Front brake squeal....or not??

[99SportX]

Ok guys, I am at a loss here. I replaced the front pads and rotors in my dad's 99 mountaineer V8 AWD. The pads are ceramics from Napa. Everything was great until a couple days afterward, it developed a loud squeal. I narrowed the noise to the front right wheel.

The squeal does not occur right at first, but when things warm up it is constant when the vehicle is traveling faster than a crawling speed. The squeal occurs whether or not you are on the brakes or off the brakes, no matter how hard. Forward and reverse, the squeal is still there. Am I right to assume that if the caliper was dragging, the sound would go away under hard braking? We ran the vehicle like this for a week or so because we hoped it would go away. I took everything apart and lubed all contact points with synthetic caliper grease...no change at all.

I don't know what to do. Could it be a wheel bearing and not related to the brakes at all? I don't know if I should bring the pads back to Napa or not.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jremington59]

With brakes, normally when you depress the pedal the noise will either go away, or at the least change. Is the dust shield by chance rubbing against something?

 

[sport97]

Ive had the dust covers rub because I bent them during a brake job, but its not a squeak, its is more of a metal on metal screeching/grinding sound. But I would still definitely check before spending money on anything.

Question...did this sound exist prior to the new brakes?

 

[99SportX]

The sound did not exist before I did the brakes. It started a few days after the brake job and has continued since.

I will take a look at the dust shields again tomorrow, but I am fairly confident that they are not bent as I just had the wheel off today looking at it.

 

[99SportX]

Ok guys, I figured it out. I took the wheel off again this morning and began looking for anything that could be squeaking. I examined the dust shield carefully and it was not contacting the rotor anywhere. I removed the caliper and rotor and began turning the hub. I was able to make it squeak still! I sprayed PB blaster on the seal where the CV goes into the front differential and there was no change in noise. It sure sounded like it was coming from there. I then sprayed PB blaster on the rubber seal at the hub end of the CV. The noise stopped! I watched the seal while I rotated the hub and noticed that the seal was staying stationary. It is supposed to be rotating with the CV. I used a screwdriver to pry the seal loose and squirted a little PB in there to make sure it stays free. It spins the way it is supposed to now. Ideally I would have pulled the CV and regreased the seal, but I am just going to run it this way. If the squeal comes back, I will get a new seal and do the job right. The vehicle has 80k and is on the original hubs so it can't be too far away from needing hubs anyway.

It is good to know that this had nothing to do with the brake job, but it is still annoying.

 

[1998Exp]

TSB on hub seal squeal?

Mine had that squeal from hub seals at about 50K; then it slowly disappeared. If memory serves, there was a TSB on this. Try searching, or perhaps a pro will quote it here.

Ok guys, I figured it out...
I then sprayed PB blaster on the rubber seal at the hub end of the CV. The noise stopped! I watched the seal while I rotated the hub and noticed that the seal was staying stationary. It is supposed to be rotating with the CV. I used a screwdriver to pry the seal loose and squirted a little PB in there to make sure it stays free. It spins the way it is supposed to now. Ideally I would have pulled the CV and regreased the seal, but I am just going to run it this way. If the squeal comes back, I will get a new seal and do the job right. The vehicle has 80k and is on the original hubs so it can't be too far away from needing hubs anyway.

It is good to know that this had nothing to do with the brake job, but it is still annoying.