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Hello!

My rear brakes have recently started squeaking, no matter whether I am applying them or not. It tends to happen on longer journeys, and even then I could have driven for miles, stopped at a set of lights with the handbrake on and then when I drive off... hey presto... the squeaking appears. I think squeaking is probably a generous term, it's probably more like a whine, almost like a sqeaky fan-belt it's that loud!

I've had a look at the brakes from the rear of the car and I can see that sometimes the hand-brake cable doesn't seem to be releasing the calipers fully. A quick tap with a hammer gets them released, and that sometimes stops the noise.

It's just been serviced and my mechanic says its the calipers, and they need replacing (along with discs and pads). I've looked through previous threads and seen quite a few referring to rear brake squeal, but nobody seems to know exactly what the problem is.

Before I fork out the dosh on new calipers, can anybody tell me if my mechanic is right? Or is it something as simple as the hand-brake cable, or just rusty discs??

Any help appreciated!

its always worth getting a second opinion on something like that just pop in to another garage and ask them to take a look at the rear brakes or if your near northampton i could help you out

Yes, you will find that the caliper has siezed. Its a sliding caliper and that is how it applies the pad to both sides of the disc. you need to remove the wheel, get an allen key and undo the two bolts that hold it on. The bolts have shafts that should be clean so the caliper can slide up and down them. clean it all up and it should work perfectly again. They get covered in crap, and the back brakes don't work very hard, so they seize. If a tap fixes it then I bet you this is the problem.

Any other problems give me a shout, and if you can't be bothered to do the work yourself, I'm sure quickfit will do it for you correctly provided you tell them exactly what the problem is that you suspect. (Since they are geared up for removing the calipers anyway) Don't trust them with anything else! Just tell em that the calipers may have siezed.