Whether it is a new car, or a vehicle that has been driven for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of kilometers, the problem of brake noise can occur at any time, especially the sharp “squeak” sound is the most unbearable. And often after the inspection, it was told that it is not a fault, the noise will gradually disappear with the use of additional repair.
Indeed, brake noise is not always a fault, but may also be affected by the use of the environment, habits and the quality of the brake pads themselves, and does not affect the performance of braking; of course, the noise may also mean that the brake pads are close to the wear limit. So how exactly does the brake noise arise, and how to solve it?
Reasons for noise
1. The brake disc pad break-in period will produce a strange sound.
Whether it is a new car or just replaced the brake pads or brake discs, as the loss of parts through friction and braking power, the friction surface between them has not yet reached a complete fit, so in the brake will produce a certain brake noise. New cars or new discs that have just been replaced need to be broken in for a period of time to achieve a good fit. At the same time, it should be noted that the brake discs and pads during the break-in period, in addition to the possible noise, the braking power output will also be relatively low, so you need to pay extra attention to driving safety and maintain a safe distance from the car in front to avoid longer braking distance causing rear-end accidents.
For the brake discs, we just need to maintain normal use, the noise will gradually disappear as the brake discs wear out, and the braking power will also be improved, and there is no need to deal with it separately. However, you should try to avoid braking vigorously, otherwise it will intensify the wear of the brake discs and affect their later service life.
2. The presence of metal hard spots on the brake pads will produce a strange noise.
With the implementation of relevant environmental regulations, brake pads made of asbestos have been basically eliminated, and most of the original brake pads shipped with the car are made of semi-metallic or less metallic materials. Due to the metal material composition of this type of brake pads and the influence of craft control, there may be some metal particles of higher hardness in the brake pads, and when these hard metal particles rub with the brake disc, the common extremely sharp brake noise will appear.
The metal particles in the brake pads generally do not affect the braking performance, but the higher hardness compared to the normal friction material will carve out a circle of dents on the brake discs, intensifying the wear of the brake discs. Since it does not affect the braking performance, you can also choose not to treat it. With the gradual loss of brake pads, the metal particles will be gradually rubbed off together. However, if the noise level is too high, or if the brake discs are badly scratched, you can go to a service outlet and remove the hard spots on the surface of the brake pads using a razor blade. However, if there are still other metal particles in the brake pads, the brake noise may occur again in future use, so you can choose higher quality brake pads for replacement and upgrade.
3. Severe brake pad wear and tear, the alarm pad will make a sharp noise prompting replacement.
Brake pads as a whole vehicle on the wear and tear components, different owners of the frequency of use and use habits, are brake pad replacement is not like the oil filter as simple as the number of miles to propose replacement. Therefore, vehicle braking systems have their own set of alarm systems to warn owners to replace the brake pads. Among several common alarm methods, the alarm pad warning method emits a sharp sound (alarm tone) when the brake pads are worn out.
When the brake pads are worn to a predetermined thickness, the thickness warning iron integrated into the brake pads will rub against the brake disc while braking, thus producing a sharp metallic rubbing sound to prompt the driver to replace the brake pads with new ones. When the alarm pads alarm, the brake pads must be replaced in time, otherwise the metal alarm pads will carve a fatal dent in the brake disc, resulting in the scrapping of the brake disc, and at the same time, the brake pads wear to the limit may lead to brake failure, causing serious traffic accidents.
4. Severe wear of brake discs may also cause strange noises.
Brake discs and brake pads are also wear parts, but the wear of brake discs is much slower than brake pads, and generally the 4S store will recommend that the owner replace the brake discs with the brake pads every two times. If the brake disc is badly worn, the outer edge of the brake disc and the brake pad will become a circle of bumps relative to the friction surface, and if the brake pad rubs against the bumps on the outer edge of the brake disc, a strange noise may occur.
5. Foreign matter between brake pad and disc.
A foreign body between the brake pad and the brake disc is one of the more common causes of brake noise. Sand or small stones may enter during driving and the brake will hiss, which is quite harsh, usually after a period of time the sand and stones are gone.
