My partner has been complaining of noise from the rear breaks, I took it to my office today which is 50 miles, over half by motorway.

At first there seemed nothing wrong, but after 20 minutes and then on the motorway the rear brakes started high pitched squealing. After 2 hours of this today I now am a nervous wreck. It stops briefly when I dab the brakes but then comes right back on.

The rear brakes have always been a bit squeaky when manoeuvring, but this is a whole different ball game.

The car is just over 2 years old, we have had it from new, apart from this it is a great little car.

Before I get onto the dealership, do any of you have any tips on what I should be requesting? It seems I am not the only one affected here.

Thanks,

Dan

May relate to the 'honking when reversing' noises (which they all make) - seems to be a lack of anti rattle backing (or Copperslip) on the back of the pads. I've found I can cure the noises when reversing by, every now and again (when safe, etc) pulling the handbrake on while moving forward at about 20mph: this seems to 'clean up' the pads and cures the noise for a couple of days. Maybe will help you too? Also though, some cars (not sure if Panda does) have a little 'tab' of metal on the pads that touches the disc when the pads are worn, causing a squeal that's supposed to alert you to the fact new pads are needed...

Herts Hillhopper said:

May relate to the 'honking when reversing' noises (which they all make)

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My brakes don't honk

Mine started to get a bit noisy and feel gritty after around 6 months.

Then it started honking and groaning when reversing as the pads were catching.

I rang the dealer and they weren't too eager to book it in, all that "bring it down, we'll have a quick look" I've fell for before!
Some salesman telling me "they all do that" after wasting half a day getting there.

I was certain I knew what was wrong so on a quiet Sunday I removed the wheels myself for a quick look.

First off, the calipers were built up dry, not a dab of brake grease anywhere.
They were also very dirty, they were caked in brake dust, road dirt and a bit of off road debris.

I cleaned them off and greased up the pins, everything was freed off.
I greased up pad backs and pad mounting points and thats worked for about 12 months.

Recently I can hear the pads "slap" back and forth in the calipers.
It's most notable when reversing, when I apply the brake a knock is heard from the N/S/R wheel and same again the first time I brake after pulling forward.
This is the pads gripping the disc and moving in the mounting bracket ever so slightly.

At around the same time, the O/S/F pads developed a knock over bumps.
Again the pads are rattling slightly in the mounting bracket.
It only happens over large sharp speed bumps (if I mount them with a little brake on, it doesn't do it).
As I know what it is I'm not too worried at the moment.

I'm fairly confident in saying the brake consumables fitted to mine are typical Fiat items. Cheap and uncheerful!

They've never fitted a decent discs or pads to any of their cars from the factory in the 35 years I've been buying them.
I'm just going to keep cleaning them off when they honk or squeal until they need replacing, then fit some decent Pagid discs and pads.

Yours will just need cleaning and greasing, if you can't wait for the dealer, try a "free brake check" from one of the well known chains, bung the spanner jockey a drink to clean and grease them up for you.

My 4x4 TA's done 28000 miles in two yers and I haven't had any rear brake noises. the same was true of my Mk 3 100HP, a model that also gained a reputation for noisy rear brakes. I suspect it's because I very rarely use the handbrake as the car spends most of the time in a level garage.

Our 4x4 TwinAir brakes had to be cleaned at ~4000miles and have just developed the Panda-"Honk" again at approaching 8000miles. I may do as suggested and give them a clean as described above this time, as it'll be quicker to do myself than drive up to the dealer. It sounds as if Fiat's insistence on a dry assembly may be the culprit...

Fiat have a modification for the rear brakes that should be fitted under warranty. The dealer calls them rear caliper dampers. I'm not sure what they are but they were fitted to my cross about three or four weeks ago and since there has been no noise from the rear brakes.

The rear brakes on my TA Cross are noisy in reverse & sometimes in slow moving traffic.

Dealer had a look at them at c1k miles but it never went away. Feels like they're binding which could account for the lousy fuel consumption I get from this car.

PaulD said:

Fiat have a modification for the rear brakes that should be fitted under warranty. The dealer calls them rear caliper dampers. I'm not sure what they are but they were fitted to my cross about three or four weeks ago and since there has been no noise from the rear brakes.

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Is that an official fiat description that I can quote to my dealer in the knowledge they might know what I'm on about?

The service report states:

Carry out modifications to rear calipers as per Fiat tech instructions and test (fitted vibration dampers).

Your dealer should be aware of this.

See my tale of woe just posted re brake noise and dealing w dealers and FIAT "CUSTOMER SERVICE" Good luck, it is a common problem, you are not alone ;-)

PaulD said:

The service report states:



Carry out modifications to rear calipers as per Fiat tech instructions and test (fitted vibration dampers).



Your dealer should be aware of this.

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Hi. Has the remedial work stopped the brake noise permanently. I gave up trying to get mine sorted after two strip downs and cleans with fiat. I just live with it now but it's really annoying. My car is 3 years old in April so if there's a chance of a long term fix I'll pursue it.

Since the 'vibration dampers' have been fitted sometime in September I've had no recurrence of brake squeal, or any other noise. It seems to have done the trick.

I'm going to call the dealer to see about getting my brakes looking at after Paul's result .
I'm fully expecting to be told "sorry, the manufacturers warranty is only 2 years, and the third year insurance warranty doesn't cover that"

Hope I'm wrong though.

deeyup said:

I'm going to call the dealer to see about getting my brakes looking at after Paul's result .
I'm fully expecting to be told "sorry, the manufacturers warranty is only 2 years, and the third year insurance warranty doesn't cover that"

Hope I'm wrong though.

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I'll do the same but surely if its been reported (& supposedly cured) on previous occasion it'll be covered. Won't it?

Hi all, just to say I had the damper kit fitted yesterday to the the rear brakes on my Cross at the dealers. Up to now this has cured the noisy rear brakes which has been a problem for the past few months

Crossman has spurred me on to call me dealer. They say the need the car in again for the day, and as its third year warranty the problem may well not be covered. I did reply what about the fact that my car has been doing this for over 2 years, and Fiats solution when the car went in which I refused 18 months ago was to replace the rear pads.

I have copied this from the mopar web site

In addition to the standard manufacturers 24 month warranty UK customers also benefit from a further 12 month dealer warranty the third-year dealer warranty enjoys the same level of cover as the two year warranty and enjoys the same unlimited mileage.

We all know that's bullturd!

deeyup said:

Crossman has spurred me on to call me dealer. They say the need the car in again for the day, and as its third year warranty the problem may well not be covered. I did reply what about the fact that my car has been doing this for over 2 years, and Fiats solution when the car went in which I refused 18 months ago was to replace the rear pads.

I have copied this from the mopar web site

In addition to the standard manufacturers 24 month warranty UK customers also benefit from a further 12 month dealer warranty the third-year dealer warranty enjoys the same level of cover as the two year warranty and enjoys the same unlimited mileage.

We all know that's bullturd!

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I doubt my dealer will do it for free under the 3rd year warranty. As you, mine has been in twice for the issue and all I've ever had it strip and clean or the brakes. I will have an argument with them over it though.

Keep us informed

I'm thinking not all service centers are up to date on what can be done about this. I just got my 4x4 back, and they said all they did was take the brakes apart and re-adjust the tolerances, and now they aren't squealing. Time will tell how long they'll remain squeal free, but so far so good.

It would be interesting to see what this "damper kit" consists of.

My bet it's just a cushioning pad stuck to the back of the actual brake pads that'll stop the noise of the pads catching the discs which amplifies through the calipers and mounting brackets to make them "honk".