The rear brakes on our '58 1.4 Sport (note: discs) started squealing a few weeks ago, intermittently to begin with, usually after turning left for some strange reason, and more recently became permanent when travelling over 50mph.

I would have had them apart to look at them myself but with two other car builds on the go as well as uni work time is tight! So it went into the stealers who reckoned it was dirt build up, cleaned them up, and adjusted the handbrake.

Fine for 20 miles, then the squealing returns.

Its not speed related so I'm pretty sure its just a bad bout of pad squeal which could be solved with a dab of copperslip on the rear of the pad. Any other suggestions? Is it a known problem?

Get a power washer in there and give them a real good clean maybe its build up of rubbish.
The take it to the dealer if they still scream at you !

Sorry if I wasnt clear, the dealer's already had it all apart and cleaned everything (including my wallet of £60). So we can safely assume its not muck build up.

If the pads are free to move, could be a sticky caliper piston. I've had that in the past on older cars.

Murano16v said:

If the pads are free to move, could be a sticky caliper piston. I've had that in the past on older cars.

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However there's no evidence of this while driving. It brakes evenly and neither side stays cool or heats up over the opposite side. I would also expect it to go away for a while after hard braking, but it returns immediately after.

Thanks anyway, they're all ideas to tick off the list.

Jake_in_notts said:

Get a power washer in there and give them a real good clean maybe its build up of rubbish.
The take it to the dealer if they still scream at you !

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Noooooo! Don't pressure wash your brakes!

AdamP1991 said:

However there's no evidence of this while driving. It brakes evenly and neither side stays cool or heats up over the opposite side. I would also expect it to go away for a while after hard braking, but it returns immediately after.

Thanks anyway, they're all ideas to tick off the list.

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100hp Panda's have has issue with rear brakes squealing, don't remember if there was any particular fix for it though.

306maxi said:

100hp Panda's have has issue with rear brakes squealing, don't remember if there was any particular fix for it though.

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Mine does this , but only in reverse, so basically I just ignore it. I find trips to dealers more trouble than they are worth.

On a long drive through france I had this on my drivers side rear brake. Squealing that got worse the faster you went. I pulled into a motorway services and noticed there was more heat coming from that disc than the other side. I took the wheel off, thumped the caliper a few times and watched all the crud fall out. It was fine after that.

Sounds like the dealer has done the same. Or said they did? And you're not noticing any excess heat from that corner. Hmm. Is the disc ok? Not warped or cracked? I assume the dealer would have noticed if the bearing was shot?

okay wait for the brakes to cool down.. maybe first thing in the morning and wash it with water.. you'll be amazed by the huge amount of rubbish your gunna see.. (dont wash while the pads are hot they blend someway)..

my friend once advised.. & it worked..

jnoiles said:

On a long drive through france I had this on my drivers side rear brake. Squealing that got worse the faster you went. I pulled into a motorway services and noticed there was more heat coming from that disc than the other side. I took the wheel off, thumped the caliper a few times and watched all the crud fall out. It was fine after that.

Sounds like the dealer has done the same. Or said they did? And you're not noticing any excess heat from that corner. Hmm. Is the disc ok? Not warped or cracked? I assume the dealer would have noticed if the bearing was shot?

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The pitch of the sound doesn't vary with speed, which is what makes me think its more likely to be a vibration. Disc definitely isnt warped

You sure it's the brakes then? I think some Panda people had issues with exhausts and handbrake cables.

Hi all
my 1.4 sport has also developed an intermittent squeak, although it's more of a whistle. Strangely the noise also is louder/ higher pitched when going over 50mph and when turning left!

The noise definitely is coming from he passenger side rear wheel and is like a metal whistle sound.

I'm no mechanic so took it to the dealers, who first lubricated the brushes, which made no difference and then after another ride out thought it could be the wheel bearings.

On further tests at the service this week I'm told the garage think it's dirty brake discs/ pads ( which are not covered on warranty) :-(

Seems like a few people have this issue!
my car is 2 years old with 17,000 miles, so I feel a bit a Annoyed that I've had a few issues with it now (my 10 year old punto ran brilliantly!)

We'll see if the squeak is still there when I collect the car tomorrow....

brake noise is due to vibration, and it happens all the time but sometime you hear it

it really isn't anything to worry about, try using your brakes harder as if the pads glaze it can be noisier

Had this problem at some time or other on practically every car I've ever owned.

Almost always caused by excessive friction between the pads and the reaction frames (FIAT's workshop documentation refers to these as 'Brake Caliper Brackets'). Corrosion is the usual cause but muck and brake dust are also culprits.

Cleaning only seems to provide a short term fix - the solution is to apply high temperature copper grease to the (cleaned) working surfaces of the reaction frames so that the pads can slide freely.

This obviously means stripping down the brakes & I usually remove the reaction frames to do this - I can then easily wirebrush the rust and crud off and I don't get copper grease on the disks.

I've done this as part of the annual service on all my cars for the past 20 years and it's amazing how bad these parts can get after just one winter.

Curious if anyone who has had the squeaky brake thing has changed rear pads and/or what rear pads were used. I learned something interesting last night. A couple of different makes (EBC greens, Ferodo OEMs) are actually too thick to work properly. You have to bang the caliper back on. Not good and def contributing to the problem.

Also, the design of the caliper is such that an astonishing amount of muck gets stuck in the thing. I mean an epic massive scale of muck. Needing to be dug out and wire brush angle grindered off. Terrible design on Fiat's part. I have pics but I haven't pulled them off the camera yet.

Have the same problem. Fiat 500 1.4 Sport (2008).
Sometimes the rear wheels also get very hot and there's a burning smell.
I have it in the shop today and will inform what happened.
I do not want to believe that I need to change the rear brakes after only 20000 KM.