Brake Squeal Fixes

[Stephen]

Okay guys, the rear brakes on my truck are squealing horribly. I recently had the fronts replaced with new ART slotted rotors, and when I did they "checked" the rear brakes. Whatever they did to them has caused them to sqeal horribly at all speeds. What can I do? They of course "dont hear it" and its "normal" you know the story. Anything I can spray on there etc to quiet them down? The rears are rather new and I dont want to replace them for a while.

Thankya much.

 

[Stephen S]

Got the same trouble with mine. The rears squeal like crazy (esp the passenger side). Pads are good (replaced a year ago) and I can see no scratches or cuts in the rotors that would signify metal to metal contact.

If the rotors get "glazed over" if I may use that term to describe it, will that cause them to squeal?? I can see that my rotors have a glossy finish on them. Would getting the rotors cut to expose some new metal help stop the squeal?

 

[PLRBEAR]

Hey! What a coincidence! My rears are squealing like a banshee too. I haven't had a chance to check the thickness of my rotors yet, but i know the pads are good. Once i get the pads off, i'm going to apply the blue stuff (disc brake anti-squeal). I also heard that the rotors may not be able to dissipate heat once they get thin, and thus they start to squeal...is that true?

 

[Brian8]

Hey what a coincedence mine are doing thre exact same thing. Every time I have brought to the brake shop I get the same answer "they are fine and that is normal" felt like backhanding the guy on the third time they told me that.

 

[Stephen]

I know just how you feel. Jeeze, I'm 59 years old I've been driving cars for 45 years, I know squealing like that is NOT normal.

 

[espnfreak]

ya mine are horrible, we checked the rotors, and they hardly had any scratches, i dont know whats up with this. they've gotten better since i've applied my brakes harder to try to smoothen the discs out.

 

[Stephen S]

I notice that mine only squeal when I first lightly apply the brake from a high speed, like anything above 25 or so. With a little more pressure, the sqeal goes away, all the way until I stop. It also sounds like it comes mainly from the rear passenger side. If the rear driver is squealing too, then I can't hear it over the passenger side.

 

[J. Kennedy]

Squealing

Brake squeal is generally caused by 2 things: The pads vibrating in the calipers, or the metal sensor strip on the pad hitting the disc.

When replacing pads they generally give you a thick grease and/or sticky foam pads to put on the back of the pad. This dampens vibration of the pads against the caliper. Oftentimes, the leading edge of the pad will strike the disc first, causing vibration. Annoying, but not unsafe. This can be stopped by switching the pads from the other side.

The sensor strip reaches off the pad and is oriented to scrape the disc when the pad gets thin. This would alert the driver to get his brakes checked. Years ago we waited for the shoes to wear to the rivets, aaah how far we've come.

Stephen, I tend to see the worst in people. There are some shady brake mechanics in this world. One may see a 59 year old guy with a nice Limited, putting top dollar disks in front. He may be inclined to BEND the metal sensor strips to hit the disks now, thereby encouraging Stephen to spend even more.

Just a thought, take it somewhere else and have the thickness of the rear pads checked. Good luck, JK

 

[offroader_69_me]

yes yes sometimes and yes

OK lets see if I can help alittle here:

Stephen S yes glazed rotors can make squeals as well as glazed pads.

PLRBEAR Yes a thin rotor can cause a little squealing but not usually the culprit!

Sometimes a pad can have an imperfection that squeaks and a rotor can have the same thing, I would suggest having the rotors turned resurfaced shaved whatever they call it in your neck of the woods, if this does not solve the problem then check for a bad caliper if one pad is much thinner than the others then that caliper could be holding keeping one pad dragging, which could cause a squeak, also check for excessive dust if a little brake dust or even trail dust gets caught inbetween rotor and pad it will let you know it! and check the little indicators as mentioned before sometimes they can get moved intentionally or not.
As a last resort sometimes pad replacement is the last option, or rotor replacement but the rotor is not usually replaced unless to thin, if you get a respectable brake shop they should cover pads under warranty when they produce constant squeaking, we do anyway and never have a hard time with the parts supplier either!
Good luck towards quiet braking!

 

[97XLT]

I had this problem as well for a very long time and it annoyed the hell outta me. It ended up being the e-brake pads which needed replacing and I haven't heard a squeak since!

 

[Stephen]

JK, I hate to think that was done because I've used this dealer for a long time and trust the service writer implicetly. They've just never done brakes well. Good point I'll have another place look at them.

97XLT, I had that problem, the emergency brakes are new.

 

[Jag]

I replaced the original Ford pads (which BTW never squealed) on my rear disks with what I was told was a good aftermarket brand. These things squeal all the time. I even went out and bought some of that orange anti-squeal stuff and put on the back of the pads. That worked for about a week.

One thing I did notice about the original pads is that they had a thin piece of soft plastic material rivited to the back of the pads. I assume that was there for a purpose......

If mine get any worse, I'm going to spend the extra $$$$ and put OEM pads from Ford back on.

 

[Rhett]

My experience is that just simple dirt stuck on the rotors and/or pads can cause brake squeal. Had a thin coat of Georgia clay on them once and that stuff can be tough...

 

[Stephen]

But wouldnt the dirt get knocked off causing the brake squeal to slowly go away?

 

[Rhett]

Yes, I suppose dirt could get knocked off and it would go away. I'm not sure. Hmm. Maybe it has to do with your parking brake? It goes to the rear and there might be something sticking with it...not enough to make the light go on, but enough to cause a squeal...of course I am shooting in the dark here but it's a thought.

 

[Stephen]

No, then why would it happen only when braking? Before when it was stuck I would get the squeal while accelerating from a stop.

 

[Rhett]

Arg, I don't know Stephen, I was just shooting in the dark like I said. I wish you luck with finding the solution though. Surely it must just be a misaligned pad or caliper or rotor...that is if you have rear disc brakes like I think you do. I'd slap some disc brake quiet on it and see what happens.

You've got one of those Limiteds...and don't they all have disc brakes in the rear?

And about "shady brake shops"...Just today I talked to this female person, and she said a Midas store wanted $800 to "fix" the brakes on her car. I told her to take it to my mechanic, which she did, and he told her there was not a thing wrong with the brakes! Oh, and he did not charge her to look at them either. That's Midas for ya.

 

[Stephen]

Yeah it has rear disks. If it ever stops raining out there I'll take the wheels off and see what I can see.

I'll let ya know.