Morning guys, I'm sure a few people on here will know about this. My rear brakes are squealing horrendously and I have a slight judder in the steering wheel when braking from high speeds (50mph+). Now I know it's not the front brakes because I've had brand new calipers, discs and pads fitted only a couple of months ago and visually there's nothing out of the ordinary at the front. Having inspected the rear discs I can see some deposits on the discs, which I think may be causing the brake squeal and juddering. What's the best way for me to clean the deposits off? Brillo pad? Drill attachment? Should I replace the pads too? The car is a 330d auto.
Cleaning Brake Discs
- Thread starter panthro
- Start date
How could the brake squeal be my tyres? I am 99.9% it isn't because I had them checked at the weekend, along with the alignment, which is slightly out and will be getting sorted this weekend. The car is booked in with a garage for next Thursday to investigate, but I wanted to clean the rear brakes to see if it alleviates the problem slightly.
The best way to do it is to take it out and do a few progressive - hard stops (obviously being careful with how much heat you get into them).
That will clean them up better than you can manually. If they're squealing i'd just pull them and re do the contact areas. Your rear brakes are pretty unlikely to cause juddering through the wheel
That will clean them up better than you can manually. If they're squealing i'd just pull them and re do the contact areas. Your rear brakes are pretty unlikely to cause juddering through the wheel
If it's the front brakes, then they are still under warranty from the garage so I'll get them to check them too. I'll be annoyed if it's the fronts as they have literally done 2 thousand miles at the very most. Anyway, the rear brakes still have plenty of deposits on and squeal like mad so how to clean them.....
EDIT - could the toe and camber being misaligned cause wheel judder? Thinking about it even more, the front wheel may be buckled as I noticed a drop in pressure the other day, whereas all the other wheels are holding pressure fine.
EDIT - could the toe and camber being misaligned cause wheel judder? Thinking about it even more, the front wheel may be buckled as I noticed a drop in pressure the other day, whereas all the other wheels are holding pressure fine.
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Soldato
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When i had really bad pad deposits on my Subaru i ended up taking the discs off and using some emery cloth where the imprint of the pad was, sorted it out fine for me. They were bad enough on my discs that hard stops alone wouldn't cure it.
Brake squeal wouldn't be...but equally rear brake issues are unlikely to cause judder through the steering wheel under braking.
Soldato
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Drive a 50mph and put on your handbrake (gently), does it still sequel, this will make sure it is the rears
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Shimmy can be suspension/steering wear such that when you apply the brake, the wheels move back and tow out and bounce back the other way in a sort of harmonic resonance.
Not on a car where the handbrake is a drum /shoe setup whilst the brakes themselves are disc / pad.
E46 3 Series doesn't use the rear discs for it's hand brake, it uses some kind of sprung shoe.
Vibration following a brake change is usually caused by the mechanic/fitter not properly cleaning the mating surfaces where the disc rests against the flange. A tiny bit of rust and you get a bit of a wobble. Probably just needs a strip and clean up.
Noise from the rear could be worn pads on lipped discs, you would need to take the wheel off and see the state of them.
BMW's use shoes inside the disc as the handbrake which seems a bit daft, as they are never used on rotation (or often at all on autos with park) the shoe surface hardens and the disc corrodes making a massive amount of BMW's fail the handbrake test come MOT time.
I have never known wheel alignment to cause a vibration through the wheel, all sorts of wobbles and vagueness sure but nothing quite as fast or sharp as brake vibration.
Noise from the rear could be worn pads on lipped discs, you would need to take the wheel off and see the state of them.
BMW's use shoes inside the disc as the handbrake which seems a bit daft, as they are never used on rotation (or often at all on autos with park) the shoe surface hardens and the disc corrodes making a massive amount of BMW's fail the handbrake test come MOT time.
I have never known wheel alignment to cause a vibration through the wheel, all sorts of wobbles and vagueness sure but nothing quite as fast or sharp as brake vibration.
Thanks for the info all. I've decided for the rear discs I will do the following:
Buy a set like this http://www.screwfix.com/p/drill-carbon-steel-wire-brush-set-3pc/13734
Buy some brake cleaning fluid.
Clean both sides of the disc.
Check the pads and replace if necessary.
This is currently what my discs look like:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAUQjhw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FFrugal%2Fcomments%2F10tiaz%2Ffree_handweights_after_a_brake_job_after_cleaning%2F&ei=vN0GVZHdM4jSaJDvgPAP&bvm=bv.88198703,d.d2s&psig=AFQjCNFe-n6A3sjO9WC_fVlYSjeZUYzJHw&ust=1426599705482641
For the steering wobble, I am getting a 4 wheel alignment on the car, but have asked the garage to first check all wheels (in particular the front offside) for buckling. If buckled then replace and perform the alignment.
The car is also booked in on the 26th to get the handbrake checked. I will get them to check all the suspension and front discs (under warranty from the garage who did the work).
I'm pretty sure I've covered all bases this way.
Buy a set like this http://www.screwfix.com/p/drill-carbon-steel-wire-brush-set-3pc/13734
Buy some brake cleaning fluid.
Clean both sides of the disc.
Check the pads and replace if necessary.
This is currently what my discs look like:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAUQjhw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FFrugal%2Fcomments%2F10tiaz%2Ffree_handweights_after_a_brake_job_after_cleaning%2F&ei=vN0GVZHdM4jSaJDvgPAP&bvm=bv.88198703,d.d2s&psig=AFQjCNFe-n6A3sjO9WC_fVlYSjeZUYzJHw&ust=1426599705482641
For the steering wobble, I am getting a 4 wheel alignment on the car, but have asked the garage to first check all wheels (in particular the front offside) for buckling. If buckled then replace and perform the alignment.
The car is also booked in on the 26th to get the handbrake checked. I will get them to check all the suspension and front discs (under warranty from the garage who did the work).
I'm pretty sure I've covered all bases this way.
Last edited:
Suspended
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Did you have genuine manufacturers brakes fitted or 3rd party? I ask because we have just been through a year of what you describe. We had 3rd party discs and pads fitted during a service. We then had them changed 5 times at two different garages because of squeeling or judder through the wheel when braking at speed. We tried a specialist garage in the end and they told us straightaway what the issue was. New genuine discs and pads fitted and we now have perfect braking.
If you're taking the discs off to clean them you'd be just as well to replace the discs and pads while you're there.
Brake squeel can be the pads working on the cylinders, you can buy anti-squeal pads or use a small amount of copper slip behind the pad to fix this. It could also be the lack of a leading edge on the pad, I have previously filed an edge on the pads to combat this.
Issues with the rear brakes won't affect the feel from the front of the car though.
Brake squeel can be the pads working on the cylinders, you can buy anti-squeal pads or use a small amount of copper slip behind the pad to fix this. It could also be the lack of a leading edge on the pad, I have previously filed an edge on the pads to combat this.
Issues with the rear brakes won't affect the feel from the front of the car though.
I'd be willing to bet money its your front ones
especially since they've just been changed. So easy to end up with squealing brakes when you change them if you don't clean and grease everything just right. Before you spend any money take it back and get the garage to check.
It won't cost them anything, just the labour from taking it apart and cleaning it properly like they should have done the first time.
especially since they've just been changed. So easy to end up with squealing brakes when you change them if you don't clean and grease everything just right. Before you spend any money take it back and get the garage to check.
It won't cost them anything, just the labour from taking it apart and cleaning it properly like they should have done the first time.