NFLblitze1

i recently came across a problem that i noticed because i drive with my windows down now. when i come to a slow stop the brakes squeak like a mother...i have an 04 TL, is this bad? do i need to get my pads replaced, because its kinda annoying. do i take it to the dealer? i found this thread:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...=Breaks+Squeak
but it wasn't too helpful, can anyone else help me?


MOD EDIT: Try searching "brakes" and not "breaks".

lindros2

Two ideas:

1. The first is to have Acura look at your brakes. They "replaced" my warped front rotors for free at about 10k miles (the quotes indicate I believe they just resurfaced them and possibly put new pads on - who knows).

2. If Acura doesn't do anything, there actually is a fix (this is true):

Get up to 100MPH (or close to that) and do a panic stop to 0. Repeat 2 times.

I read this in CAR magazine, and believe it was with a 2005 A6. It fixed the problem.

Only issue I see here is where to get enough space to do it (without getting pulled over).

NFLblitze1

is that suppose to scath anything thats on my rotors? or on my pads? to possibly even things out?

Tecciztecatl

Take it to the dealer if it's still under warranty. The bedding procedure is mainly for new brakes I think ... http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/tech/....jsp?techid=85 gives pointers (I am waiting the arrival of my HAWKS tomorrow) and here http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/te...e_papers.shtml

whiteTL

I took my car in the dealer and told them my brakes were squeaking. The replaced the 6mt brembos for free because it was under warranty. I think I had like 20k miles on it when they replaced it. Usually they will be pretty helpful about it.

NFLblitze1

because they are squeaking is that a very bad thing? i thought breaks squeak as a part of aging in a car

Ramairgt1

ive taken mine to the dealer for the same problem 4 times and I get the runaround each time, my car only has 4k and its been doing it since i bought it

Parker75

When I took my 6MT to complain about this at 8.5k miles, the dealer told me that there was a TSB on the front brake squeal problem. They said they implemented the solution.

All was well but at around 11K, the squealing returned. I'm taking it back to the dealer tomorrow.

TexasTLEd

I am taking my car in for the third time in 3 weeks for this tomorrow. On the first visit, they inspected the front pad and said they were about 15% worn so it was not the warning tab. I have about 20K on an '04 TL A-spec. I got the usual run around about driving hard, all brakes make some noise, etc. To which I replied that I travel a lot and of all the numerous piece of crap Avis, Hertz etc econoboxes that I have to drive on the road, they don't squeak! Anyway, what they did was clean the brakes during the inspection and for about 30 miles the noise was gone. They actually told me that I would have to clean them periodically with high pressure air or wash them down. - Are you kidding, a $35K car that needs this attention.

I took it back and on the test ride they heard the noise in about 100 yds and took the car back in. They insisted that the noise was coming from the dirty back brakes this time as they had recieved the "Special" cleaning. They moly'ed everything and it was quiet when I picked it up. Slight noise had returned by the time I made it home on Sat and by Monday, on my trip to work, the noise was so bad in traffic resonating off the concrete barriers next to my car I wanted to call the dealer and make him hear it but there were too many other traffic noises.

Now I go back tomorrow and will insist that this band-aide crap cease. I have read the TSB for brakes but my VIN is slightly outside of that number at the top. Anyway - We'll see tomorrow I guess.

misterlien

Vandergriff Acura in arlington texas has been good to me. Vince in the service dept has done a excellent job in taking care of me.

Last week i went in to replace my front grill and pass. rear mirror (both scratched when picking up the car new) while i was there i mentioned my breaks squeeking while reversing and my front bodykit looked like it was coming away from the bumper. (@ 2200 miles)

When i picked up my car, not only did they fix all my probs, he resurfaced my rotors (fixed that prob), replaced the parts and even gave me a whole new front bodykit! Excellent work.

I guess im just saying that i just mentioned once that i had the break prob and it was resolved within hours!

