It is likely that at some point you have experienced the confusion, surprise and distress of hearing a noise in the brake system of your car and, if it has not happened to you yet, it may happen to you in the future, since it is one of the most frequent complaints of drivers. That is why, in Remsa, we want to explain to you what causes this noise and what solutions exist to eliminate it.
First of all, it is necessary to identify what type of noise it is, in order to know which component of the car to analyze for faults. It is essential to bear in mind that changing the brake pads will not necessarily solve the problem.
If the noise is high frequency, between 1,000 and 16,000 hertz, the fault is most likely to be in the small accessories, such as chamfers or shims. Whereas, if the noise is low frequency (between 10 and 1,000 hertz) and accompanied by vibration, the problem is likely to be in the big components, such as the backing plate or disc.
Once you’ve identified the noise and detected where the problem may be coming from, it’s time to look at the best practices for preventing and detecting noise in the brake system.
Cleaning of the components
The cleaning of the car components is key to avoid noises and failures. Dirty and rusty components tend to cause vibrations, therefore, we recommend you to clean from time to time with a wire brush mainly those surfaces that are in constant contact with others.
Correct brake pads
Many brake pads are very similar to each other, which can lead to confusion and end up buying the wrong ones for your car. Therefore, we recommend you to contact a specialist to help you with the choice.
Remember that if the brake pads are not the right ones, you should order new ones rather than reprocess or modify them.
Clean and grease pins
Floating calipers have pins that allow the caliper to move. Keeping these pins clean and greased will prevent caliper failure.
Fixed calipers may also have pins, in this case to guide the pads.
If the pad does not hit the entire surface of the disc, uneven wear will occur, affecting both the disc and the pad.
It is therefore important to clean them so that the pads can slide correctly.
Check the brake system components
It is necessary to check the piston spring, which is responsible for damping the vibrations of the brake pads.
It is necessary to exert some pressure when mounting it, if it is loose it is not effective. Also, make sure that there are no bent pins.
Check the oscillation
It is extremely important to avoid disc oscillation to increase comfort and avoid vibration.
To check for oscillation, you should follow the steps below:
- Measure disc thickness with a micrometer: use several equidistant points for the measurement and do not use only one point to determine the thickness.
- Check the flatness of the disc: monitor the flatness variation once mounted and do not use a single point to determine the flatness.
Replace the disc
Do not wait until the disc is completely worn out to replace it. There are several scenarios in which the disc has to be replaced by another one. The image shows the most frequent ones:
Replace the brake fluid
Checking the brake fluid level warns us if the brake pads are worn, if we have any fluid leakage or if the fluid level is correct.
Brake fluid reaches high temperatures which, in case of boiling, would generate vapor bubbles inside the hydraulic system that would cause brake failure.
We recommend replacing the brake fluid every 2 years.
These are just some tips and recommendations to avoid noise in the brake system and to check the correct functioning of our car. However, to make sure that everything is all right, the ideal is to go to a workshop or a specialist who can tell us where the problem lies and who knows how to fix it.
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