Squealing brakes!!

[spfh84]

Hi all!!
I have an 11 month old Golf R, about to go in for its first service. About a month ago the brakes started squealing under light braking. Car has only been tracked once and hasn't been driven too hard. Have never experienced brakes wearing out this quickly!! Has anyone else had any experience like this?! I will bring it up at my service and see what they think. Seems like excessive wear to me!!! What do you all think?!

[jords]

I wouldn't mention the track day to the dealer, otherwise they won't do anything with the brakes under warranty.

[AdamD]

Have you checked the thickness of the pads? Are one or more definitely down to the warning markers (hence the squeal)? You haven't changed to a different pad compound from stock?

[Lucas_R]

Unless something is wrong with the pads/disk, i very much doubt you could have worn down the pads in 11 months / 15,000km.

Have you checked the brake to make sure that you haven't got a rock/peddle/debris stuck in there which is rubbing on the disk? This actually happens quite often. Mind you, this would actually make a squeaking noise ALL the time - not just under light braking.

Perhaps the disks are glazed (shiny) and this is the cause for the noise. In this case, a basic machining of the disk and roughing up the pad surface with some sandpaper should have it good as new again.

[Lucas_R]

^ something else i forgot to mention above - the pad might need to be re-set into the caliper. If it has moved slightly and is hitting the disk on a slight angle it could cause the squeak. In this case, remove the pads, rough them up slightly with some sandpaper and re-set them into the caliper.

[Ryan41]

just came across this thread! My R is also 11 months and had exactly the same problem you reported.. i had my car serviced 15,000k yesterday and told them of the issue. Turns out the front calipers were not greased from the factory. They stripped the brake assembly on all 4 corners and re-greased , cleaned etc and now there is no squealing! I was told that from the callipers not being greased the brake pad does not contact the rotor 100% and hence squeals.

they did this under warranty..as I'm guessing the labour would have cost more if it wasn't.?

[Tobes_WIR35]

Hmmm interesting. Mine are squealing too. The discs are noticeably glazed, but the squeal is more of a scratchy sound rather than a smooth whiney squeal. I've hit them with compressed air and the gurney, which fixed it for a little while, but comes back.

[spfh84]

Thanks for the replies! I'll mention it at my service next week!!

[langers_sydney]

Thanks for the replies! I'll mention it at my service next week!!

Just found this thread......

My R is just over 15 months old and at 21000. Just after the first service I had this same problem, confined to one wheel, drivers side front. Squealing quite loudly on light braking or in final brake to stop....

Took it to service centre and they deglazed.

Three weeks later it started doing it again. Again took it back to servivce centre who said it was the disc and it wasn't covered by warranty, but out of good will they had deglazed ita again.

Now two weeks later it is squealing in normal drive as well as braking. This can't be right?

I can't believe I need a non warranty disc replacement after driving carefully for 20,000 in a 70K car......

Help needed, do I take it back to dealer this time?


Cheers
L_S

[SilvrFoxX]

Is it a case of how you drive/brake and the pads..? Maybe you are soft on them which isn't bad as i am not hard on mine and it is a case of getting different type of pads

[ParaBul]

I'm far from an expert on this stuff, but I once had it explained to me that squealing brakes is caused by dust between pad and caliper, allowing the pad to vibrate at high frequency - hence the squeal. There are many different "anti-squeal" compounds available that are applied to the back of the pad to stop the squeal - try the googleweb for more info.

If the stealer is planning to charge you to "de-glaze" to cure squeal, I'd find another stealer.