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When I am driving my right front rotor squeeks. It sounds like its something is rubbing in that area. It goes away when I push on the brakes. It's really bad when I go in reverse. Anybody know what it can be??

 
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a shade tree way to find the noise is to rest the front end(both side)the frame on a pair of good jack stands.put it in gear and check for noice,if ur afraid to do even that, then put it in neutral and turn the wheel urself.

 
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Sounds like the brake pad retaining clip may have slipped out a bit, take it to the dealer ASAP. When you apply the brakes the pressure from you caliper is forcing the clip against the brake pad, which will make the noise go away. I'm guessing though that your car is new or low milage, if you have over 15,000 miles on your car have the brakes checked, you might just need new pads.

NOTE: You cannot judge the life of brake pads or shoes by milage, it all depends on how you drive and where you drive. If you live in a area with a lot of hills and you do a lot of stop and go driving you will wear out the brake linings much quicker than normal. Just my 2¢

 
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Hey Solar,

Since you know what you're talking about, maybe you can help me out with my current situation. After some 25,000 km, my brakes started to pulsate upon braking, where the vibration came through to the steering wheel. At 28,500 km, the dealership had the rotors machined and the vibration had dissapeared. Just recently, I've noticed that there's some squeeling coming from the front brakes when slowing down from 30 km/h or slower speeds. It's most noticable when your creap forward and brake lightly.

This noise sounds like my car has been parked for months outside, and due to oxidization of the metal and air, the rotors would rust. But this is not the case. My first guess would be that the machining of the rotors was too much, and the brake pads do not make enough contact with the rotor to create this squeeling noise. I'm currently at 31,000 km and have another 49,000km left on my warranty. I'm questioning if I am correct with my statement above, then in theory my stopping distances should be increased.

Appreciate your 2¢...

 
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I know my brakes are low because when I went to change my tires they said that my pads were low. I wouldn't doubt it. I do a lot of 80-0 stops when I take it to the track or on the road. By the way I have 22000 miles on my car and it's only a year old. I got the car with 8 miles on it.

 
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PICASSO, some front brakes will squeak when there is nothing wrong with them. You said you had the rotors machined; did they replace the pads? The main cause of brake squeak is vibration, if the squeak only happens when you apply the brakes then there is a good chance you need new pads. If it squeaks when driving and goes away when you apply the brakes then something is slightly loose and causing a vibration. If this is the case, then many things could cause the problem, and its not always easy to fix. As long as the brakes don't feel like there grinding, if they are grinding you got a metal on metal contact because the pads are worn away, and even if they are worn away they still may stop okay. Warped rotors like you had before are caused by hard braking, the rotors get hot to fast and don't cool down fast enough, which will also wear out pads faster and sometimes "glase" them which could also cause a squeak.


Your question about the pads not making enough contact to the rotors; all front disc brakes are self adjusting because most front disc brakes have a "floating caliper", so the contact is not a problem, unless of course one of your calipers were defective, but in that case the car would probably pull to one side when braking.

Like I said before some cars brakes just squeak, but the brakes are the most important part of your car, so if I were you I'd have them checked out at a shop or dealer just to make sure.

 
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sounds to me like the hampsters in your front wheels are being overworked [IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]