Squeaking brake disk shield strikes again (second generation LH cars)

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Greg Houston, Jul 1, 2006.

  1. Greg Houston

    Greg Houston Guest

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    Over three years ago I was having problems with strange abrasive
    squeaking noises when I turned hard at medium speeds. The dealer
    couldn't find anything wrong, of course, when it was in for service.
    Frustrated, I had a friend listen outside to pinpoint where the noise
    was coming from while I turned in a parking lot.

    I then took a wheel off and looked around, and noticed the heat shield
    at the bottom of the inside brake disk was awfully close to the disk.
    The fix was what I called the Kellogg's cure, because I took some pieces
    of cereal box cardboard to widen the gap (and protect the disk while I
    used a screwdriver) plus clean out the accumulated rust and debris
    between the disk and shield. The factory gap was quiet small. I had to
    repeat this on the other front wheel and the problem went away. I
    posted what I found to this newsgroup and other forums and other people
    were experiencing the same problem and were able to fix it.

    After not having any problems for over a year and a half, I started once
    again hearing funny sounds when making hard right turns, although it
    didn't sound like the squeaking shield. I recently had some front sway
    bar and bearing issues that were fixed just before my service contract
    expired. I was hoping that I wasn't experiencing any more of that.
    Since I had to travel for a few weeks (by air) I parked the car and
    figured I would deal with it when I came home. After I returned the
    noises were even more noticeable, and happened in the slightest turn.
    That encouraged me because it was more likely to be rust-related.

    The first day back I had the front left wheel off and poked around.
    Sure enough there appeared to be plenty of gap between the shield and
    the disk. But there was debris way up near the top that was causing the
    problem. I once again cleaned it out (mostly rust from the shield metal
    and probably some road debris too). Voila! The car is now once again
    quiet. This is kind of a pain that it keeps happening, but fortunately
    the hardest part of fixing it is just dragging the spare/jack out of the
    trunk and jacking up the car.

    So if anyone is experiencing strange noises when turning a second
    generation LH car, take a look at that little shield. If the noise
    occurs when you're turning right it's the left wheel disk shield etc.
    Before jacking up the wheel, it is helpful to turn the wheel in the
    direction away from the side you are working on, because the best access
    to the inside of the disk is from the rear. Hope this helps!
     
    Greg Houston, Jul 1, 2006
    #1
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