Albino83

Since many of the forum members have been experiencing very loud and annoying brakes, including myself I thought I would sum up what I have learned thus far to help out the other members.

I have basically had squealing brakes since I bought my 07 X new 1.5 years ago. I originally brought the car to the dealer who claimed that the brakes need to be cleaned, so since the car was so new ( about 8k) they cleaned the brakes for free, made very little if any difference. Due to the inconvenience of dropping off the car at the dealer it wasn't till several months later that I brought the car back in, once again they said brakes were dirty needed to be cleaned. They cleaned them again, but since it once again made little difference I ended up bringing it to another dealer who said the rear drums were glazed, they resurfaced the drums under warranty and this actually helped, no noise for several months. Fairly recently they started squealing again, so once again back to the dealer this time they gave me a tip which has helped significantly, I know it doesn't fix the issue for good, but at least it alleviates the squeal. Drive down a frontage road, or someplace away from traffic and pull the E-Brake going about 20 MPH, do this several times until the squeal goes away. It has worked wonders, it basically just clears away any surface rust that has built up. I thought I would share the tip they gave in the hopes of helping out! = )

sea-scooby

I'll try it tonight! my 05 X has had it's brakes looked at many times by the dealer and their fix never lasts long.

__________________
05 Forester XTi Premium M/T (PRE tuned VF39)(his)
05 Forester X A/T (hers)
My Journal page

neoshi

Is your squealing due to glazing? Look for streaks.


If so, the rotor is getting too hot and needs resurfacing. Alternatively, turn or sand your rotors to eliminate the squeal.

Ha nice pic Chris.

__________________
Ninja Turtle Orange Juice

chillyc

Yeah I have the squeal too. Brought it in to brake shop and they told me I still have 70% left front (disc) and rear (drum). I was surprised based on the noise they make. Have been living with it but will try the e-brake "fix" tonight. Thanks!

__________________
03 2.5x AT

rsay777

My 03X with 45k miles just started the brake squeal thing a couple of weeks ago. I'm pretty sure I have plenty of pad and shoe left but will try the E-brake thing soon. Isn't the E-brake a seperate small shoe on the rear only? not sure how the E-brake would have anything to do with brake squealing that comes around when putting pressure on the brake pedal. Bob L.

chillyc

Tried e brake pull a few times as suggested. Didn't seem to work for my problem....squeal still there. Sea-scooby, did it work for your 05 X ?

__________________
03 2.5x AT

STI_S204

Great, thanks for the tips!

__________________
…what to do with the time that is given to us…

The Black Box

WTF? If it's the parking brake squeeling than just back the adjustment off. If your rotors are "glazed" then rebed the pads.

__________________
'08 XT LTD/MT

back road runner

Brakes squeak, what's the big hubbub?

If you want to minimize this, you use some form of dampening product on the back of the pads like Brake Quiet. Use anti-seize on any metal to metal contacts. As an alternate higher temp option, people use high temp bearing grease, popular being Neo HP800 bearing grease. The Brake Quiet stuff will burn off with heavy sport use.

Drums are a different story as the system is different.

For the most part, noise is a byproduct of the pads you chose. I'm surprised stock is so noisy. Maybe Subaru went to a semi-metallic pad or something. Most organic and ceramic pads are rather quite quiet. You really only get a bit of noise stepping to a higher performance ceramic or semi-metallic pad. If you've upgraded to a "heavy duty" pad at some point, you may be running a semi-metallic material.

Brake cleaning... The only think that can happen is to get excess deposits built up on the rotor. However, this doesn't cause squeaking but rather pulsing kind of like if your rotor was warped. A simple re-bed of a few heavy stops would scrape the build up off.

rsay777

On the 03X with disk front and drum rear the orignal squeal was coming from the rear. My engineer boss will not let me call the parking brake an emergency brake. Anyway, I tried the suggestion of pulling up on the p-brake while moving. The squeal was lessened but returned. I decided to try the same technique but with the car moving backward. I found a vacant parking lot and backed up to a rather quick pace and then pulled up on the p-brake I did this 3 times and then pulled out on to the road as usual. KNock on wood I have not heard the squeal since. I only have 43k miles (mostly highway miles) so I knew the brakes were not worn out. Bob L.

TSTRBOY2004

its not the parking rake squeeling seeing as a drm brake IS also the parking brake...

most pople in the states dont seem to use their e-brake when parking... when you do it, it automatically adjusts the e-brake the same time.. that why it is important to use them.. at least once or twice a week... if not for parking...

TSTRBOY2004

not too crazy... especially drums.. build up of dust inside.. clean and adjust is a huge help.. as far as the deposits.. it was probably the hard braking that left the deposits in the first place.. gas/material not escaping under pressure/heat...

snowdance38

Often when you are easy on the brakes they will get polished and make noise.. and the more they make ,the more you take it easy.. My wife does this all the time and we have had the problem on cars she drives for years.. So once in a while I take the car out and make a few very hard stops from high speeds and get rid of the problem.. For a while..

She drives in town back and forth to work so never gets over 30 mph.. I run some miles and travel faster so I never have the problem..

Snowdance
Flickr: snowdance38's Photostream

fencerskizzo

SO, lemme get this straight... (I try to be nice to my suby, i need it to last another 100K) I get new brakes front and rear put on, they start squealing like a banshee after 2 days, and the best way to fix it is to yank the P-brake while driving at 20?

sea-scooby

I've tried EVERYTHING you could think of, and the rear drums on the X always start squeeking again within days. The dealer has messed with them several times too with no solution lasting more than a few days. It is driving my wife crazy and I'm seriously considering a drum to disc swap.

__________________
05 Forester XTi Premium M/T (PRE tuned VF39)(his)
05 Forester X A/T (hers)
My Journal page