine. Any ideas?
Sounds like the brake pads are touching the rotor slightly:
The part that squeezes these brake pads into the rotor, the caliper, is supposed to float freely by means of these slider pins that are supposed to be greased when a brake job is performed. If they don’t float, one pad may intermittently touch and make noise.
Did this very same car guy do the brakes any recent time?
I agree with mountainbike, it may be the wear indicator. It has been my experience that in this situation it is the wear indicator on the brake pads making this sort of noise. I would either take it to another mechanic for a second opinion or jack up the front end of the car, put a jack stand under it, pull the wheel and inspect the problem myself. If you have wheels that are somewhat open (like so many new cars with the five spoke aluminum wheels) and you can see the brake caliper you might be able to inspect the brake pads without ever taking the wheel off. Of course, you will only be able to see the outer pad and not the inner one that way.