My wife's 2014 LTZ make a rhythmic noise when the brakes are applied lightly. If the brakes are applied more forcefully there is no noise. This has been going on for a while. The car was Pa. safety inspected in February and the brakes passed inspection. The noise was occurring at that time also but the car is not driven during the inspection. So the pads were good enough to pass inspection but there was still the noise when lightly applying the brakes. The rotors were turned when we bought the car with 27,000 miles on it. The car now has about 44,000 miles. I'm thinking maybe the rotors need resurfacing or replacing. May need pads now also. I don't think the noise is a suspension issue. The frequency of the noise coincides with the decreasing speed of the car when applying the brakes. It's not a scraping noise like metal on metal. More of a groaning noise. I hope I'm describing it well enough. What do you folks think? I'm going to take it to a shop in another week or two. But I always try to have a handle on what is going on before I take a car in. The shop is new to me because I have only lived in Pa. for a little over a year.

My "guess" is that you need new rotors and front pads. The noise you hear is probably the pads touching a rusty section of the rotors on each revolution.

I'm with Rit on this one.

Pads don't touch 100% of the braking surface on the rotor. There is always a small part on the very outside edge that rusts because the pad does not make contact. Eventually, the rust creeps down into the pads contact area and you get the rub noise like you describe.

If those rotors have already been turned, I'd be getting new ones not trying to turn them again.

I live in the rust belt, and hardly anybody around here 'turns' a rotor anymore. they're usually too rusty. - I am going to buy the $300 kit from rockauto (all 4 wheels) and just replace the front and rear on my equinox. They're drilled and slotted.

Thanks guys. That confirms what I was thinking, except I wasn't thinking rust. I was also thinking that 'once was enough' for turning the rotors.

That's interesting. Should I just get the rotors replaced with stock rotors or should I upgrade? It's the wife's vehicle. She's mostly driving stop and go around town. Any advantage to drilled and slotted for that type of daily driving?

If you live in an area that uses road salt, get regular rotors. The drilled and slotted types simply allows more salt to get in and hide.

Most rotor makers now sell coated rotors which can help lengthen the service life of the rotor. The hat and vanes are all coated to minimize rust in the areas the pads do not make contact.

I upgraded from stock rotors and pads to drilled and slotted with ceramic pads. They last way longer and work way better than stock units. Very EZ to do yourself if you are so inclined. I live in Cincinnati and we throw plenty of salt down, I have had no problems after 4 years with rust or anything else.
The ceramic pads make a slight noise when heavy braking, but it is not irritating at all.

Mine does this as well. Did with OEM and with replacement OEMs after about 10k miles. Your rotors and pads may be fine, if they are worn, replace them. In the meantime just go do a few hard stops and the sound will go away for a while.