Before You Replace the Brakes, Check Your Tires

It was elusive at best. One moment it was so loud that other drivers would stare as my car moved past them. The next moment, there was no sound at all. I don't know if this is factual, but I believe it improves the odds if you have an idea what is wrong. Maybe this is why I feared being jerked around at first. But, it didn't make sense. Neither mechanic had a thing to gain by my not getting new brakes. The officer at the DMV reprimanded me for the poor condition of my brakes. In fact, he said, "I almost didn't give your son his driver's license because your brakes made so much noise. Several times, I came close to telling him to just pull the car over." How embarrassing was that! I tried to explain the situation but he was emphatic that he had years of experience with cars and it was in fact the brakes.

I asked the mechanic to drive the car for himself. He drove the car around the block several times and could not identify the scraping sound that I had complained about. I took the car once again to my mechanic. He instructed me to back the car up then roll forward as he stood outside and listened. No scraping sound. I did this several times defending the fact that there was a problem.

I rolled down my window and listened intently as we drove. After he made a sharp road turn, I heard the sound. Eureka! At first, he could not hear it. But I coached him to keep driving. He finally heard it. By this time, I was quite agitated, even more perplexed and embarrassed. I assured the mechanic that there was a problem and suggested that if we continued to drive, maybe we'd trigger it. The mechanic told me to jump in the passenger side and we drove even further.

I sat and observed. Despite several tests, he could not recreate the sound. As I needed to get back home, the office arranged transportation for me. I silently prayed that they would identify and fix the problem. And most of all, that it not cost me goo-gobs of money.

A couple of hours passed then I received a call. The mechanic said that the problem was not the brakes -- it was the tires. I couldn't believe it. My front tires, appearing to be in good condition, were the problem. He explained that the sound only occurred when the tires were in contact with the road. I consented for the mechanic to replace both front tires. The scraping stopped