Why Does the Brake Squeak?
2 Answers
Brake squeaking may be caused by the following reasons: 1. Poor quality brake pads: If the brake pads installed are not provided by a legitimate manufacturer, or if the owner purchased inferior quality brake pads, a squeaking sound may be heard when braking, and the brake disc may also be damaged. 2. Foreign objects in the brake disc: When driving on complex road conditions, it is easy for the wheels to fling up stones or other foreign objects. If a stone gets lodged between the brake pad and the brake disc, abnormal noises will occur during braking. 3. Severe wear on the brake disc: When the surface of the brake disc is uneven, the friction between the brake pad and the uneven brake disc will produce a squeaking noise.
Driving older cars often involves encountering squeaky brakes, a pattern I've noticed since driving taxis 20 years ago. When brake discs get rusty in rainy weather, they tend to squeak, and the same happens when they're wet after washing the car without drying properly. Newly replaced brake pads may 'sing' for the first 200 kilometers, which is the resin material breaking in. More commonly, sand or small stones get stuck between the brake disc and pad, causing a squealing noise like sand in a bearing. Additionally, when brake pads wear down to expose the metal, they emit a sharp warning sound, signaling it's time for a replacement. In such cases, I usually listen to whether the noise occurs during light braking at startup or only during hard braking, as identifying the type of issue can save on repair costs.
