squeeling rear wheel?

timaishu

timaishu

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Hey guys,

My altima about 3 days ago began squeaking only from what sounds like the rear right wheel area.

Its the type of squeal you hear when someones brakes are really bad, but its not obnoxiously loud. What is strange is it does occur even when the brake is not applied, and sometimes when breaking it will cause it to occur as well. It is intermittent in that its not not constant, just chirps a bit while moving at slow speed. I have not heard it going any faster than say 20-25mph. Usually happens when creeping through my neighborhood or in a parking lot.

I also tried applying the parking break while in motion to see if the drum break is the problem and pulling on it makes no difference in the sound.

Im gonna pull the tire off this weekend and inspect the breaks. Anything else you guys can think of to inspect?

Also for reference, I bought my car late 2009 and as part of the deal, I had them provide me paperwork stating new breaks were installed at all 4 corners. So as far as I know, it had brand new brakes when I bought it, and its still on those same rotors and pads 50-60k miles later.
 
When you go to inspect the issue first jack it up and then rotate the wheel/tire assembly to listen for it. Also make sure there is no wobble.

Also while its in the air, place a pry bar under the tire and raise and lower the suspensions via pry bar and check for pops/noises.
 
Mike@DedicatedPerfection said:
When you go to inspect the issue first jack it up and then rotate the wheel/tire assembly to listen for it. Also make sure there is no wobble.

Also while its in the air, place a pry bar under the tire and raise and lower the suspensions via pry bar and check for pops/noises.
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Will do. Also as for the suspension, I installed new struts/shocks and new springs all around 1-1.5 years ago. I installed kyb excel-g and lowering springs.
 
Check wheel nut torques.

Loosen all, then re-torque to proper specs.

Not a common problem on 'cars', but easy to check.

Bill
 
Sounds like what Setec said, just starting to rub the wear indicators. Can be very intermittent at first. If you have the time, compare the thickness to the other wheels pads and compare the inner and outer pad on the affected wheel. If for some reason one is worn down way more than the others, something may be sticking on that brake causing it to not release and wear faster. If you have not had your brakes replaced and they were originally all done at the same time, the front will typically wear out first.

Also, when the car is up and supported, grab the wheel by both sides and /or top and bottom and try to "shake" to see if the wheel has any excess movement in a direction that it should not.
 
Not likely your wheel bearings. Those make a droning sound and kick in around 30mph and remain constant at any speed above that. Most likely the pad wear indicators. 50k miles is about the amount where you'd see the pads getting thin. If they're under a 1/4" thick, they're about done.

It could also be the guide pins on the piston sticking a little.
 
I had a situation similar to what you are describing. In my case, it was on a 2009 Acura TSX. The guide pins, which should be all nice and lubricated, had dried out which caused the pads to drag more on the rotor. On my left rear, I had half of the pads left. On the right side, where the guide pins hung up, I was metal to metal.

That was the sound I was hearing. What was left of the pad was in constant contact with the rotor scraping and grinding away.

Once I got everything apart and cleaned up, replaced and lubed, I was good to go.
 
brettS4 said:
It could also be the guide pins on the piston sticking a little.
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I was thinking this or a wheel bearing.

The pin could be sticking which causes the brake on that side to drag and wear the pad out faster than the other side.
 
Thanks for the suggestions you guys. I will report back this weekend with what I find or don't find.
 
It could also be your brake heat shield lightly scraping on the wheel. That happened to me once. If so, just bend it back a little.
 
builthatch said:
yep
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Might be a dumb question but will I have to pull the pad to check that? Its funny as I was planning to do my first brake job (pads and rotors) in the coming weeks and then this issue sprung up by chance. Was going to tackle it in probably the next two weeks.
 
timaishu said:
Might be a dumb question but will I have to pull the pad to check that? Its funny as I was planning to do my first brake job (pads and rotors) in the coming weeks and then this issue sprung up by chance. Was going to tackle it in probably the next two weeks.
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not necessarily. some cars you can just look and see the thin metal wear indicator sitting on the rotor. pads like that will be obviously low on meat too, you'll see the pad back plate super close to the rotor. outer pad will obv be easier to see than inner. it depends.
 
Some more information..

Still doing the same thing and it seems to slowly getting worse. Also of interest I noticed when cruising slow around 15 is that if I jerk the car left making the car role right it gets way worse for that split second of body role. It also seems to have progressed where actual brake application definitely causes it to happen at low speeds. It still does it however with no brake applied at low speed(just kind of chirps here and there).
 
It's the audible wear indicator, doing what it's supposed to be doing, chirping/squealing to tell you it's time to service the brakes. The real question is, if you had the brakes done at the same time, why the fronts didn't go first. Likely as some of the other posters have said, you've got some uneven wear going on, although that usually happens from corrosion and it's tough to see you having anything like we get here in the salt belt in San Diego, unless you have salt air.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
It's the audible wear indicator, doing what it's supposed to be doing, chirping/squealing to tell you it's time to service the brakes. The real question is, if you had the brakes done at the same time, why the fronts didn't go first. Likely as some of the other posters have said, you've got some uneven wear going on, although that usually happens from corrosion and it's tough to see you having anything like we get here in the salt belt in San Diego, unless you have salt air.
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I live inland so the air is now salty at all.

Strange that the rear would go out first.. Hard to tell though because I have not done the brakes since I bought the car. So I really do not know for sure the condition of the pads or rotors when I got it. They claimed all 4 were done, but who knows.
 
timaishu said:
I live inland so the air is now salty at all.

Strange that the rear would go out first.. Hard to tell though because I have not done the brakes since I bought the car. So I really do not know for sure the condition of the pads or rotors when I got it. They claimed all 4 were done, but who knows.
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if the rears are indeed worn, then you know they skimped. it's easy to skip them because they don't wear out nearly as often as fronts. i had a sixth gen honda civic that i got from practically new and didn't change the rear shoes until ~180k. drums...but still. i probably did the fronts four or five times by then.

then again, you could have a sticking caliper that is not disengaging well and the end result is premature pad wear.

you'll know when you look at them. if the pads are worn, at least it's a good opportunity to take everything apart, lube the pins, etc. also, i like to use anti-squeal spray on the back of my pads unless the pads come with those cool cushioned shims like some Hawk pads.
 
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