Morris Minor Owners Club

i recently had three new wheel cylinders, a couple of drums and one lining fitted to my 1958 minor, and while it now actually stops in less time than the Queen Mary when you press the pedal, a high pitched squealing noise came with it, and the fault was traced by the garage to the two nearside wheels, which were warm to the touch after a short period of driving and braking. So in it went again, and now the squeal has moved to the front offside wheel only, which does not get warm despite the noise. The garage says it is unable to find out why it's still squealing, but the noise, even from one wheel, is enough to set the neighbourhood dogs howling, and pedestrians leaping into shop doorways when i pass by and apply the brakes. Any ideas what may be the cause?

Try giving the brakes a really good work out.....ie....use them hard over and over again until they fade and stink. Then let them cool. If that doesn't help. Drums off and file a chamfer on the leading edge of each shoe.

It could well be the lining material on the shoes - I had the same with some shoes I fitted a few years ago which weren't great quality, and the only way I got rid of it was to fit some better quality (Mintex) ones. Of course, you may have already fitted decent shoes, but it's worth bearing in mind.

bmcecosse wrote:Try to giving the brakes a really good work out.....ie....use them hard over and over again until they fade and stink. Then let them cool. If that doesn't help. Drums off and file a chamfer on the leading edge of each shoe.

The good old 'Italian tune up'
But yeah, it does work

thanks for the tips. i don't know exactly which pads were fitted, but the garage ordered the parts directly from Bull Motif.
As for giving it the Italian road test, so to speak, I've started on that, and detect a small improvement. So with any luck a few more sessions might do the trick.

If it hasn't worked after one good 'fade out' - then I think you will need to do the chamfers.

Some cheaper brake linings contain some quite large lumps of metal in them! It could be some grit or dirt contamination? try some brake cleaner?

went in to the garage for the third time today after a particularly horrendous squeal made some poor woman drop her shopping in fright.
this time they switched the new drums from the front to the back, swapped the shoes top to borrom, and greased all the joints. no difference at all. loud as ever. sounds like sharapova in a long tennis rally. the mechanic said the only thing he would now try would be to get a new shoe for the offending wheel (offside front) in case the one fitted, while new, was dodgy.
i got all the brake parts from bull motif, so maybe i should consider ordering a new shoe from ESM or somewhere.
any thoughts on this recommendation?
as things stand the car is pretty much undriveable.

Embarrassing,but if they stop the car ok not too much of a problem. Different shoes must be worth trying. I use mintex and have had no problems.

could you tell me where i can get mintex shoes? worth a try i reckon if yours work fine.

Got mine from Ware's but had to specify them. I'd suggest a google and find the best deal.

what does that mean exactly, had to specify them?

Some of the suppliers sell 'unbranded' brake shoes as well as branded such as Mintex so you need to let them know which ones you want. I recently bought some brake shoes from ESM and asked for the best quality ones, which they said were Mintex. They are more expensive than the unbranded shoes but you get what you pay for, and no squealing!

ok that's a big help, thanks.

I doubt you will get 'one' brake shoe - and in any case I wouldn't mix and match different makes. If he swapped drums back to front - you must have 7" brakes. You should search for a set of 8" front brakes to upgrade your car at the front - they make a big difference. Meantime - have the shoes been well chamferred on the leading edges? And if the front shoes are swapped side to side - does the noise follow the shoes ?

you're right, they seem to come in pairs. so that would work. as for eight inch shoes, i guess i'd have to phone the spares guys and ask that question.
also, the mintex front shoes for an earlier minor (mine is 1958) are showing as no longer available at esm.
lockheed supply them at roughly the same price, so would a pair of these be as good?

sorry forgot to address the question of whether the noise follows the shoes.
i think it does, as the garage claim to have tried every possibly combination. and the noise now is definitely from the front offside.

I wouldn't trust Lockheed now.....and there are many other suppliers besides esm.... whom you seem to have great faith in....? Even ebay is worth a try.

not especially tied to esm. its just that Louise M said she'd got her mintex ones from them.
i'll shop around anyway so thanks.

problem solved. i finally decided it was a job for a specialist, and took the mog down to charles ware, where they not only fixed the brakes, but also sorted one or two peripheral issues which would have caused problems later, and which were not picked up by the local garage. all done in three to four hours, and at a reasonable price.
part of the problem apparently was that the local garage boys had not quite managed to make the shoes fit, and had cut them. with poor results. so CW did the job again with their own shoes. also a drum needed changing, and two new brake pipes fitted. one was corroded and squirting brake fluid with every pump on the pedal. End result, the old boy is now stopping on the proverbial sixpence (well dustbin lid at any rate) and no longer frightening innocent pedestrians. Nor, i should add, assaulting my eardrums.