Intermittent grinding/squealing from pass. front wheel?

Symptoms: loud grinding, squealing sound from front of car, no change in volume or pitch when brakes are applied.

 

Frequency: Twice in the last 2 days, but for maybe less than a mile (I pulled over to inspect (because paranoia), and when I pulled away it was gone.

 

Possible causes:

-They recently filled potholes by my work with fine gravel, I'm thinking maybe I'm getting some contamination on my pads?

 

-Seized caliper

-wheel bearing

 

Thoughts? Thanks!

I had a similar circumstance several years ago.

Mine turned out to be a stone that had lodged in between the rotor and the

sheet metal brake shield plate.

That's kinda what mine sounds like, I just wanted to be sure it wasn't signs of anything catastrophic. Because with these cars, you just never know.

I assume you know the pads have pad left on them and are not getting low or closed to needing replacement ?

I assume you know the pads have pad left on them and are not getting low or closed to needing replacement ?

 

They're getting low, but shouldn't be low enough to cause intermittent problems. I would think that if they were low enough to grind, it would be constant.