brakes

[jazer80]

a little while ago my brakes started to squeek, especially when braking in reverse, and today they started to make my whole car shake when i was close to coming to a complete stop. they slow me fine when i'm going at any driving speed, it's just when i'm trying to come to a complete stop that they make the whole car shake. what the hell is causing this?

[DASHYTT]

it might be that your brake rotors are warp and and when you step on the brakes ur pad are grabin them and sicne its warped then it shakes the car.

[Igovert500]

squealing is emitted from any vibrations on your brakes. This can be caused by any contact between your pads, rotors, and metal shims on the back of the pads, the piston in the caliper, or your caliper guide bolts. First solution:

It is most likely your brake pads. Most modern pads have a metal warning clip on them, when the meat of the pad wears down enough, this metal clip comes into contact with your rotor and produces an extremely annoying high pitched squeal. If this is the case the pads need 2 be replaced.

2nd solution: your rotors need replacing or resurfacing. If there are grooves in them, or if they are warped they will cause high pitched squeals. Alot of people don't think it is their rotors, but they actually can warp rather easy. FOr instance, if one doesn't properly tighten their lugnuts on a wheel and htey are not all torqued to roughly the same tightness, this can cause warpage.

3rd solution: It may just be some small vibration of parts or bolts. Pepboys and autozone sell a 3 dollar spray can of brake lubricant called no-squeal or anit-squeal or something. Spraying this liberally on the metal backs of hte pads, the guide bolts(these also need to be torqued to correct specs or they can cause warped rotors and such) and the ring of the piston can eliminate most of these squeals.

My guess, if you havn't had your brakes worked on recently, it is most likely the 1st and possibly the 2nd. If it is your rotors, alot of mechanics will resurface them for you for 7 dollars a rotor rather than buying a new one. However if it is worn down too much this is not possible for safety reasons. Also with the lubricant, you must be careful not to get this on the front of the pads or the rotors, because that will eliminate hte friction necessary to bring you to a stop.
My first piece of advice, would be to jack up the car nearest to the wheel producing the sound. Take off the wheel and look at your brake pads, if they look low, or if the metal clip is touching your rotors, then go from there. If there are grooves in the rotors, then go from there. Also remember to check the backside of hte rotor and the pad on that side as well, not just hte ones on the outside.
Brake jobs are fairly easy if you have a friend who can do it, i suggest asking for help and learning how to do it yourself, as you can save plenty of money. I would say go for it yourself, but if by chance you screw it up...that isn't the part of the car that you don't want working. Also another pain in the @ss is hondas rotors. THey are the only company in hte world who felt it necessary to mount them to hte hub. You need a special tool to get the rotors off the hub. Good luck, hope htis helps. Also shop online for any needed parts. www.tirerack.com sells a variety of pads and rotors and you can usually save money from them or other online vendors.

[jazer80]

very thorough - can't thank you enough. i'll post and let you know what happened. can the brake pads being that low actually cause the car to vibrate though? i put the wheel back on the car myself and just tighten the bolts til they feel tight, with no regards for torque. is that wrong?

[Igovert500]

Well first question...if they are worn down all hte way, and there is no more pad material left, then yes they could be grinding and causing alot of vibration, also the longer this happens, the more damaged your rotors will be.
Secondly, as far as not torquing the lugnuts, honestly I never have used a torque wrench on them in my life, and I havn't had problems. But hey, it is advisable. What I do, put hte wheel up, handtighten the lugnuts in a star shaped pattern, (dont tighten the 2 next to each other first) once they are all handtight and the wheel spins if you tighten any more, let down the car off hte jack and tighten them all as evenly as you can. That works for me, but if you have a torque wrench, it isn't a bad idea to use it.

[jazer80]

aight i got the pads and the manual ready, about to go outside and tackle this. govert, do you think this could be linked to another problem that developed recently: when i put my car in reverse, it squeeks, whether or not i'm braking, just moreso if i do brake

[jazer80]

okay i was out there for 2 hours (no exaggeration) and i couldn't get the caliper to come loose. i sprayed both of the connecting bolts with wd40, and they would still not budge. (the haynes manual doesn't even say you need to loosen them). what am i missing here? i really don't wanna pay someone to do such a simple job

[AccordCodger]

I always have to use a rubber hammer on the wrench to loosen those bolts. Otherwise, I've never had any problem with them. (Actually, you only need to remove the lower one, then swing the caliper up). I hope you are attacking the correct bolts.

I'd be interested to know how Hayes thinks you're going to get the pad out without touching the bolts! (I use a Chilton manual).

Oh -- we are talking about FRONT brakes here, aren't we? Rear are a bit different (but still a rubber hammer job!).

[jazer80]

ya i don't know i'm pretty sure they don't mention anything unless i misread, the manual is in the car. i don't have a rubber hammer, but i was banging it with a wrench, and using all the force i could and i'm pretty strong. also i put wd 40 on it and that didn't make much of a difference (although i did that in the last 20 min of working on it, maybe it needed more time). any other tips on how to loosen that damn screw, i mean i even tried just standing on the damn thing and it wouldn't budge, the wrench has slid off so many times with too much force that's it's mashing the outside of the nut. wanna get this done quick cuz i'm riding on my ebrake everywhere

[AccordCodger]

Wait a minute: Where the caliper bolts (NOT nuts) are, you COULDN'T stand on the wrench unless you were about 1 foot tall -- they are on the inboard side of the caliper. I wonder what you are trying to loosen?

[jazer80]

you can still stand on it. i know it was the right *bolt*(haha my bad). let me rephrase, i put my foot on it, then leaned over in my engine bay and grabbed my strut bar, then tried bouncing on it. you can get your foot in there, but i see what you're saying you definitely can't stand up straight over it. shit description sorry

[AccordCodger]

Really stupid (and maybe insulting - sorry) question. Being as how you are "working backwards" on those bolts, you couldn't be tightening them, could you?

You wouldn't be able to do your "standing" trick on the left side front wheel, only the right.

Like I said - sorry!

[jazer80]

hahahaha no i was doing it on the right front wheel. that would have ruined my day though had i been pushing it backwards.

[jazer80]

codger - i posted this somewhere else, but do you think it's bad for the car to use the handbrake until i get this pad thing resolved? people were telliing me no, though i don't see a problem with it

[jazer80]

actually wait - you did reply to that. i know it's only rear wheels, and i'm being careful. how is that gonna ruin my axles? when people drift and stuff they use their hand brakes with much more force than what i'm doing. i'm not talking long term, i'm just using it to stop between my apt and class for a few days