well i was driving today, a slow left over some railroad tracks and then a few seconds later i hear a scraping sound coming from behind me. at first i didn't know if it was coming from the car or sounds of construction workers using some kind of tool. i roll for another 15 feet and realize it is the car.. my first thought was it sounds like something around the wheel.. sure enough the rear LH brake rotor splash shield was bent into the rotor as if it'd been pushed up... and was making the scraping/grinding noise. i bent it back down enough so it didn't scrape the rest of the way home.

how did it happen?


for the visual thinkers-- the bottom edge of #6 in the figure was bent into the bottom of #1.. i also noticed that the shield is bent on the top and some of the sides as well, on the other brake assemblies as well.

 

Any possiblity your wheel dropped on top of the tracks? anything bounce up?

 

i considered both. but there was nothing on the tracks or road, and its not physically possible for the inner wall of the wheel to contact the brake assembly.. they're all bolted on to the same structure so they move together.