Squeaky noise from wheels - brakes or ghost?

Tooler

I'm having a spot of bother with my car - hopefully somebody here might point me in the right direction...

I bought a '04 Mazda3 hatchback a few months ago. Most of the time the car is perfect, but if I take it out for a spin on the motorway I get a strange ringing sound which seems to be coming from the wheels. My thinking is that it is probably something to do with the brakes - it probably takes them a while to heat up and then it starts making the noise. Once the noise starts, it'll keep going for a while and then stop again.

I seem to be getting three types of noises that happen at different times:
(1) A ringing squeak - sounds like a rusty wheelbarrow.
Here's a clip of it recorded on a mobile (by passenger) while doing about 20mph.
squeak.mp3
That noise stops when I press the brakes and starts again once I come off them.
(2) A very loud squeak when I press the brakes - loud enough to make any pedestrians give me a funny look.
(3) A strange humming noise when I'm braking ligthly - I could only describe the noise as a kind of haunted ghost like sound. I haven't managed to get a recording of it yet.

I took it to the garage where I bought the car a few weeks ago. I drove it for a good while first to get it warmed up and the mechanic came out for a spin with me, but typically it didn't make a sound when he was driving. He said it could be dust in the brakes and that it might stop after a while, but I've done nearly 2,000 km since buying the car and its as bad as ever.

He said the next step would be to change the brake pads, but that may not be the problem at all.

I've been trying to work out if the sound is coming from the front or back wheels. When driving the car I was convinced it was the front, but yesterday I drove from Kerry to Dublin with 4 people in the car - each of us thought it was coming from the wheel nearest us, so that doesn't tell me anything.

I'll be taking it back to the garage again this week, but would like to hear what people here think.

Cheers,
Tooler

Green Hornet

Could be "squeelers"?

These are built into the brake pads to let you know that the pads need changing. The brakes will squeel even when on the motorway under no braking but the mechanic should have seen if they needed changing from a quick glance I would imagine.

No doubt somebody else here will have a better idea.:)

Avns1s

Green Hornet wrote: »

Could be "squeelers"?

These are built into the brake pads to let you know that the pads need changing. The brakes will squeel even when on the motorway under no braking but the mechanic should have seen if they needed changing from a quick glance I would imagine.

No doubt somebody else here will have a better idea.:)

My money would be with you.

Check wear on the brake pads and see if they are close to needing changing.

Problem with this kind of noise is that it's hard to determine an exact source and hence everyone will hear it from beside them. Could be that the two front wheels are giving out the sound so its coming from both sides of hte car.

I would have thought the garage would have picked up on this though.

Tooler

> I would have thought the garage would have picked up on this though

Ye, so would I. Apparently the car got a full service before I picked it up in August - I was told by the salesman that the brakes were changed but he didn't look too sure. But I assume they would have changed them if they were worn out since the car is sold with a warranty.

Avns1s

Is it still under warranty? Or was it still under warranty when you complained to the garage first?

If "yes" to either of the above, bring it back to the garage and let them get rid of the noise. Whatever the source, it shouldn't be there.

Tooler

Its still under warranty so I'll be taking it to the garage later this week.
Was just wondering if anybody had any ideas of what it might be so I'll have some idea of what I'm talking about.

bazz26

Tooler wrote: »

Its still under warranty so I'll be taking it to the garage later this week.
Was just wondering if anybody had any ideas of what it might be so I'll have some idea of what I'm talking about.

Did you not get an itemized bill for the service from the garage? If the brake pads were changed then the pads should be listed on the service bill. It is possible that they used spurious brake pads which are not suitable for that particular car.

Tooler

bazz26 wrote: »

Did you not get an itemized bill for the service from the garage? If the brake pads were changed then the pads should be listed on the service bill. It is possible that they used spurious brake pads which are not suitable for that particular car.

I just bought the car in August from the garage and they serviced it before giving it to me - at the time the salesman told me the brakes had been changed.
Last week I brought it back to the garage to get them to check out the squeak. I spoke to the mechanic who did the original service and he said he had checked the brakes at the time and didn't think they needed changing.
He changed the front brake pads last week and the problem seems to be sorted now. I haven't done any major mileage since, but so far so good. Woohoo!
Thanks for the replies. I didn't expect to get a conclusive answer here, but the info supplied meant I sounded like I know what I was talking about when speaking to the mechanic. That always helps...

vibe666

is it too late to put my money on the correct answer being 'ghost'?

L-M

Tooler wrote: »

I just bought the car in August from the garage and they serviced it before giving it to me - at the time the salesman told me the brakes had been changed.
Last week I brought it back to the garage to get them to check out the squeak. I spoke to the mechanic who did the original service and he said he had checked the brakes at the time and didn't think they needed changing.
He changed the front brake pads last week and the problem seems to be sorted now. I haven't done any major mileage since, but so far so good. Woohoo!
Thanks for the replies. I didn't expect to get a conclusive answer here, but the info supplied meant I sounded like I know what I was talking about when speaking to the mechanic. That always helps...

Out of curiosity, did they charge you?