Brake squeak/chirping

  1. My model of MX-5 is: NC
  2. I’m based near: South London
  3. I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: Noisy Brakes

Hello folks, recently developed a repeating squeak noise from the passenger side front brake. At higher speeds, the squeak is more frequent, sounding like a bird chirping.
Having convinced myself it was the pads, I had them replaced while the car was in for it’s MOT, but the problem remains with the new pad.

Any ideas? Is the rotor wonky? What’s the fix? The noise is affecting my enjoyment of the drive.

Many thanks!

Considering how inexpensive discs are I’ve always thought it false economy to do pad slaps, unless it’s literally on a heap daily you couldn’t care less about.

Aside form discs and pads, it’s worth having a look at the condition of the backing plates in case there’s anything scabbing or bent touching anything or foreign objects like pebbles and stones. Besides this it’s also worth checking the piston and slider pins move nice and freely so as to be sure you’re not getting a caliper that sticks keeping the pad hard up on the disc.

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Hope you told them of the noise before they just changed the pads?
Can be a number things but most would need a brake strip down again to investigate.

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It’s mad because for a straight swap with new pins and a general service and regrease, this has to be one of the cheapest cars I’ve known to just replace it all. Cheap to the point where I don’t think I’d ever replace just the pads, when to do discs, pads and pins comes in at around the £100 mark per axle. Even if a garage does the work the additional labour would be minimal as it all has to come off to do the pads properly or you can’t properly clean the slides and guides.

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No, my mistake was diagnosing it myself as the pads. I asked them to replace them and they did