Squeal after brakes, axles, wheel bearing

[scot850]

Oh I did miss the rear brake part, sorry! But it is time to take a second look at it. Remove the rotors and disconnect the parking brake cable from the shoes and have someone pull on the parking brake lever carefully while you try to prevent it moving, see if it binds and as they release the cable see if it releases smoothly. The cables tend to seize just forward of the rear wheel where they are clamped to the car. Water then penetrated the outer casing and then causes the cable to swell and stick.

Another issue I have had is the springs for the shoes breaking or falling off. Did you replace the rear rotors and parking brake shoes? If you didn't did you roughen the surface of the shoes before re-fitting and clean all the brake dust out from the rotor drum? If I am re-using the rotor/drum I hold the rotor in a bench vice with the drum inside facing me and then using a rotary wire brush on a drill, remove all the rust from the contact areas and then clean out with brake cleaner so it is clean.

Once you re-assemble, adjust the parking brake at the wheel until the rotor won't rotate, and then back off 2-3 clicks max. Adjust the cable at the parking brake lever until pulling the lever on only give up to 5 clicks max.

Finally check the rear dust shield is not also rubbing.

Good Luck,

Neil.

[mkc1]

Thanks, Neil.

As I said earlier, it's primarily the front that's making the noise, not the rear. The front rotors, pads, and brake lines were replaced and the rear pads, rotors, and at least one caliper replaced at a local 'Volvo Specialist.' That's when all this started. As I didn't do them myself and they were rather vague about what they did, I'm not sure what, if anything, was done re: the parking brake. The parking brake works even less well than it did before I had the work done, but it doesn't feel like a cable is sticking. Just feels like they didn't adjust the shoes outward sufficiently after replacing the rotors.

The noise is also quite intermittent and perhaps temperature dependent. It was squealing terribly on my way to the freeway a while back, then after driving a while on the freeway, it was almost completely gone when I got back off the freeway and still gone a couple of hours later when I started it up again. Then it came back to varying degrees on subsequent days. I'm still leaning towards the caliper sticking on the slide pins since it seems to come and go so much. I'm not sure that would account for the same noise happening when a corner is bounced though? Also the pitch seems pretty steady through a range of speeds (say 20-40 km/h) and I'd have thought something making contact with the rotor itself would increase in pitch more perceptibly as the rotation speed increased.

It's been in the -20s here for the past week with wind chills in the -30s so I haven't managed to take anything apart to look at it. Hopefully soon!

Thanks again!
Michael

[scot850]

It could be a sticking caliper. Some remanufactured units are of poor quality and it could be it is dragging. Not sure what else it could be if it is temp related. What brake pads/rotors/hoses did they use? The worst thing I have come across with the remanufactured calipers is the slider pins which in some cases are a cheap metal and of really poor manufacture quality. Final question is did they re-fit the pad retainer springs at the front?

Happy New Year and hopefully a resolution to this annoying issue! Temp has finally broken from the lows for this week and we are back to around zero from down as low as -40C for last week!

Neil.

[mkc1]

Well, it finally got a degree or two above freezing here, so I pulled the tyre, and removed the caliper and pads on the front driver's side. Nothing obvious -- the pins seemed slightly gunky and the pads (Volvo) were quite dusty and seemed to have more wear than I would have expected especially down the slot in the centre.

I cleaned and lubed the pins and the backs of the pads, got out some of the dust, and put everything back together. I still get the occasional short squeal when braking, backing, or turning hard, but nothing like the continuous squealing I was getting before, so I'm hoping it's fixed. Perhaps I should do the other side the next time we get some warmish weather. Only the rear calipers were replaced -- not the front ones. The front pads are Volvo, not sure about the rotors or brake hoses. Yes, the pad retaining springs were refitted. Here are a couple of pics. Thanks for all your help and Happy New Year to you as well!!!!

[scot850]

Are the front rotors pretty grooved. Looking at the picture it looks like it might be either on the front or rear of the rotor. Hard to tell but does one of the pads have the springs on the rear that latch into the piston?

Neil.

[mkc1]

Sorry, shoulda gotten back to this sooner. The front rotors feel perfectly smooth at least on the outboard surfaces. The pad with the springs that latch into the piston is at the top of the photos. Sadly my fix only worked for a few days before the squeal returned. The fact that it worked for a while leads me to believe I'm headed in the right direction though and should try more lube next time I can get them apart. One of the comments on this article leads one to believe the source for Volvo-branded pads has changed, which might account for the squealing.

[RickHaleParker]

Cheap brake pads with high metal content will squeal ....

[scot850]

I have had squealing brakes, but mostly due to cheap pads fitted by PO. Had one car that the brakes loved to squeal on even with Volvo pads, but it was caused by bad calipers and slider pins. I have used copper grease on the back of the pads for years and not had any issues for a long time.

Volvo did change the source of the brake pads a few years ago. I know they were made in India but can't recall if that was before or after the change.

Neil.

[mkc1]

I usually used Akebono when I did them myself so it's been some time since I've used Volvo pads...perhaps the source location changed since I last used 'em.