A little tinkle

[NomoneyNohoney]

When driving alongside central reservations, or alongside other vehicles, I hear a faint tinkling sound from my car.
It seems to be the brakes, as a quick dab on the pedal gets rid of the noise for a while.
I'm pretty sure I asked my garage a while ago if there was anything wrong with the brakes, and they said it was all ok.

The front brakes are disks so I wondered if it was the pads rubbing on the disk but it's not a rhythmic sound, as I assume you'd get with a warped disk. I'm assuming it's the pads rubbing, but wondered if anyone else has any thoughts as to what it might be?

[staffordian]

Most disc brakes have some sort of stone guard which often appears to be made of metal little thicker than tin foil.

Could this perhaps move around a little at speed and catch against something?

I've also had small stones wedge behind this guard, though this usually sounds incredibly loud and gives the impression something is about to disintegrate, so I doubt this is what you can hear.

Staffordian

[bungeejumper]

As above. You can get a single bit of gravel lodged between the caliper and the very edge of the disc, and it'll jingle just like that. It'll be louder with the windows open, and you can probably detect which side it's coming from.) The wife's Golf had it not so very long ago. Normally (as in her case) it'll be gone within a couple of weeks - because either the vibration will have shaken it loose, or else it'll have been very slightly worn away, and will drop out. No need to do any dismantling unless it's been there for ages or it's truly driving you nuts.

Please note, though, that this is quite different from the screech of gravel against the side surface of your discs. Which wants fixing pronto, if not sooner...

There is a third possibility. My old Citroen had some pins which held the rear brake assembly in place, and those got loose and noisy once. But that was more of a cowbell noise.

[Edit: I gather that a favourite technique among off-roaders is to reverse hard and then hit the anchors even harder. Dislodges the little buggers, apparently. At your own risk.]

BJ