Grinding brakes...

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Bob Long

Bob Long

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I live in Norway and have a 64kwh Kona EV purchased in May 2019. When braking on dry roads you can feel the pads rubbing, and this is actually felt on the brake pedal when applying gentle pressure. It's most noticable from around 50km p/h down to zero. I have taken the car twice to the dealer who says there is no fault. It doesn't happen on wet roads as I think the water lubricates the disks and pads. They also squeak when reversing out of my garage. Anybody else with this problem?
 
Keep in mind that the physical brakes are utilized a lot less on an electric vehicle due to regen braking. As a result, the reduction in use can result in some minor surface rust on the brake discs, thus causing the grinding and squeaking noises you hear.
 
Bob Long said:
I live in Norway and have a 64kwh Kona EV purchased in May 2019. When braking on dry roads you can feel the pads rubbing, and this is actually felt on the brake pedal when applying gentle pressure. It's most noticable from around 50km p/h down to zero. I have taken the car twice to the dealer who says there is no fault. It doesn't happen on wet roads as I think the water lubricates the disks and pads. They also squeak when reversing out of my garage. Anybody else with this problem?
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Jamas said:
Keep in mind that the physical brakes are utilized a lot less on an electric vehicle due to regen braking. As a result, the reduction in use can result in some minor surface rust on the brake discs, thus causing the grinding and squeaking noises you hear.
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Thank you for your quick response :)
I agree that the discs can rust up due to minimal use under regenerative braking, and because of that I deliberately use the brakes like a normal car. I have had a Kia Soul EV for 3 years and a Tesla Model S for 2 years, and both didn't have this problem. I think that the material used for the pads are perhaps too hard?
 
Thank you Jamas for your quick response :)
I agree that the discs can rust up due to minimal use under regenerative braking, and because of that I deliberately use the brakes like a normal car. I have had a Kia Soul EV for 3 years and a Tesla Model S for 2 years, and both didn't have this problem. I think that the material used for the pads are perhaps too hard?
 
Bob Long said:
Thank you for your quick response :)
I agree that the discs can rust up due to minimal use under regenerative braking, and because of that I deliberately use the brakes like a normal car. I have had a Kia Soul EV for 3 years and a Tesla Model S for 2 years, and both didn't have this problem. I think that the material used for the pads are perhaps too hard?
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I'm sure the construction / type of material they use for the brake pads can be a contributing factor. My first car ever had brakes that squeaked from day 1 and I was told by the dealer that's normal (I was young and naive). It wasn't until my first brake job on the car, replacing the pads, that I realized brake pads can make all the difference.
 
I totally agree with you. I will wait for our winter to finish here in Norway and then take it back to the dealership. Hopefully more cases like mine will crop up in due course and expect a recall, just like the charger flap that used to freeze up. They fitted a special rubber seal to alleviate the problem. Its better now but not perfect. Otherwise our Kona is just an amazing car!
 
Hi Bob,
Could you take a picture of the charger door seal the the dealer installed?
 
I am currently in the UK, but I will ask my partner if she can do that for me. I will post it as soon as possible!
 
You can also switch the car to neutral at speed (when safe to do so and no one around) and brake. This forces brakes to be used and no Regen. I read about this in another post and use to clear any little bit of rust to stop squeeking.

Dan

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk
 
Hi Dan, thank you for that! I will certainly try that, weather permitting :)
Whilst mentioning weather, we have studless winter tires here in Norway on the car, but wondered whether to revert back to studded. Both our Kia and Tesla had studless winter tires and drove without any issues, but maybe as we're having the mildest January on record with lots of rain on top of ice, the Kona is struggling.
 
Same problem here, I leave Montreal Quebec. I have a 2019 with almost 11k km in 10 months. Im going to the dealer in two weeks to check that...
 
Ok Alex, hope you get it sorted. How's your winter so far in Montreal? Our roads in Norway are lethal at the moment. Are you using stud/studless tires?
Regards, Bob
 
So far so good. Not too much snow yet. I don't use studs on my winter tire, I got Bridgestone blizzak WS90 on the car. The battery take a big hit when it's really cold -15°c and lower, but I put the heat like in a ice car.
 
Bob Long said:
I totally agree with you. I will wait for our winter to finish here in Norway and then take it back to the dealership. Hopefully more cases like mine will crop up in due course and expect a recall, just like the charger flap that used to freeze up. They fitted a special rubber seal to alleviate the problem. Its better now but not perfect. Otherwise our Kona is just an amazing car!
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Oh,ya. Brakes sound like me getting up out of a beanbag chair. Moaning, groaning and crackling. Been that way since day one, though. I'm sure it's just rust. They don't get much use. Although, in the super cold lately, when Regen is off line, I have been making use of them more. I'm sure that'll shine them up a bit.

Regarding the charge port freezing: I have never had this happen while driving but a couple times now it has been frozen OPEN. Water seems to migrate along the "arm" deep inside the bumper where it freezes, creating a blockage that prevents the door from closing. Once it wouldn't even lock and the warning chime went off every five minutes on an hour long drive. Maddening.
 
Bob Long said:
Thank you Jamas for your quick response :)
I agree that the discs can rust up due to minimal use under regenerative braking, and because of that I deliberately use the brakes like a normal car. I have had a Kia Soul EV for 3 years and a Tesla Model S for 2 years, and both didn't have this problem. I think that the material used for the pads are perhaps too hard?
Click to expand...

"because of that I deliberately use the brakes like a normal car."
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Using the brake pedal only applies the friction brakes for sure when the car is in Neutral. In Drive, using the brake pedal uses regenerative braking regardless of mode and the "regen" setting (which is just from the Accelerator pedal).

All that said, my car is almost a year old, has 8000 miles on it, and the brakes still squeak. It is very annoying.
 
Same here - after it rains. But after 12,000 km the front disks still show the original machining marks.
IMG_0042.webp
 
SeanH said:
"because of that I deliberately use the brakes like a normal car."
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Using the brake pedal only applies the friction brakes for sure when the car is in Neutral. In Drive, using the brake pedal uses regenerative braking regardless of mode and the "regen" setting (which is just from the Accelerator pedal).

All that said, my car is almost a year old, has 8000 miles on it, and the brakes still squeak. It is very annoying.
Click to expand...
SeanH said:
"because of that I deliberately use the brakes like a normal car."
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Using the brake pedal only applies the friction brakes for sure when the car is in Neutral. In Drive, using the brake pedal uses regenerative braking regardless of mode and the "regen" setting (which is just from the Accelerator pedal).

All that said, my car is almost a year old, has 8000 miles on it, and the brakes still squeak. It is very annoying.
Click to expand...
What I meant by "using the brakes like a normal car" I mean that I want to use the brake pedal more often rather than to rely on the regen, especially in winter. I'm more concerned about keeping the discs/pads/calipers in good working order on our salted roads here in Norway rather than gaining a few extra miles on the battery. Although we save a fortune by not replacing the pads as they don't really wear out, the braking system on EV cars suffers as a result by infrequent use.
 
SeanH said:
"because of that I deliberately use the brakes like a normal car."
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Using the brake pedal only applies the friction brakes for sure when the car is in Neutral. In Drive, using the brake pedal uses regenerative braking regardless of mode and the "regen" setting (which is just from the Accelerator pedal).

All that said, my car is almost a year old, has 8000 miles on it, and the brakes still squeak. It is very annoying.
Click to expand...
 
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