My car has a new noise coming from the LF wheel. It sounds like a small piece of metal is dragging along the brake rotor or something. Oddly, it kicks in at about 5mph, and usually goes away after a few minutes of driving. Its there whether the brakes are being engaged or not. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

Could be thge dust sheild rubbing on the rotor. Just stick your hand there and bend it.
It also could be some pebble that stuck between teh pad and the rotor.

 

how good are the pads? The pads have like a metal peice that drags on the rotors when your pads or gone. Happened to me, usually went away while braking but there while cruising. Check your pads, youll prolly need to replace em

 

What's the dust shield look like? How do I tell if the brake pads are worn out? (sorry, new to the whole brake thing.)

 

just look at them really, see how much space is in between. If there isnt much the pads are worn out. You can take it to subaru, worse thing that happens is they replace the pads. Couldnt hurt

 

If its not the pads, I might have a good suggestion. I had the same type problem with my 98 rs (incidently on the LF). Apparently in the "older" cars, a piece in the caliper is made of ceramic. In newer cars it is urethane. (or maybe its the other way around, anyways, thats not the point) So that piece gets warped sometimes. In my case it caused the brake to apply randomly, luckily not very hard, but enough to notice. And when it disengaged, it would pop audibly and surge ahead somewhat. Blah, Blah, Blah, moral of the story is that you may need a replacement caliper.

Luke