Technical Squeaking

[Night35]

Very low squeaking comes for short while driving slow. Then nothing.

Today it was louder on dual carriageway- but then stopped.

Car not long had its MOT- CV ball joint was advisory.

Thoughts are wheel bearing- but there is nothing other than this noise.

Breaking no grinding. Can go 20 miles and no noise- even days.

 

[koalar]

if it a content noise when it happens the most likely cause will be the front disc pads


it will be hard to diagnose until it happens more often. When its happening you need to jack the car and spin a wheel


you could test the temperature of the front discs, be careful dont burn yourself. Its not 100% but if ones dragging it will get quite hot


same with the wheel bearing. When one starts to fail the centre of the wheel will feel warmer normally but again not 100%

 

[jrkitching]

you could test the temperature of the front discs, be careful dont burn yourself

Best way is with a laser guided infrared temperature gauge - I bought one cheaply from the centre of Lidl a year or two back. No need to touch anything, so no burnt fingers and no greasy hands either.

You can easily point it at the various suspect parts; what you're looking for is a difference between the two sides of the car, so absolute accuracy isn't that important.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Best way is with a laser guided infrared temperature gauge - I bought one cheaply from the centre of Lidl a year or two back.

I've seen them in our Lidl a couple of times and nearly bought. Reasonably good quality would you say? If they come in again I might just buy one anyway.

 

[Yolanda]

Next time it does it keep your foot on the gas pedal and appy a bit of pressure on the brake pedal with your other foot. If the noise stops it's the pads. I've done this many times on different car's. The pads will need removing and check the callipers for freedom of movement, clean ever thing up and apply a little bit of copper grease to the area where the pads fit, that normally solves the problem.

 

[portland_bill]

This is a common problem with the Panda. Mine does it annually, and there have been many posts of a similar nature.

The caliper and pads get sticky in their housings, and the pads stay in contact with the disc. Act soon, just clean everything, especially the rust and dust build-up, and it'll be fine for about another year. Repeat. Ignore it, and one pad will wear more than the rest.

 

[jrkitching]

Reasonably good quality would you say?

It's cheap and cheerful, like most Lidl stuff, and from memory you get a 3yr guarantee as well. I got mine from the 30% off bin; too good a deal to resist!

If you need super precision accuracy, then you'll have to spend a lot more, but it's certainly good enough for this sort of job.

 

[DaveMcT]

I use mine to diagnose misfiring cylinders, Start from cold and point the laser at the exhaust stubs up close to the cylinder head. All should be within a few degrees.

It came in handy when I changed the brake discs and had a horrible hot smell from the brakes (yes I had cleaned the new discs). Both were around 50 degrees so a bit concerning. By the time I got home, taking car to not touch the brake peda
l they were both down to just above ambient and have been fine ever since.

Back to the OP - The front brake's back cover plates can get noisy if badly corroded but that's more of a rattle. A stone stuck behind the disc will squeal loudly.

 

[Night35]

Thanks. The MOT was only done last month so anything major would expect it would have flagged re this.
Done around 15 miles on 30/60mph roads- nothing. Odd.

 

[chris3234]

Thanks. The MOT was only done last month so anything major would expect it would have flagged re this.
Done around 15 miles on 30/60mph roads- nothing. Odd.

Not really the MOT test is very lacking in many areas is a basic visual only inspection of most items can't remov are covers or use tools


And brakes wise Its visual check for bolts being in place and for lad thickness then a check on the roller's for minimum effort and them being balanced on each side

 

[portland_bill]

It will only show up on an MOT if a pad is dragging. Often they drag for a short while after braking, then release enough to allow the wheel to turn freely, but rub enough to wear more rapidly than the others.

 

[DaveMcT]

Brake cylinders/pistons have square section seals which distort to parallelogram shape when the pedal is pressed. When the pedal is released the seal springs back to square pulling the pads a few fractions of a mm off the disc. The piston will intentionally, slip through the seal as the pads wear. Using the wrong grease allows the pistons to slide too easily so the spring-back effect is lost. For example, silicone grease (or spray coating) will cause brakes to drag rather than release when the pedal is released.

Corroded brakes can't spring back so the pads drag on the disc.

 

[koalar]

lets keep it simple,

Assuming the initial guess is correct

on front disc rear drum cars the is a very common, not just Pandas

I must have seen this every few years on nearly every car I have owned and I have been driving neatly 30 years

a quick wire Bush where the pad slot in is all that has been need so far

the pads just need to be a loose fit.

as per portland_bill post earlier

 

[jrkitching]

on front disc rear drum cars the is a very common, not just Pandas I must have seen this every few years on nearly every car I have owned and I have been driving neatly 30 years a quick wire Bush where the pad slot in is all that has been need so far the pads just need to be a loose fit.

That's been my experience too, across a wide range of cars and marques. I've also found that, unless you protect the contact surfaces between the pads and the reaction frame with a suitable paste (copper grease works just fine), then however thorouighly you clean them, the problem returns within a few weeks. Even brand new cars straight out of the factory suffer from this issue; cast iron reaction frames + steel pad backing plate + english weather = corrosion.

Fiat's semicircular contact faces on the reaction frames make for easy cleaning with a rotary wire brush (once the frames are off the car); some of the square section designs often used on other marques are more awkward to derust properly.

Binding disc brakes are almost always down to this; it's much more uncommon to encounter a sticking caliper.

 

[portland_bill]

Fiat's semicircular contact faces on the reaction frames make for easy cleaning with a rotary wire brush (once the frames are off the car); some of the square section designs often used on other marques are more awkward to derust properly.

Last time I did mine, I used a tiny wire cup brush in a dremel, frames still on the car. (Wear eye protection!)

 

[joycespeed]

I found this article online, maybe it can give you the answer that you need:

https://www.comparethemarket.com/ca...y-car-squeaks-while-driving-what-should-i-do/

 

[DaveMcT]

I’ve just cleaned and painted an extremely rusty pair of calipers. They looke like came off WW2 DD Sherman tank. But they have come up well. Seals were perfect so cleaned. Red greased and put back in.