Mark: Hi, it’s Mark from Top Local Lead Generation and we’re here with Bernie Pawlik
of Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, fifteen time winners of Best Auto Repair in Vancouver.
We’re talking about brakes today.
How’re you doing Bernie?
Bernie: I’m doing well.
Mark: So brake noises - my brakes are making noise, what does it mean?
Bernie: Excellent question.
Brakes can make a variety of noises from squeaks and squeals to grinding noises and a few other
interesting sounds as well.
So we’ll start with grinding noises.
Grinding noises are usually the most serious noises because what that indicates is that
the brake pads, I’ll just use disc brakes for example, the disc brake pads have worn
out completely and they’re now at the backing plate which is steel and is now rubbing against
the brake rotor which is steel, causing a very loud grinding sound.
Here’s an example, this is a little demonstration piece that we have, we show our clients, it
shows different thicknesses of brake pads.
You can see the red at the top is a very thin pad and on the bottom, green is thick when
the brake pad is new and there’s the black piece is the backing plate, so that’s an
example of what happens when it goes metal on metal, it’s gone beyond the red part,
it’s now metal on metal.
Now sometimes grinding noises happen and they’re actually not worn metal on metal.
We’ve had cars where we drive them and they sound awful and it’s not, there’s actually
nothing really wrong with the brakes other than making a noise and that can be due sometimes
to the material that the brake pads are made of that’s somehow changed composition or
something about it causing it to make a grinding noise.
It’s not very common, but that’s what the general cause for the grinding noise is.
Mark: So are all noises serious?
Bernie: Well no, they’re not.
Some of them, the next noise we’ll get into, squeaks and squeals are sometimes an indication
that your brakes are worn out and sometimes they’re not.
I’ll talk about what you need to do about the noises in a minute but we’ll just go
through the noises.
So squeaks and squeals are sometimes a natural occurrence with brakes.
The way a brake works, if you look at a brake disc, it’s almost like a record, an old
fashioned record, if I can actually use that term “old fashioned” but it’s like a
record and the needle plays in the record and that creates a certain noise and brakes
are similar in that way.
There’s a lot of science that’s gone in to preventing brake noise.
It used to be a much more common problem than it is now.
Generally, we run into very few problems, but we used to do a lot of work to prevent
brakes from being noisy.
There’s silly things like elastic bands would go between the brake pads and a special
goop you’d put on the back of the brake pads, but nowadays it seems like the science
has worked it out pretty well.
We still do get some squeaks but - the point I’m making here is that squeaks can be a
very natural part of brakes.
Sometimes annoying.
If they’re not too bad, I would suggest leaving them if the brakes have good material
on them.
But it’s worth looking at the brakes to find out whether the squeak is actually something
serious because as brakes wear they can also cause and squeak and it can indicate your
brakes are worn out.
Same with squeals - same thing.
Now there are sort of normal brakes squeaks that we hear when you apply the brake like
a eeeee, or there’s a type that sounds similar but it’ll happen all the time when you’re
driving down the road and then when you put the brake on sometimes it gets worse or it
actually disappears.
These are generally caused by the brakes squealers which are put on the brake pad to indicate
that your brake pads are about to wear out.
So it’s important to heed that warning.
Mark: So, are there any other noises?
Bernie: Well, we actually had an interesting noise a couple of weeks ago, a couple actually
had their vehicle towed in because the noise was so severe.
It was a Ford Ranger pick up truck.
Se went around a sharp corner and all of a sudden the brakes started to make a horrendous
noise and driving the vehicle into the shop was like the sound of a freight train going
by with the brakes on.
It was just the most awful noise.
Pulled the wheels off and had a look and found a little rock stuck between the brake backing
plate and the brake rotor and so it just set off a vibration between the rotor and the
brake backing plate and I mean honestly, it was the most horrible noise you can imagine
but really it posed no safety concern whatsoever.
Mark: So that covers it.
So what should I do if my brakes start making a noise?
Bernie: So the most important thing to do when your brakes start making a noise is bring
it in for an inspection.
Have it looked at to see whether the noise is in fact something serious because as I
alluded to during this talk, some noises are serious and some aren’t.
If you really just don’t want to hear any noise, you can get the brakes fixed but sometimes,
you may have brakes that have a lot of life left in them and they’re just making a noise.
But it could also indicate that your brakes are worn out and by bringing it in immediately
for an inspection, you can save you a lot of money and keep the safety of your vehicle
top notch.
So get it inspected that’s the key!
Mark: So we’ve been talking with Bernie Pawlik of Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver.
If you want to book your inspection of your brakes give them a call 604-327-7112 or check
out their website pawlikautomotive.com Thanks Bernie
Bernie: You’re welcome, thanks Mark