ok I need some opinions, I have a 2004 TL with 98,000 miles on it...about 2-3 months ago i started hearing a squealing noise every time I hit the brakes, however after about 2-3 weeks the noise just went away...now just 2 weeks ago it has came back...however it doesn't happen every time I hit the brakes just from time to time...i thought for sure it was the brakes but then my brother drove my car and he said my brakes were working fine and he wasn't sure what it was (it didn't squeal while he drove it)...so my question is, is it my brakes or something else and what do I need to do to get rid of it?

 

Pull the wheels off and see how much pad material is left, might be time for new pads.

 

thanks, if that is the case does anyone know how much brake pads cost?

 

I bought my car last year and the same thing was happening to me on my 2007 TL-S. I thought it was very weird that I was getting that crazy squealing every time I slightly pressed on the breaks. The noise is was brutal, so I decided to do some research here on Acurazine and everyone with the same issue kept saying the same thing. New pads, rotors, types or rotors and types of pads and so on and so on.

I brought the car in for an oil change to a small mechanic in my town and I told him to look into the issue to see if he can solve it and he did. I’m not a mechanic (or technical at all), but the way he explained it to me is as follows:

He found that the pads installed in my car were very closed to new, but the pads were smaller than the rotor itself. Every time I press on the brakes, the pad touches the rotor and since the pad is smaller than the rotor, with time it creates a lip around the edges of the rotor. He took my front rotors and shaved them down to match the pad enough so that when the pad hits, it does not create the lip.

This was exactly what was causing the issue and I love my car even more now. I have no noise and have been running smooth for more than 2 weeks. For me the noise was very often and very loud where I would wake up the neighbors at 5:00 AM when going to the gym.

Not sure if this is your issue 100%, but I would ask a small mechanic to try it and see. The guy I went to charged me just $44 (including taxes) to fix this.

Good luck!