Brakes noise but garage says all ok

pawelw

I drive a 52 reg car which has been maintained well but not doing many miles, about 3k/year and short journeys mostly. Just passed MOT.

A couple of months ago the rear brakes developed a sort of grinding noise when coming to a stop. Sometimes it's quite loud, especially when the car hasn't been driven for a couple of days. Other times it's barely audible.

Went to my local garage to check, and they told me nothing's wrong, cleaned the brake parts (charged me £40). The brakes still making noise. Went back a couple of times, they assured me everything was ok and even did a road test last time but it wasn't that loud so advised to wait and see. But I'm still worried about it. I was tempted to go to KwikFit for a "free brake check" but after reading advice on this forum I think I will steer clear (no pun intended).

Any advice? Could it be just cold/rust/etc.?

AdrianC

Clearly something IS wrong. I'm sure you're capable of taking the wheel off yourself...? So have a look. Take a pic or two. Post them here (you'll need to obfuscate the URL a snidge, but we can figure out how - or PM them to me or one of the other regulars).

We'll have a look and see what's obvious.

But you've got a very low use 16yo car, so it's entirely possible that the pads are worn out or the disc's badly corroded, or the caliper's seizing. Could be anything, basically... But a quick look will give some good hints.

pawelw

Thanks AdrianC. A quick question - and forgive me if it appears silly - if I take the wheel off, when put back on don't the bolts have to be tightened using a special tool, not just by hand?

Grey_Critic

Before you take anything apart be sure you know how to put it back together and for brakes that is even more important. Get it wrong and you could have a serious accident.



When a car is not driven for a few days, even a high mileage vehicle, a fine coating of rust will appear on the discs/ drums. When you drive it again the you will have to wear off that rust.



In a car with discs at front and drums at rear approx 90% of braking is done by the front brakes so a noise on the rear brakes is natural and depending how far you are driving/braking it can take some time to rub off the fine rust coating, additionally you do get some dust build up in rear brake drums.



You have been to a garage - they are the experts - and they have told you there is nothing wrong.

pawelw

That would make sense, especially that the noise goes quieter after some driving, but it never actually disappears.

By the way, a couple of years ago I had advisories on MOT about "rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement". Then it never appeared on MOT again, could it indicate that MOT was not done properly?

Lucky_Duck_2

Self repairing MOT advisories are remarkably common :-)

Try braking hard (when nobody is behind you) and see if that helps

agrinnall

pawelw wrote: »

Thanks AdrianC. A quick question - and forgive me if it appears silly - if I take the wheel off, when put back on don't the bolts have to be tightened using a special tool, not just by hand?

You can use a torque wrench, although it can be difficult to find the correct figure to tighten to. I have removed and replaced many wheels and never used anything other than feel, followed up by a short drive and recheck to make sure they aren't loose.

Grey_Critic wrote: »

Before you take anything apart be sure you know how to put it back together and for brakes that is even more important. Get it wrong and you could have a serious accident.

Nobody is suggesting doing anything to the brakes, just taking the wheel off, which should be within the ability of anyone physically capable of doing it.

DoaM

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/how-to-tighten-lug-nuts-by-john-hege


Regarding a torque wrench ... tighten the nuts in sequence per above (gradually, not super-tight on each nut right from the start) then give each one an additional "oomph" (jerk motion to tighten). Go for a test drive then recheck the tightness of each wheel nut.

wgl2014

To be honest this is a scenario where a 'free brake check" could be a good idea.

This will give a worst case assessment (designed to flog brake parts) but may actually assist the OP in identifying the source of the noise.

As has been suggested already it sounds like a but of surface rust may the source but difficult to say without hearing it. I would be surprised if the original garage would have said everything was fine if they had already got everything stripped down, it wouldn't have been much more work to replace the discs and pads if they were required.

Jonesya

Rust can make a noise, my brakes sound bit rough and raspy when I first drive away if the car's been parked up in the wet, unmoved for a few days as the disc surfaces get a bit rusty, but within a mile or two and a few braking actions that's gone.

If you take the car out for a good drive, use the brakes a number of times, particularly braking from a reasonable speed 50, 60, 70mph, that should clear the rust off. If it's still making a noise, then I'd be looking for other things.

It's possible the brake might be binding a bit, after a good drive see if any of the wheels are noticeably hotter than the others. But it can be tricky if its intermittent.

It could be something minor - like the thin steel back-plate (assuming it's a disc brake) having bent a bit and rubbing the disc - but that can vary from a rubbing noise, into a horrific squeal.

AdrianC

pawelw wrote: »

Thanks AdrianC. A quick question - and forgive me if it appears silly - if I take the wheel off, when put back on don't the bolts have to be tightened using a special tool, not just by hand?

A good firm nip up using the car's wheelbrace. Then check again in 50 miles or so.

There is a published torque figure, that you can check with a torque wrench, but you'll be in the right ballpark unless you're a stick insect or bodybuilder.

Y'know... like you'd do at the roadside if you had a puncture, right...?