Dont let them push you around, just go there and ask them to fix it.

bar2v

My old ford explorer used to screech horribly. I ended up using brake cleaner during the summer months which helped alleviate the problem temporarily; however after the following winter the screeching seemed to stop. So it sounds like there are two possibilites going on here: 1) messed up rotors or 2) Normal brake wear. Not very helpful, eh

jmbnova

I just bought my new 6mt and my Brembos are squeaking every now and again and the car has 12000 miles.....

mickey3c

Dam in 2200 miles you had to have the rotors resurfaced ! Body kit reattached! Damage repaired from delivery! 2 problems in about 2 months..

TexasTLEd

Misterlien - thanks for the info but as a fellow Dallas Metroplex'er I am sure you can appreciate the problems/frustration with driving all to way to Arlington for service when I live in Plano. If I had to take the care to Arlington 3 times in a month for serivce and pick it back up, I would have shot the car by the side of the road by now!

Anyway, I am glad that there is a good service center out there in Dallas. You have obviously taken your experience much more in stride than I would be capable of doing. I always try the sugar approach first but that time is past. I bought the car at 16K miles so I gave them some benefit of the doubt at first when it came to warranty repairs.

stavebomb

Thats terrible! Go to 100 and do a panic stop? It could be your warning clips on the break pads! If you do that stopping crap you coulda just broken them off. sure it stops the squeaking, but just wait a couple months down the road payin 300 bucks for new rotors when it could be a simple 50 bucks to replace the pads...

ed99

I had just recently had my breaks squeak too. I drive a 5 AT and I brought it back to Acura in Vancouver and they just resurfaced the rotor at no charge. Seemed to help for now.

pughater

brembos squeak when you roll backwards for some reason

steveohayes

This happened to my TL as well at 15000 miles. Found out this is a common problem which Acura addressed. Certian production runs for 2004 get new brake pads and rotors under warranty. Call your dealership. Steve-O

TexasTLEd

Just to follow up - I guess the third time was the charm. McDavid Acura finally stepped up and stopped greasing the squeaky wheel so to speak. All four brakes done and rotors turned on front. They also found a caliper bracket or something broken that they claim caused the warped rotor. Anyway - quiet as a church mouse now.

Solman

I have the same problem, horrible noise under light braking. I have an 04 MT. I took it to the dealer and they told me to break harder, and clean the breaks real good when I washed the car. Called Acura today and they gave me a service Bulletin # 04019. I now have a call into the service Mgr. Also they fixed a rattle in the drivers side door. It was a loose harness, and they are replacing the driver’s side mirror b/c it tilts intermittently.

TexasTLEd

I love that - pay $35K for a car and when you go to wash it - get the car up to 100 mph and stop real quick - then lay on your back and squirt the pressure washer on the back side of the brake rotors to clean them. Wipe dry with a 100 % silk tie and polish with a fine linen sheet. That will solve your problem and this is just normal.

mbwmn

just a heads-up:
these TL's have 2 different front brake systems. it would help if you specified man. or auto. trans when dealing w/ threads regarding brakes. most sigs don't specify....
thankyou.
talkamongstyourelves...

acura101west

brembos squeak more them others due to brake dust build up,all cars will do this
to much dust can get into calipers and in the pistons and scar them up,just need to clean your wheels better and more often
to much dust build up will also put little scratches or lines in your rotors to let air in to make noise too
i personally never turn rotors cause turning them makes it thinner and then more problems occur
i always perlace the rotors and never had this problem-
when you have every thing appart make sure you regrease everything
i have seen calipers so dirty with brake dust that we had to take them apart to redo it all to fix it
and dont ever spray any thing on hot rotors,not good
my old fzr600 had squeaks after track day ,its fix was to remove calipers and bath them with carb cleaner
also cheap pads make more dust then others-changing to better pads will help to after you clean the calipers

Solman

Just spoke w/ the service mgr. They are going to replace the pads and turn the rotors. I know... they probably should be replaced, but I just don't feel like arguing.
To much other crap in life to deal with.

tzakiel

mine are squeaking since about 6000 miles. not too worried about it unless it gets worse. after the first 10 miles or so, they stop squeaking.

