Squealing wheels

When my freebie warms up ( a few miles into s journey) the front left wheel squeals very loudly but when the brakes are applied it stops. The noise also disappears when turning the wheels either left or right when going round corners.

Is this just brake wear or is it something more....... Expensive?

I would like to solve it with minimal effort if I can

Find the nearest roundabout and keep going round it. :cool2: Sorted !!

It could be the brakes binding a small amount or a little bit of play in the wheel bearing. I'd make sure that caliper piston is retracting fully first.

also make sure that the pad has not rusted up and prevented it going back off the disc

I'd go with brakes binding

Had a similar noise from mine, stripped the rear brakes etc but found no faults. Turned out to be the O/S/F disc back plate had rusted away and was rubbing on the disc. Could also just be the pads need some golden grease/copperslip on the backs to stop the vibration.

I am getting this exact problem right now, driving me mad! Had new front discs/pads earlier this year so been convinced its them sticking or being full of dust gunk, but having had them checked and cleaned up yesterday guess what..... on the way home its started again, aaaaaargh! Am not really very mechanically minded so be gentle on me, any suggestions for any easy things I can check or try? How easy is it to clean rear brakes? Are there any products that I can buy to clear them more easily and not take the brakes apart? Thanks

Squealing brakes either require copperslip, anti rattle/anti squeal shims if missing or the material on brake lining just squeals.

I'd go for anti squeal shims / coppercoat/slip on the backs of the pads.
A carefull clean can work wonders too.
No stones / grit caught between the back plate and the disc?

Thanks, nothing stuck so far as I know. But not checked rear yet, as assumed it was front discs. How easy is it to check the rear cylinders? The problem is not just squealing under breaking but also when cruising along the is an intermittent high pitched squeal sound that is almost like a 'squeak' quickly going on/off, presumably as wheel goes round so assuming something catching/sticking/rubbing. But goes when apply brake and also noticed sometimes when wheel turned. Aside from that yes also get major Double-Decker Bus style squealing under normal breaking.......

when i had this , stripped the fronts down and found the pads really worn down and had scoured my discs

replaced both sides with new discs and pads, had to also replace the passenger side caliper as the pistons kept jamming and was very noisy

spent time by cleaning everything

on reinspection found there was a lip on the back plate that had come away abit and touching the back on the discs causing the noise going on and off as i went down the road so just removed them, also redone with coppaslip

that was a while ago and been fine since

Most times when brake pads are fitted the caliper carier where the pads sit isn't cleaned up enough (or at all if it was done by quick fit brake specialists). This causes the pads to not come away from the disc when the brakes are released and hence the squeal or even worse they seize and in time you end up wearing out one pad on each side whilst the other is only half worn.

ZDomZ said:

Most times when brake pads are fitted the caliper carier where the pads sit isn't cleaned up enough (or at all if it was done by quick fit brake specialists). This causes the pads to not come away from the disc when the brakes are released and hence the squeal or even worse they seize and in time you end up wearing out one pad on each side whilst the other is only half worn.

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i learnt the hard way and had to take them all apart again and spent ages making sure everything was just so

never made that mistake again and ur spot on regarding not cleaning everything properly

ZDomZ said:

Most times when brake pads are fitted the caliper carier where the pads sit isn't cleaned up enough (or at all if it was done by quick fit brake specialists). This causes the pads to not come away from the disc when the brakes are released and hence the squeal or even worse they seize and in time you end up wearing out one pad on each side whilst the other is only half worn.

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That was my 1000th post as well and I was actually being constructive!

Funny you should mention Kwik Fit.......

Papilon said:

Funny you should mention Kwik Fit.......

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Ahh the kiwik fit curse strikes again huh?

It's on a par with the Mr Clutch curse.........:fighting2:

Trouble is the front discs suddenly went earlier in the year when visiting family, was a Sunday and had to find anywhere that could sort them so could get back home after....... so had to use one of their branches in Sussex and they fitted new discs/pads.

Therefore yesterday I got them supposedly cleaned and checked by them under their guarantee (cough). So the suggestion is that I need to check the caliper carrier has also been cleaned, don't really want to go back there but haven't got the kit to do it myself.

Always a piece of muck you miss. Mine squealed for a while even after 2 clean ups. Settled down after a couple of weeks.
Mike

ZDomZ said:

That was my 1000th post as well and I was actually being constructive!

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Well done. Your Blue Peter badge is in the post.

Mike

:d