Brake Noise

[David53]

Took the car out for a long run today and as I neared home again after being out a couple of hours I became aware of a high pitched whistle noise coming from front brakes when applied. It did not sound like anything scraping, and as the pads are brand new I doubt it would be anything metallic scraping. More of a whistle/squealing noise, also there very faintly at times when brakes not applied. It was a very hot day, and the noise only appeared after driving some time. Any ideas?

[mike.perry]

Do you have the conical shoe retaining springs fitted? If not then it could be the metal brake shoe moving sideways and touching the drum
A slight rubbing could be caused by the drums being out of true
Drum brakes have shoes, disc brakes have pads

[bmcecosse]

The whistle should help to clear Roos away from the road in front..........

[David53]

Woops, yes shoes.

Ummm...now I think of it I am not sure the conical springs were present when I reassembled them recently.....at least I don't recall having to fiddle around with needle nose pliers so prob not fitted. Good tip, will check.

[bmcecosse]

Never ever used the bee-hive springs, and no whistling. If the shoe return springs are not fitted correctly they can rub on the hubs - until they wear through........

[David53]

Hmmmm possibly......but have done a thousand miles or so since the front end rebuild and it happened for the first time yesterday. Guess I'll wait and see - pulling the brake drums on the car is a bit of a pain as it's MM style combined hub/drum.

[bmcecosse]

Perhaps as the shoes wear down slightly - the springs have come into contact....... Best check - because if they wear through the shoes will 'self servo' onto the drums........

[David53]

Thanks Roy, will have a look see. The tricky thing is that with the MM styles drum/hub you cannot check for the springs rubbing against the hub as the drum and hub are one unit, hence one you pull off the drum to have a gander you have also removed the hub!...At the least I can pull the wheels and listen very carefully as I turn the hub/drum I guess..

[bmcecosse]

Yes - but when you pull the hub off there will be wear marks if they have been rubbing.

[David53]

Well, went for another long drive today and whilst the whistling squeak was gone I was getting a humming noise at medium speeds. Once home I jacked up the front and checked the spin of the wheels, and found they were a bit tight - shoes adjusted up too much. I slackened them off a notch on each wheel cylinder and we'll see what effect that has.

However, new problem has emerged - water pump leaking and noisy See seperate post...