I just had the brakes and rotors on my 2013 Honda Fit Base replaced by a mechanic. It all seemed fine at first but yesterday, while driving on a muddy country road where I had to apply my brakes liberally while going at slow speeds, I noticed this strange rhythmic scraping sound coming from the right rear brake. It's not a singular sustained sound like a groan, squeak, or grind. It sounds like something lightly scraping or swiping and it corresponds directly to the speed of the wheel. Kind of like "chf...chf...chf"

The noise happens when I start to depress the brake while moving at 20 mph or less. When I depress the brake pedal to a certain point, the noise stops. If I'm driving faster than 20 mph and I apply the brakes, the noise does not occur unless I apply the brakes very gradually.

Unfortunately, I'm currently 2.5 hours away from the mechanic who replaced my brakes, so it's not quite as simple as just going back to the shop and having them double check this. My hope is that maybe there's just some dirt or mud or a stone trapped in the drum, and I might be able to get it out myself via doing some light driving and maneuvering today. I'd really like to avoid tacking more money onto this by going to a second mechanic (but if the noise gets worse, that might be my only choice.) The brakes are working fine and there's no vibration or any trouble symptoms coming from the brake pedal. But I'm unsure of how to proceed. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

You may have already done this but the first thing to do is see if your emergency brake is partially on. If it's not, check the emergency brake handle and see if there is any play in it- like 5-6 clicks as you pull up. With new brakes and if there's no play in the emergency brake cables you will have to adjust them.

If you have a tool kit and jack in your car, you could jack the car up and pull the right rear wheel off. From there remove the brake drum and inspect the brakes.

My only other suggestion is to call the shop that did your brakes and get advice/suggestions from them as to what to do to find the problem.

 

@56chevydan 's got it. The e-brake is a good consideration. The mechanic may not have cleaned the drums thoroughly. There may be some crud in the drum you could scrape off, or alternatively it may have a lip that the new shoes are rubbing against. Maybe the wheel hub needed a good once-over with a wire wheel where the drum mounted. If it seats uneven the results could be akin to a warped rotor. Or you could have a failing brake cylinder.. Just make sure all the contact surfaces for where the shoes meet the drums are clean and even.
If you see any evidence of the brake shoes scraping on their sides or whatever, you could sand or shave the shoes with a razor or whatever you want so as to put a chamfered or rounded edge on them. They'll eventually wear back to rectangular. just try not to breathe brake dust

Worst case should be new brake drum/s, and that's not so bad.

 

Might be rust on the lip of the drum. Already had that happened on my 99 Civic. All I had to do was remove the rusted lip and all was good again. Happens a lot where salt is used on the roads in the winter. Since you are in Boston, that might be the cause.