I hear this brushing noise from the left front tyre when I’m at crawling speed. The noise is like as if a piece of tape was stuck on a rolling tyre. There isn’t any issue with the car or any other error code. Just irritating noise and goes away at higher speeds. Not a complaint but don’t like the noise. I hit the eco-crown at 3900miles and was judiciously using the paddles now with this noise I’m been cautious. I stopped using the paddles thinking I’m over using them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Don’t worry, you can’t “over use” the paddles. Could then sound you’re hearing be the pedestrian alert? It emanates from a speaker on the left front of the car only at speeds under about 17 or 18 mph. It’s easiest to hear it if you go slow with the driver’s side close to a solid wall.
It could also be a little rust on the rotors. Friction brakes are the only form of braking below about 5-8 mph, as regen doesn't work below that speed.
I agree with KK, you can't overuse the paddles. Is the sound the same regardless of whether you are braking or not? Bring it in to have it looked at, it is probably a simple fix.
Did it start very recently? Was the car possibly out in the rain shortly before you starting hearing the sound? If so it could simply be brake rust as mentioned by Ray B. When I test drove my Clarity at the dealer I heard a faint ticking sound coming from the front. The salesperson couldn't heard it. I asked if service could look at it, they drove it and heard it, turned out to be brake rust. The service person said it took some effort to clear it, whereas a normal car you can clear brake rust by just making a few normal stops, since Clarity uses mostly regen for braking except in hard stops, he said after several stops it was getting fainter but not quite going away, so he wound up going to an empty parking lot and doing several harder stops, and that finally cleared it. Of course if I had known that's all it was I wouldn't have had him do hard stops to clear it as it would have eventually cleared on its own, but at the time I was hesitant to buy the car while it was making an unknown noise.
You may be confusing that with the pedestrian alert sound. Suspend the front tire and spin it, if there's the same noise look at the brakes or bearing for the cause. My CMax has very noisy brakes when either I wash the car in the evening and park it in the garage or it sits outside overnight in damp conditions. Both create a lot of brake rotor surface rust that regen or light friction braking doesn't immediately remove upon the next drive. At over 30mph, put car in N and apply brakes; no regen will be used, only friction brakes so that will remove the rust and the noise. I don't do this as I realize the reason and it cures itself soon enough.
I use the friction brakes so little that rust on the rotors is making cyclical "swish" noises that I hear at low speeds. So I've been nailing the brakes hard at the end of each planned stop to wear off the rust. It mostly works, but I can still detect a slight speed-dependent cyclic "swish" at low speeds. Perhaps I'll start using the brakes more on expressway exits, too. Oh, the demands of driving a car with regen braking!
