Squealing Brake Woes…

I’d like to say a hello first of all, as a new writer to Car Articles.  As a way of introduction, I’m a writer based in the North of England with a wide variety of experience with cars – both new and vintage.  The fastest thing I’ve driven is probably a Porsche 911 that had enough torque to pull your head off.  The slowest remains a Fiat Punto 1.2 with less than 100 hp but an amazing 47 miles per gallon fuel economy.

With the introduction out of the way, I’d like to offer this rather interesting tale.  I was driving my car, which had recently been for a service, when I started to hear a squeak from the front wheels (mainly the right side though).  This squeak gradually turned into a squeal.  This squealing soon extended itself from merely a passing irritation into a really annoying, near-constant noise from hell.

Let me clarify the problem a little bit.  The noise wasn’t caused by worn brake pads – I’d had these changed only a month before.  Not only that, but the squeal only appeared when I WASN’T using the brakes.  So just what was going on?

My motor (a Vauxhall Astra 1.8 SXi) was duly returned to the servicing garage, to find out what on Earth was the matter.  It was of course looked over and the verdict returned.  It passed an MOT satisfactorily but more copper grease (or slip) needed to be applied in order to stop the friction that was being created and as a consequence making a noise.

Not wanting to pay the extra cost (I knew that I was getting the timing belt changed anyway so thought I’d leave it till then) I got my car back with the squeal.  Naturally, I decided to look into the problem.  I narrowed it down to a few things such as a bent brake disc (bad news), worn callipers or the cheapest (and best option) a simple case of too much built up brake dust.

When you apply pressure to the brake pedal, this transfers hydraulically to the wheels, where callipers clamp down and put pads into contact with the disc.  This creates the friction that in turn stops the car.  Braking 101 for you there.  However, when a new pad is fitted, copper grease should be added to the disc to move away heat and allow smooth movement of the whole machinery as the wheel turns.

Essentially, my car wasn’t properly looked after (quite embarrassing for a car nut).  A build up of brake dust (the particles from a pad) got onto the disc, so when the wheel turns into a certain point, the noise was being made – essentially a high frequency vibration.  This is in turn no good for your car really and can in fact damage your alloys.

So baring all this in mind, what would I suggest?  Make sure that your car is looked after, your alloys are clean and your brakes are squeal free.  Of course, having the brakes squeal when you’re applying pressure to the pedal signifies a completely different set of problems that I’ll address another time…

N.B. There’s a whole host of alloy cleaners that are on the market.  I used Simoniz on mine as it contains brake dust repellent.  Let me know what you try and if it’s any good.