I have noticed only recently a strange “ping” sound that is coming from the rear driver side wheel. The sound is exactly what two pieces of rebar sound like hitting together. The car only makes the sound once while slowing down at around 3mph and once again while accelerating at the same speed. The should can not be heard under heavy breaking however. I have jacked the car up and pushed on the wheel at 12 and 6 oclock and 3 and 9 oclock to see if it was a bad wheel bearing and it was not.
It is a 2010 Subaru STI with 45000 miles. I am wondering what this could be. Please help
The brake backer plate can make weird noises when it is really close to the rotor and it touches it intermittently. I wouldn’t describe it as ‘ping’ but it is worth looking at. They sometimes get bent by mishandling wheel monkeys.
Could also be the low pad warning indicator. On many brake pads it’s just a piece of flimsy metal that scrapes against the rotor. Makes a scraping sound when you apply the brakes. Have the brakes checked.
“Makes a scraping sound when you apply the brakes”
Actually, the designed-in audible warning of brake pad wear is heard when the brake is not applied. As soon as you hit the brake pedal, that tends to silence the noise of the warning device.
Based on the OP’s statement that the noise disappears, “under heavy breaking (sic)”, it could be a case of worn brake pads.
The ping sound can be heard when applying the brakes…you might hear it more for a few seconds when you let up on the brakes…but applying the brakes the pads start to wear down…and exposes more of the metal.