Name my squeak!

For the past month this has been doing this and its getting really annoying. When I am driving in a straight line or turning right I get this high pitched chirping noise that sounds almost like a bad throw out bearing. It sounds like it squeaks every time the wheel goes around or something....like chirp chirp chirp chirp. If I turn left even for just a little it goes away. I have already taken the say bar, brake caliper, brake pads and more off and lubed them up with high temp grease and it didnt go away.The brake pad has plenty of meat on it still so I dont think its that. Any other ideas?
 
  • Sponsors (?)


so it only does it when the car is moving? or also when the car is parked?

if its when its moving maybe a bad wheel bearing?

all the time it could be pump/rack/belt
 
Also, does the noise go away if you apply the brakes? A set of bad slide pins can hang the caliper up, which allows a chirp if there is any run out in the rotor.

Good luck.

BTW, the offers you're getting for your wheels are :notnice: They're good lookin wheels. :nice:
 
If hitting the brakes changes it, inspecting the brakes sounds good.

I'd do a few things. Check rotor run-out. This can create a chirp as well. I'm not sure why I didnt mention it before.

Anyhow, I just swapped the slide pins yesterday. There's a Chinese kit for 8 bucks from Autozone. I wasnt too impressed with the quality of the bushing in the kit though (my OEM bushing looked better so I left it). When you unbolt the caliper (one bolt is a 10 mm head, the other is a large, easy to strip torx bit), you can pull the bolts out. The 10 mm head one comes out by pulling it towards you (the head comes out last - counterintuitive). On the bottom boss, you can pull the bushing out of the rubber boot once the torx bolt is out. The rubber boot grips the bushing via grooves in the bushing (it's kind of a pain to reseat the bushing into the rubber because the rubber boot catches in the leading boot edge).

Anyhow, inspect all the pins and bushings and lube or replace as necessary. A sign of a hanging set of pins is that the outer pad wears more than the inner pad. Remember that the pins come with a sacrificial coating which does eventually wear off.

It should either be rotor-run out, the pins or an actual sticking piston (both pads on this side of the car will be worn more than the pads on the other side. Both pads on the bad side will be worn fairly evenly though).

This will all take a half hour or so to inspect and replace parts and button up.
Good luck.
 
One last question, what is rotor run out?

You're checking for rotor warpage. In such a case, a warped point, when passing through the pads, will chirp. You can do it properly or just rig a dial indicator up using stuff around the garage. If you have a milk crate, you can use that with a base, etc to get the indicator to the rotor's swept area. Then spin the rotor while watching the dial indicator.
If you had rotors turned, they should have checked them for run out before machining them.

Good luck.
 
Hissin, any more info on the part you got from auto zone? I went to discount auto and couldn't find anything like it.

Kevin, try searching for "Brake caliper bolt" or "Brake caliper pin". On AZ's site, it's part number H15057 and goes for 8 dollars locally here (prices range by region).
 
Any parts store will have them. But yes look at your Haynes Manual for installation. It's really not that bad. I learned a valuable less on my g/f Grand Am. When it says to torque the living piss out of them. It really means it. Or you'll eat up a new bearing in no time. Don't ask me how I know. :p

(My torque wrench didn't go that high).