My car makes a loud noise when I brake. This doesn't happen all the time! Any ideas?

Question

I am going to a mechanic at the end of the week for a check-up.

Here are the details:

My car, a Camry, which was inspected a little less than a month ago, occasionally makes a weird sound when I brake. The sound is as if I am braking REALLY hard on uneven pavement.

I noticed it doesn't happen every time I brake. When I suddenly jam on the brakes (like when a driver changing lanes without warning), then I hear the noise. If I brake normally...I hardly hear it.

I also noticed that this started happening after I had driven through some uneven pavement/road under construction. I can brake fine and I doubt it's the brake pad because it was inspected and it doesn't happen every time (out of probably 12-15 brakes, 2-3 of them make the noise).

Sorry if this sounds silly.

Answer 1

Sounds like you need brake pads and rotors, most likely your rotors are un-evenly worn causing the wheels to shake when braking hard. This makes it more intense when your going faster.