6. Brake pad installation problem.
After the brake pads are installed, you need to adjust the caliper. Brake pads and caliper assembly is too tight, brake pads installed backwards and other assembly problems will cause brake noise, try to reinstall the brake pads, or apply grease or special lubricant to the brake pads and brake caliper connection to solve.
7. Bad return of the brake distributor pump.
The brake guide pin is rusty or the lubricant is dirty, which will cause the brake distributor pump to return to a bad position and make a strange noise, the treatment is to clean up the guide pin, polish it with fine sandpaper and apply new lubricant, if this operation still can’t be solved, it may also be the problem of the brake distributor pump, which needs to be replaced, but this failure is relatively rare.
8. Reverse brakes sometimes make a strange noise.
Some owners find that the brakes make a strange noise when reversing, this is because the usual friction between the brake disc and brake pads occurs when the brakes are applied forward, forming a fixed pattern, and when the pattern friction changes when reversing, it will make a whining sound, which is also a normal situation. If the noise is larger, you may need to conduct a comprehensive inspection and repair.
Judging the situation according to the sound.
In order to solve the noise caused by the raised edge of the brake disc, on the one hand, you can go to the maintenance network to polish the edge of the brake pad to avoid the raised edge of the brake disc to prevent friction; on the other hand, you can also choose to replace the brake disc. If the service station has a brake disc “disc” service, you can also put the brake disc on the disc machine to re-level the surface, but it will cut off a few millimeters of the surface of the brake disc, reducing the service life of the brake disc.
If you are a car owner, you should be more sensitive to the sound. The noise when you step on the brakes is roughly divided into the following four different sound situations.
1、Sharp and harsh sound when stepping on the brakes
New brake pads: new cars have a sharp, harsh sound when you step on the brakes, and many owners think that there must be a problem with the quality of the vehicle. In fact, the new brake pads and brake discs need a breaking-in process, when stepping on the brakes, coincidentally grinding to the brake pads hard spot (brake pad material due to), will issue this kind of noise, which is completely normal. After the brake pads have been used for several tens of thousands of kilometers: if this sharp and harsh sound is made, it is generally because the thickness of the brake pads is about to reach its limit, and the resulting “alarm” sound is issued. Brake pads used for a period of time but within the service life: This is mostly due to the presence of foreign objects in the brakes.
2、Muffled sound when pressing the brake
This is mostly due to brake caliper failure, such as worn out active pins and detached springs, which will lead to brake calipers not working properly.
3、 A silky sound when you apply the brakes
It is difficult to determine the specific fault of this sound, generally the caliper, brake disc, brake pad failure may produce this sound. If the sound is continuous, first of all, check whether there is a dragging brake. A bad caliper reset will cause the disc and pads to rub for a long time, which will cause a strange sound under certain conditions. If the new pads are just installed, the noise may be caused by the inconsistent size of the new pads and the friction block.
4、 After driving for a period of time, there is a clattering sound when the brakes are applied.
This kind of noise is generally caused by the loose attachment on the brake pad.
How to deal with common brake pad noise?
1, step on the brakes to make a harsh sound, in addition to the new pad break-in, the first time you should check the brake pads to see if they are used up or there are no foreign objects, if the brake pads are used up should be replaced immediately, and foreign objects should be taken off the brake pads to take out the foreign objects and then installed.
2, step on the brakes to make a muffled sound, you can check whether the brake calipers have worn out the active pins, spring pads off, etc. If found should be replaced immediately.
3、When the brakes make a silky sound, it is recommended to check whether there is any problem with the caliper, brake disc and brake pad friction.
4、When the brakes make a clattering sound, you should check whether the brake pads are loose. The best way is to re-enforce or replace the brake pads with new ones.
Of course, depending on the car, the situation encountered is different. You can choose to enter the repair site for inspection, find the cause of the brake rattle and choose the appropriate repair method to deal with it according to the mechanic’s advice.
Although we at Santa Brake offer high quality brake pads, occasionally a very low percentage of brake pads are installed and have noise problems. However, through the above analysis and explanation, you can see that the noise after brake pad installation is not necessarily due to the quality of the brake pads, but may be due to many other reasons. According to our experience and relevant test reports, Santa Brake’s brake pad products are very good at controlling the noise problem, and we hope you will support our Santa Brake brake pad products more.
Post time: Dec-25-2021