hi all,
what is the possible problem when i step on brake (when the car is about to stop) it makes high squeaking sound. I am not sure its from front or rear.

have anyone had this problem before or any suggestion may help. thanks!

 

i know this might be overly obvious but is it time for your brakes to be changed? the wear guard will squeek against the rotor when the brake is applied letting you know that your pads are nearing their limit. another cause could be that the pad shields have worn through their lube and could just need a cleaning and a coat of disk brake quiet or similar product. brakes have a tendancy to squeel a lil more these days since its now illegal to put asbestos in the pads. i recently had this problem and it was solved with the brake quiet spray. oh, warped rotors can get your wear shield also causing a squeel also. in that case they may need to be turned if their is enough metal left on them or replaced along with the brake pads. hope this helps.

 

Thanks! well, i just got front rotors and pads changed about 7-8 months ago. The rear ones they told me the pads have 90% left. I didn't expect to change it so soon. Can you recommend a place for inspection or dealership is good idea?

 

i know a dealer will run you over the coals as far as price. when i bought my car i took it to a dealer and they wanted like $380 to change my pads because i took it to them to ensure everything was straight. i asked them how much the pads were and they wanted $80 for pads. long story short i got pads for $40 off net and did job myself.
the best way to go is DIY, but if thats not an option take it to a shop that you trust. i go to a nearby firestone cause i know two of their techs.
really its probably a just in need of lubing. as i stated before i just recently went to the squeeking and i found that who ever did the front breaks on my car had the wear shield reversed (inside on outside and vice versa). i simply cleaned the back of the pads and the shields and sprayed them with disk break quiet, (which had not been done) and reinstalled them. without lube you will have metal on metal causing squeeking no matter how new or good your pads are. 2 wear shields go on inside pad against the caliper and 1 goes on the outside which you will see once you remove your wheel.

 

you know, maybe i didnt state that as best as i could but as you can tell i lean towards DIY. any shop may tell you that you either need new pads, need new rotors, or your rotors need to be turned. inspecting the rotor is fairly simple. for the most part you can get a good idea if they need to be changed with the wheel on. you can look at it to see if it has any scars, groves, cuts ect... you can run your finger across it to see if it is smooth or wavy. please dont do this right after driving cause it will be hot.
if you need to change rotors, change pads also.
remove the wheel to see the caliper. you only have to remove one bolt to open the caliper to access the pads. (remove the bolt farthest away from the break line)
you have to remove the pads to inspect them of course. they usually have a line cut down the middle that when the pad it worn it will be worn down to that line. also on one of the sides you will see a small piece of metal that will ride on the rotor kind of like a needle on a record player once the pad is worn.
the pad on the outside of the rotor will have 1 shield on the back (non pad side). you can spray the back of the pad and the shield and stick them together. the pad on the inside of the rotor will have 2 shields and they will most likely be slotted. spray the back of the pad and put the first shield on. spray the second shield and put that on then spray the back of that shield. while they dry you can take a C clamp and compress the calipers back in then put it back together. dont forget to pump your breaks to build break pressure back up and your done.
still a little tired but i hope i explained the process a lil better this time.

 

This topic reminds me of a great line in a great movie...

 

ha ha ha. i havent seen that in years....

 

Welcome to the world of G brakes SUCK

 

It could also just be that pads making noise in the calipers. I would not jump to the conclusion that you need new brakes without a proper inspection. A lot of times a high pitched noise is caused by either cheap pads or by no shims or lube on the back side of the pad.

 

Important to understand that squeak/squeal is a vibration from pads moving around in cradle.

Oem anti vibration shims are designed [matched] for oem pads against oem rotors. Change any component to aftermarket and all bets are off.

Please read the 28 pages of slides to understand shims
http://www.wolverine.cn/files/pdf/shim.pdf

Here are some other web sites that explain shims:
http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread/312638

 

These are all helpful. I will look into and post when i get the solution. thank you all!!

 

no prob

 

I'm having the same problem. I had the brake pads changed and the squeaking is worse than ever. Don't know what to do. It seems like these damn shops can't get it right(taken it to Nissan, and Sears when I had my tires replaced).

 

Mine now seems like theres no problem with pads, just need to resurface rotors. You can try take it to pepboys, they have free brake inspection coupon on its official web sites.

 

I had touchy brakes, massive brake dust and the dreaded squeal. I changed mine over the weekend wth Napa's Progressive 1's.....working perfectly now. The old brake pads were not worn at all, but they are soft as you may know.

I paid about 100.00 for pads all the way around. Good to go.