Hi all, seeing as you people seem to be bang on the money every time, I’d like to run this next mystery noise past you please…
When coming to a stop, so very low speed, I can hear a creaking noise coming from O/S/F under braking. Definitely a creak, not a squeak (sounds a bit like an old door!). It is dependant on wheel speed i.e. as I slow down to a stop, the frequency does reduce, until I come to a stop. Brakes seems just as effective as they always were. I feel no adverse effects from this whatsoever.
I know I’ve posted in the brakes section, but I don’t want to rule out suspension! I did just recently have all 4 springs done, and I am fairly sure the creaking started after that, but I can’t work out what would be causing the noise if it is indeed something to do with the new springs!
Any help would be very much appreciated as always.
It is very probably a slight irregularity on the surface of the pad. I have encountered this problem many times with all makes of cars, the giveaway is it only happens at very low speed and usually low brake pedal pressure. My MX5 did the same thing a year ago just after I had changed the pads and disks. You could remove the pads and deglaze them but sometimes even this does not work, much more common on drum brakes. My wifes Toyota Yaris did the same thing about two years ago, [rear drum brake] I checked everything all was fine probably a hard spot on the brake shoe, it disappeard after a few weeks. You say your brakes work perfectly which is the important thing.
No noise when using the handbrake. Bolts are torqued up correctly.
Hopefully it is just the pads then. I did have an advisory on my MOT (last summer) that the brake was “binding”, but I don’t really know what that means. But I did nothing about it, and the car has just passed its MOT this summer without a problem. Could it be anything to do with that? My understanding of the word “binding” in this context is that the caliper is not sliding freely on the pins - could that be what caused the irregularities on the pad?
Correct but these brakes do need a strip down, clean,re’grease and rebuild and i don’t mean taking the calipers apart,just a general service,I recomend this every 12 months just before she goes for her golden ticket at the MOT station.
As for the noise you are getting, this will stop when they are working right.
No, you need to read what i posted, i did not say a caliper seal rebuild, or replace everything every year,i am talking about cleaning the carries of rust build up where the slider clip sit with a file so they sit correct,slider pins cleaned and regreased with red rubber grease,check the rubbers are ok for splits rips or have can hard or to soft?slider clips cleaned and refitted with copper slip ,the pads cleaned and filed on their slider edges and greased with copper slip and the cleaned shims refitted,grease again,(if the pads and shims are ok), hand brake arms freed up oiled and greased and cables ect with copper slip and red rubber grease,checking the disks,bleeding off,and free play on the handbrake.
All the bits you have will clean up again like new for reuse,if they are in good nick ,unless you are fitting new OE pads then they should come with new shims,slider clips and M springs(hold off springs) for the rear set.
Sorry did not mean to annoy, just needed clarification. That’s good advice, will get on it. I’ve also learned about red rubber grease from another one of your posts - I had no idea copper slip messes up rubber, I’ve always used it on everything. Would it be worth replacing the rubbers as a matter of course bearing in everything is caked in copper slip?
Just wanted to give a quick update on this. I completely rebuilt the front calipers, and put on new disks and pads as well of course, and the creaking has gone. I also replaced all the sliding pins for good measure, just to be sure. Thank you all.
but these brakes do need a strip down, clean,re’grease and rebuild and i don’t mean taking the calipers apart,just a general service,I recomend this every 12 months just before she goes for her golden ticket at the MOT station.
