Thread: brake noise in light snow/slush

When driving in light snow and slush in N.E.Ohio,my 2011 Kia Soul makes a terrible noise any time the brake is touched. It sounds like someone drops a bucket of scrap metal at my feet. My dealer has checked my brakes and says it is "normal" so I have a recorded complaint and documented dealer response.I make it a practice to "listen" to my cars for abnormal sounds. The habit has avoided many potentially serious problems in my 60 years of driving. I suppose this is one of the rare times that one has to give up a good habit. Any advice?

Welcome to the forum dad-io. 'Terrible noise' leaves lots to the imagination. I can't believe it's normal to drive around dumping buckets of scrap metal noises - which do sound kinda terrible come to think about it. I'd say try another dealer for a second opinion.

is it that the brake pedal vibrates and shudders or grates as you brake, if so its the anti lock brakes kicking in. Its normal and quite unpleasant but it stops you loosing control of the car - so its a good thing.

If it's only during braking, and there's a real vibration in the brake pedal that is the anti-lock braking. That is a good thing! Press firmly on the pedal and you will come to a stop quite readily.

If there's some gronching and shaking in the car in general on wet snow, that's the traction control kicking in. And that is a pain in the you-know-where! Since I have good winter tires and have been driving for 40+ years in winters far worse than we get now, I generally turn that off when I get in the car.

If you were driving a GM product, I would say you have a brake caliper falling off. That happened on a new Chevrolet my father bought a few years ago. When he finally got a chance to get the car into a dealership during a trip he was on with the new car, there was only one bolt in one of calipers! His own dealership obviously couldn't/didn't do a proper pre-delivery inspection. Dad buys cars from them, I never would!

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR REPLIES ON MY ''PROBLEM". If this is normal for the KIA Soul it will take a lot of cuteness to have us get used to the braking noise when we have slushy snow in Ohio. Hasn't been so frequent this year so far. Guess I'll have to drive my 2002 Sonata with 30,000 miles on it a bit more. Braking or not t is still as quiet as sitting in my living room. Thanx again-God Bless

Originally Posted by grammpa

When driving in light snow and slush in N.E.Ohio,my 2011 Kia Soul makes a terrible noise any time the brake is touched. It sounds like someone drops a bucket of scrap metal at my feet.

I've been driving for over 50 years As was mentioned the noise you describe, is hard to know just from that description. My initial reaction was does this just happen the first couple of times when you start off and apply the brakes or all the time? If that was the case its just a light coating of rust on the rotors and that disappears after the first one or two applications of the brakes.

If it just happens in applications in snow/slush only then as Tempest mentions its your ABS kicking in (and if you are not used to that it can be unnerving at first, I remember on my last car, which was the first one I owned with ABS, and applied it, it was very strange and seemed like something was wrong). But this should give you a pulsing feel to your foot and some noise, but that is the way the system works. Have you tried in the same situation and just applied very minimal pressure on the brake to see if it does it? ABS kicks in when a wheels starts to skid.

Check for any lights on the dash coming on when this happens, as Gary mentioned it could be ESC (electronic stability control) kicking in, but all this varies depending on the conditions at the time.

Your 2002 Sonata would not have these safety features.

Originally Posted by Gary Townshend

If there's some gronching and shaking in the car

"gronching" - now, if there's ever been a word that more accurately describes a physical action, i've never heard it - brilliant - but, BUT kia's not seen fit to use it in their manuals -

I have the same experience as the OP. This also happens in the rain or leaving a car wash.

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Originally Posted by 66dude

I have the same experience as the OP. This also happens in the rain or leaving a car wash.

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Mine did it yesterday on the first braking after pulling out of the car wash.

Originally Posted by fernando

"gronching" - now, if there's ever been a word that more accurately describes a physical action, i've never heard it - brilliant - but, BUT kia's not seen fit to use it in their manuals -

I have experience as a mechanic. I guess it's a professional term