squeal - front wheels

[Frank Ewald]

Wow, Ben, that is an answer and a half. Thank you

I've got enough WD-40 around that it's worth trying. Braking would be
back after a bit ... if no one shouts don't do that because it
backfired on you, I'll try that Tuesday or Wednesday. Hope the pads
survive, I'm trying to go to my first track day in a couple of weeks!

Ontario heat waves are very humid, but I promise you it's not just
humid days however. But truly when it's warm. Now I'm going to
confess. This problem started last fall. So bad that I took it into a
shop and that's when they were ready to replace everything in the
front end because they didn't know. Then they said just drive it til
it seizes, and you'll know what it is. That was easily 5 000
kilometers ago! And either I lose my hearing when it's cold or it
completely stopped.
Brakes just changed as I mentioned - I didn't have a good torque
wrench before, but bought a new good one (well, for me $100 is a good
one) for the brake job and torqued brakes to spec, wire wheeled the
torque members to ensure they were clean, rebuild calipers, torqued
to spec on brakes, 80 lbs on wheel nuts.

I hammered on the brakes in late fall, winter and early spring.
Absolutely no squealing (well, tires squealed a little - so that
rules out that I lose my hearing in cold weather! ;-)

Stuck in South Carolina. Did you really say that, Ben? If it were
winter right now, here in Ontario, those would be fighting words
because we'd all love to be in South Carolina. We've just come
through an incredibly humid heat wave with temperatures in the high
90s (squealing not much worse than when it was 70, from what I
recall). Broke after a torrential rainstorm flooded my street with
1.5 feet of water. My wife and kids went out driving in it in our
van. I'm surprised I still have a van - went so fast through the
water that it ripped the front plate off. That also caused me to
scratch my head because they didnt tell me they drove fast, leaving
me thinking who would steal a license plate and then put the screws
back in? Or why didn't the rusted off part stay behind the screws?
Till we found it propped up against a pole where the flooding was the
worst, obviously showing that it had been popped off over the screw
heads from pressure on the plate from the bumper. Not driving fast!
Needless to say, at supper that night we had a discussion about how
neither the van nor the cars should be driven through flooded
streets. I could just see the water sucked up through my CAI (had an
AEM by-pass valve, but didn't replace it when it broke) because my
kids didn't know better - first time in 20 years my street flooded.

Anyway, sounding more and more like wheel bearings.
Frank
PS
Ben, want the windshield wiper motor if the WD 40 trick works ;-)

On Jun 5, 2006, at 12:39 AM, Ben Fenner wrote:
>  It's got to be that wheel bearing. You could possibly rule out the
> pad rubbing theory by driving until you hear squeal, then pull over
> and drench the rotor and pads on both front brakes with WD-40 and
> then drive off, and see if the squeal is any better. Although, this
> may be an extreme test, because you'll have VERY poor braking
> ability, and the WD-40 could leave some residue that causes brak
> epads to glaze over? I would recommend something that leaves
> nothing behind lik ebrake cleaner, but that would evaporate too
> early... Does anyone think this is just too crazy of an idea to
> try? What would you use instead of WD-40?

>> it only squeals when the temperature is warm. Not necessarily when
>> the brakes are warm. Actually went all winter with no squeal,
>> thought I'd beaten it, but it's back.

> You sure? Even if you really drove the crap out of your brakes to
> get them hot, it didn't squeal? That's nuts... There shouldn't be
> much difference in tempurature. Is it more hummid now too? It's
> either the wheel bearing, or something else entirely... What else
> stops moving when the wheels stop moving? The half shafts... It
> might be the passenger side halfshaft bearing where it mounts to
> the block. But then that would have squealled while the car was up
> on jacks... Hmm... Unless it's not the weight loading the
> suspension that is the problem. Maybe that bearing squeals under
> load only...

>> I'm just a couple of hours west of Toronto. If you're in the area,
>> come on by and you can scratch your head with me.

> Oh, I would if I were anywhere near there. I'm stuck in South
> Carolina, USA. Too bad though, it could be fun.
> After stratching my head over it, I'm going with bad wheel bearing.
> Anyone else have any more ideas, or questions for Frank?

> -Ben Fenner
> 1994 Black SE-R