'03 Dak Quad Cab Sport w/ 4-wheel discs is driving me nuts!

The passenger side squeals like a stuck pig when braking under 25 mph. Straight stops, turning stops, fast or slow... doesn't matter.

The system is quiet when first driving in the morning or after it's been sitting for a while but after 20 - 30 min of driving, the sound effects start up again.

I've taken the pads off, applied anti-squeak stuff to them (the red stuff) and lubed things up according to the repair manual. Everything was quiet for about three days, but it's back!

There is no sign of malfunction, rubbing, dragging or any issues in terms of braking action, just the annoying sound. I have about 1/3 - 1/2 pad life left and the discs seem to be in good condition (no scoring or anything... nice and smooth.)

This vehicle is fairly new to me... had it for about a year and been dealing with this issue for the last six months and the only (temporary) cure has been to go to the car wash place and clean the wheels/brakes.

Any ideas before I go mad?!

 

bearings mabey?

 

If only squeals when you apply the brakes it stands to reason that it's the pad contacting the rotor. Try swapping out pads and if that doesn't help I'm out of ideas. The fact that the noises started again after the anti-squeak wore off is another clue it's the pad/rotor issue.

 

i would think bearings would be more of a grinding noise when driving or klunk sound when you would turn at slow speeds. I had bad problem when coming to a stop it would be loud on my truck on recently had a problem when i was driving my brakes were dragging and i replaced the caliper(38.99 at auto zone) and brake line(24.99 at napa) and i still have a small squeak when coming to a stop but not any were near as bad as before.

 

Good way to tell if your pads are dragging is to take a short drive and check your disks. If they are very hot to the touch or one side is hotter than the other chances are you need brake work.

I just went through the dreaded dragging-caliper thing with mine. Except on mine you could smell the pad burning and the caliper was so hot it burned my finger. One piston was stuck and I needed a new caliper.

 

aight... cool. I'll test for the dreaded dragging caliper thing (but will use something other than my finger to test temperature) and may also try swapping out the pads.

Will report back...

 

Your rotors may have a high spot. This is another idea. is it a rotational squeal?

If the rotor has a high spot hitting the pads as it passes by, replacing the pads will not help. You will have to turn the rotor or get a new one.

I found out about this stuff the hard way. Bought all new brakes around on my old grand am, and after about a week I had this nasty squeal when the brakes got hot (Like warmed up). I ended up replace the rears again because that's where I thought it was coming from. But it was coming from the pass front. Turned the rotor, squeal was gone.