So I took my car into the dealership for the infamous "squeak" noise a lot of us get when we release the brake pedal. They told me it was coming from the rear of the car, and that they would - Clean and manually adjust the rear brakes. They wanted to charge me too, even though my car is only a year old, which doesn't make sense, but whatever.

What does cleaning and manually adjusting the rear brakes entail?

 

Knocking off the drum, spray it with brake clean, and adjust the turn ing part that i can't for the life of me remember the name of.... I guess i fried my brain doing oil pans on xtypes...

Its mad easy do it yourself

 

Starwheel adjuster is what youre looking for.

That is bullshit, just remove youre wheels, hammer the **** out of the drum to remove it, spray brake cleaner on everything and get it shiny, reinstall drums, play with the starwheel adjusters until they barely touch the drums when brake is not pressed(you will hear it when you spin the drum)

 

So I literally just ******* soak everything under the drum with brake cleaner, then adjust the starwheel so it barely touches when i spin the drum by hand..?

Sounds easy enough.

Thanks for the detailed explanation man!

 

Pretty much, I would also get a small brush(toothbrush or something that size) and scrub everything you can get to. Also dont forget to clean out the inside of the drum too(I forgot that the first time I did my shoes and it squeaked to no end). Oh and when adjusting the starwheel adjuster you will want it a little tighter than barely touching. It should actually slow the drum a little when spinning it by hand.

 

Well, I cleaned everything and did everything per your instructions, and guess what?.. I still have the infamous brake pedal squeak.

Me: 1

Dealershit: 0

 

oh it is a squeak in the pedal? Mine does that all the time, I thought you meant a squeak coming from the rear brakes. I just deal with it, my other vehicle is a 89 s15 that has more creaks that you could imagine.

 

Man, it's just bullshit because the jackass tech at the dealership said it was without a doubt the drum brakes. I'm glad I cleaned them and **** myself, because had I paid ******* $50 or whatever they wanted, I would have been pissed. It's the squeak when you are riding your brakes, come to a stop, then it squeaks as you let the pedal up. It's so annoying, and hella common; I've seen so many threads on here for it.

On a side note, my buddy, who is a DSM *****, said that these cars have dual-servo brakes, and to adjust them, throw the car in reverse, get it going about 20mph, and hit the brakes. They should be adjusted; they're self adjusting.

..?

 

Not entirely true, if the starwheel adjusters are working properly that could work but it is just as easy pulling up the ebrake. In theory every time the ebrake is pulled it adjusts the tension on the shoes. As soon as the starwheels get a hint of brake dust on them they stop adjusting and the only way to adjust them is to go through the hole in the back plate or remove the drum.

 

Ah, yeah, that makes perfect sense. So since I use my parking brake about 50 times a day, it should, in theory, be adjusted all the time, if the entire inside of the drum is clean?

Thanks for helping me understand this, you've been really helpful.

 

mine does it too, so does a few other locals, u brake, than u let off th ebreak and u hear a squek, doesnt always do it, but when it does its anoying as hell...just got to live with it until someone finds out how to fix it or what it is, sorta like the ghost in the trunk....

 

i think its metal against the nylon bushing thats used for the brake pedal.

i have it too

 

Yes, In theory it should be properly adjusted...

No problem, you have me quoted in your sig, least I could do for such an honor.

 

Is the noise inside the car, under the dash or is it your rear brakes? If its the brakes themselves here is my opinion, you missed a critical step in the service of your rear brakes........lubrication

A super important part of any brake service is the proper lube. This is the best stuff , This is good stuff thats readily available Get yourself some lube, disassemble the brakes again and brush on some lube on where the shoes rub against the backing plate, this is the most important spot but most other metal to metal contact areas wont be hurt by a thing coat.

Tell your buddy to go back to whoring DSMs.....we dont have dual servo brake setup, we have advanced leading-trailing brake setup, and it adjusts on every single brake apply, direction doesnt matter.

Yup, in theory, so long as its properly lubricated and maintaned. I still manually clean/lube/adjust mine at every tire rotation.

 

Leading-trailing, I couldnt remember the type we had, thanks for the reminder Maven.

 

advanced leading-trailing, because of the reduced hardware design with the single spring

 

I had the same problem too, but I took it to the dealership and they did it for free (maybe it was because my mom is a manager there) but after they worked on it it was perfect. No more squeak. They told me they cleaned the brakes and adjusted them, but they didn't get very specific (probably thought a 17 year old kid wouldn't understand them).

 

I thought the single spring was a common design for GM since the late 70's or something like that?

 

Hell yeah!



Maven, FTW! I definitely did not lubricate them, so I assume that is where my problem lies.

I'll try that out. Thanks!

 

No, the horshoe shaped single spring is a relatively new thing, 70s was pretty much all duo-servo