Hi there, so let me begin by saying this is a purely mechanical question. I have this problem with my '01 Accord V6 EX that is bugging the life out of me and I can't seem to find the right answer. There's a metal scraping sound coming from the FRNT RT WHL area of the car and it only occurs while I'm driving the car. The noise gets worse as I turn LT or RT while driving. The noise doesn't occur when parked or when the brakes are applied. I'm in the military and my base hobby shop said it was a bad caliper, but it didn't make any sense to me seeing as how the noise would go away when the brakes are applied. I've looked at YouTube videos, I've asked 'car savvy' people, and I'm just stumped. The main answer I've gotten is that the splash guard is rubbing on my rotor because it was bent at some point or a piece of debris is wedged in between it and my rotor. Sufficed to say neither is the case, my shield is perfectly normal not touching and there is no debris.

 

Inboard brake pad wearing down?

There's a metal tab that rubs against the rotor when the pad wears out. When it is just barely at that point, it does funny things, possibly what you describe. If you wait long enough, it'll screech loudly then you'll recognize it.

It's just a random idea, but easy to check.

 

That would be my first thought too. I ran into that last summer on a Toyota Corrola. Three of the pads looked almost new, and the inner pad on the right side was almost gone.

Another thought, is that the rotor is worn down enough that it's rubbing on the inside edge of the caliper (saw that on my wife's Accord, which caused me to redo the entire front brake set up). The rotor actually had a lip on it (left front). The car had this squeak/grind sound that would go away with the brakes applied. Turning left or right didn't change the sound at all.