Volvo V70 - 1999 Front brake squeal

[Goby]

Hi all, ok got a bad squeal from front drivers side brake on way into work this morning, started out nothing but after an hour it was rather annoying.
It disapears when i press the brake so was wondering it it worth just removing the pads and giving them a clean and a bit more copper slip on the rear of the pads/shim to see if this fixies it?

Any advice much appreciated!

[Cookeh]

Could be lots of things, seized caliper, worn disc, cracked disc, lipped disc, worn pads, sticking pads... Only way to tell really will be to get the wheel off.

Thankfully all of the above are easy to spot! Unlikely to be pad contamination, unless you've done something oily or lube-y around the brakes recently. Coppaslip on the carriers and shim might help, but its rare that the shim is to blame as it is designed purely to prevent squealing and I've not bothered with greasing them on the last 3 brake changes Ive done.

[Baffler]

Indeedy...more likely to be a sticking piston keeping the pad pressed against the disc. Check the condition of the dust seal and that it's fitted correctly to both the piston and the caliper. If the piston is corroded, due to the ingress of water, it'll probably need replacing unless you can remove the corrosion with a fine grit emery paper.

[Goby]

No i havent done anything around that area, so ok many thanks for the tips will take wheel off tonight and have a look.
Is a sticking piston easy to sort out?

[DunkinBiskits]

its not too difficult but tbh its quicker and easier to source a second hand good caliper and just swap it out.

[Stu B]

I have had a squeaky brake on my 850 for a while so investigated recently and found a split dust seal on one front caliper causing the piston to corrode and stick. The brake works ok but he piston doesn’t release correctly.

I rebuilt the caliper last weekend with a kit from a company called Big Red (bought the kit via eBay). I’ll post some pics when I’m not using an iPhone but it was pretty straightforward. The kit included all seals and new pistons for both front callipers so I’m going to do the other side this weekend. They do sell just the seals if you’d rather remove, clean and re-use the original piston.

As above, if you’re not experienced working on brake systems it’d be easier and quicker to replace the full caliper if you can’t easily clean up or release the piston in situ.

Hope that helps
Stu

[Cookeh]

Originally Posted by Stu B

I rebuilt the caliper last weekend with a kit from a company called Big Red (bought the kit via eBay). I’ll post some pics when I’m not using an iPhone but it was pretty straightforward. The kit included all seals and new pistons for both front callipers so I’m going to do the other side this weekend. They do sell just the seals if you’d rather remove, clean and re-use the original piston.

Hi Stu, do you have a link? Been looking for one such kit to rebuild one of my fronts (I replaced it, but would be nice to have one as a spare!)

[Baffler]

PFS also have a selection of repair kits.

[Goby]

Many thanks for all the help, still not managed to look at it yet but has stopped squeekinh now and brakes all feel fine, going to take wheel off at weekend and have a good look.

[Rebuild]

Try this, after a drive place your hand near the brake discs and calipers. You don't have to take the wheel off for this and obviously don't actually touch the disc. But what I'm getting at is if a caliper on one side is sticking badly you will probably be able to actually just feel the heat more on that side. Last time I had a sticking caliper on my s70 it was really easy to tell just by having your hand near the caliper, but it was a badly sticking one so don't trust this rudimentary test.