Brake Noise

Buddy67Lincoln · July 15, 2009

Not sure why the original post was blank...Anyways:

I have 35,660 miles on my 2006 Sierra 4x4. Just the other day the engine light came on...taken care of (some emissions sensor) and it developed a squeal. When I hit the brakes it makes the noise and when I turn to the left only, and now it makes noise when the brakes are not on and only when turning the wheel slightly to the left. I hear it coming from the right front. That brake is much lower than the left but not bad enough to get replaced. The rotor is scored and the dealer said its normal wear. The brake has metallic coming out of it so its making the noise and that is supposed to be normal too. Its loud and does not sound normal to me. I thought the squealers were touching but they are not. Thought maybe it was something stuck in the rotor behind the dust shield..but its not. Any other suggestions or ideas to get it to stop??? I don't want to replace brakes and get the rotors cut if it does not need it. Might cleaning them help or is that metallic thing a permanent problem till they are replaced? Please advise..thanks a lot.

grose67 · July 15, 2009

Give em a good cleaning and see if it helps. It cant hurt!

dwhults · July 15, 2009

Could be a frozen caliper. Pull off the brakes and clean them thoroughly. You can also get a bottle of Anti-Seize and coat the back of the pads to eliminate squealing.

Could also be the wheel bearing.

Buddy67Lincoln · July 15, 2009

Could be a frozen caliper. Pull off the brakes and clean them thoroughly. You can also get a bottle of Anti-Seize and coat the back of the pads to eliminate squealing.

Could also be the wheel bearing.

Thank you. I do have the brake anti-seize too! Luckily its getting inspected this week so they should find if its a wheel bearing or not. If it is...I have 6 days and 350 miles till the warranty is goodbyes. I will look into the caliper. I also hear a kind of shake noise too from this. I heard it before the noise started. When I hit the brakes a little hard or am breaking to make a sharp turn while hitting light bumps in the road, I hear a rattle. No one has found anything yet. I don't feel anything in the steering wheel. Thanks again.

Buddy67Lincoln · July 17, 2009

Could be a frozen caliper. Pull off the brakes and clean them thoroughly. You can also get a bottle of Anti-Seize and coat the back of the pads to eliminate squealing.

Could also be the wheel bearing.

Well I had it inspected and what do you know???...wheel bearing went bad. That made it pull the right like it has been (after its been aligned). Guess it was not bad enough when it got aligned to say anything but that was months ago. I noticed it pulling not too long ago. The best part is that I had it at 2 GM garages. I complained of brake noise or something noisy even when I did not use the brakes and when it make left turns...neither of them caught that? I paid for the vehicle inspection at the one garage too. They could not tell me how they did not catch it except that it went bad over night. The very next day??? I had it in there for wheel issues and had the brake checked on that right front..and paid for it. How could it go bad the next day. I picked the truck up and it had the noise the same or next day. I had the windows up when I picked it up but the next day they were down and I heard the grinding noise/squeal. I had it inspected today and the bearing is bad! Unreal. Not sure why they did not pick up on that but it cost me a half day of phone calls and running around during work hours. Am I wrong for thinking GM had something to do with this since the truck was 200 miles from out of warranty? They did not know I would have it inspected too before it was up. The bearing was bad for some time...does not go bad over night. Unreal excuses. Correct me if I am wrong!

dwhults · July 17, 2009

Either they did a half ass inspection or they were jerkin you until the warranty ran out. At least you found the cause of the noise so that's a plus.

Tsmith · July 17, 2009

"Unreal excuses. Correct me if I am wrong!"

Sadly the quality of workmanship suffers in just about any technical field of work now of days. I know two brothers who own their own repair shop and are outstanding mechanics but its the lackluster mechanics that work for them that are bad. They haven't done repair work themselves in over 15 years that I know of, just take care of the office end of it.

Buddy67Lincoln · July 17, 2009

Either they did a half ass inspection or they were jerkin you until the warranty ran out. At least you found the cause of the noise so that's a plus.

I feel like I was getting stroked. I don't like that. How do they expect me to want to come back and buy another car. I guess the new GM quality customer based system does not pertain to anything that is not 2009 or older

pennzoil29 · July 17, 2009

Glad you got it fixed. In today's economy, it just seem's like every one is trying to get over on everyone else.

Buddy67Lincoln · July 17, 2009

Glad you got it fixed. In today's economy, it just seem's like every one is trying to get over on everyone else.

I don't do that to my clients though. Times are tough but if I do not have good customer service...I loose jobs. I am not a huge company like GM but still.