A word to refer to the sound that an elevator makes when its cables are having problems?
I suggest screeching:
: a high shrill piercing cry usually expressing pain or terror
I'd use graunch, which is rather onomatopoeic. And would you believe it, it's in the dictionary, even though my spell-checker doesn't like it.
graunch verb
[no object]
make a crunching or grinding noise:
the wheels graunched against a stone wall