TexasTLEd

Anyone who could tolerate the noise coming from MY brakes must enjoy fingernails on a chalkboard. It was so loud at times that it permiated over the radio in the insulated cabin. I can only imagine how loud it was outside but I can say with certainty, it was embarassing to stop in a parking lot or garage. This continued AFTER the service tech applied a professional cleaning to the rotors.

I can understand some noise, some times, under certain conditions and I am not opposed to keeping my car clean but this "cleaning recommendation" given to me was obviously just avoiding admitting the real problem.

Once I got a complete brake job all around - no noises. If it comes back at that level in 10k miles, I will clean them and sell the car.

FYI - 2004 AT A-spec WDP

GRich4u

I noticed at 16K miles when I would press on the breaks exiting the hwy, my steering wheel would shake a bit. So to the dealer I went.
They resurfaced the rotors and cleaned the breaks.
No shakes no squeeks nothing. I now have 21K on it and the breaks are starting to squeek a little here and there.

theshemp

My 04 automatic was squealing at about 17K miles. I brought it to the dealer (Acura of BR) who said it was caused by glazing which they cleaned and he said I should do some hard stops periodically to eliminate it in the future.

It appears Acura is passing out the same info to many of us. I find this ridiculous. Should we be breaking the speed limit law to accomplish this? Is this in the owner's manual? Is this just for the TL or all Acura cars? I'm sure Acura is trying to avoid the cost associated for REALLY fixing the the problem which they consider minor. While I agree this is a relatively minor problem, I didn't buy a supposedly upscale car for this.

I have 30k miles now and the problem has been back for a few months. I want to get this fixed but it's possible the pads are getting worn and need to be replaced anyway. If they are close to needing replacement I would rather get it over with if I can be sure the replacements won't squeal.

Does anyone have a recommendation on replacement pads?
Is Acura using the same pads as the originals?

SatoRules

For what it's worth. I've been to many race tracks over the world for twenty five years. Within the last several years I've noticed these multimillion dollar racing cars, when braking mildly, squealing. So...when it started happening to my 05 MT TL, I chalked it up to the compound of the Brembo front pads being a little more "high performance" and actually took pleasure in the fact that my car sounded like the BARs. I understand however many would not choose to overlook this.

mbwmn

these are the same complaints i heard from Honda and
Saab owners throught the 80's and 90's. typically, the light-braking auto trans owner is the first to complain. i'm not sure if that's the nature of those people to (complain more and) be more sensitive to the noise, or if it is because they actually do experience more noise because of how they brake in their auto trans cars...in any case...

i have heard no significant brake noise in my 6mt since the dealer resurfaced the rotors and replaced the pads some 20k miles ago.

i suggest those who cannot live w/ brake noise switch to a softer pads w/ more organic (vs. metallic and ceramic ) material. the Bendix Mintex "Deluxe Plus" pad seems to work well for lowering noise, and coincidentially lowers bake dust.

http://www.stoptech.com/products/hig...nce_pads.shtml

mbwmn

breaking off the clips would be very hard to do without using a pliers or something. typically the warning clips will start to constantly lightly drag the rotors' surface when the pad is worn. this gives a "scaping" sound even when NOT braking. most (id not all) the brake noise complaints in this thread seem to be related to brake APPLICATION noise. and, i suspect a new pair of rotors would exceed $300.

hard braking at higher speeds does indeed remove some of the burned pad material that has accumulated on the rotors, and also leaves a fresh friction surface on the pad.

pls excuse the caps; i'm not yelling, just trying to get the point across and i'm too lazy to figure out italics...

Flippie

Don't have Brembo's but my brakes started squeaking at 21,000. Dealer turned all four rotor's and new brake pads for $0.00.