Mazda Mazda 6 (2002 - 2007) - 05 loud squealing - steering or brakes ?

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Sat 8 Sep 2007 00:52
05 loud squealing - steering or brakes ? - mikej
Hi guys,
I've got a 2005 Mazda 6 and a few months back I started to notice an occasional external squealing sound from the left-hand side of the car which occured when accelerating round left-hand bends. Twitching the wheel to the right stopped the noise, so I presumed it was something to do with the power steering and thought I'd get it checked out when it got taken in for it's 2nd service, as it was fairly infrequent and didn't sound too bad. (My dealer isn't local so 'popping in' isn't possible)

Now the service is due and it's starting to get worse - it's squealing for a fair amount of any journey now, but still seems to be louder when steering to the left. I'd never associated the noise with the brakes before , but tonight it started making a similar noise when braking.

Now I can tell at a glance the state of the pads on my Focus, but the pads on the Mazda are obscured by the rest of the brake components so I can't tell easily - I might have to take the wheels off to get a good look at them. I was also presuming that if the pads were worn through to the metal that the discs would be noticeably scarred and they appear to be fine. (NB. I bought the car at 16k miles and it's currently on 25k - I've no idea if the pads have been changed previously, but I suspect not)

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether this is steering or brake related ?

If it's the steering, then it'll hopefully get sorted under warranty but if it's the pads, then I'd prefer to know beforehand and hopefully even change them myself.

Does anyone have experience of changing front and/or rear pads on a Mazda 6 ?

Cheers.
s

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Sat 8 Sep 2007 01:11
05 loud squealing - steering or brakes ? - GregSwain
Have had the same symptoms before when I had a seized brake calliper. My money's on that, although I've never done the brakes on a Mazda. Possibly a dealer/warranty job if it's the calliper, as they'll need to strip it down. If done on warranty, they should chuck in a new set of pads too, because a seized calliper will have caused abnormal wear to the pads (the one on the piston side particularly).
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Sat 8 Sep 2007 10:46
05 loud squealing - steering or brakes ? - wmo
I have a Mazda 6 not experienced this sound but I suspect its the brake pads. When the pads wear down they develop a screaching sound as a warning to replace the pads.

I had to replace my front pads at 26,000 miles.
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Sat 8 Sep 2007 23:10
05 loud squealing - steering or brakes ? - mikej
Thanks for the reply guys.

wmo - did you fit the pads yourself ?
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Sun 9 Sep 2007 00:02
05 loud squealing - steering or brakes ? - GregSwain
When the pads wear down they develop a screaching sound as a warning to
replace the pads.


Erm....not when you're not actually braking! For the pads to be pushed against the discs when the brakes are not being applied (hence making a noise), something must be seized. Take the pads out and be a bit liberal with the Copperslip to start with (and I bet they've all got a bit of meat left on them), if the noise doesn't go away it's more likely a calliper problem.
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Sun 9 Sep 2007 00:54
05 loud squealing - steering or brakes ? - Screwloose

Screech springs are quite common wear warnings on Japanese brakes.

They would stay very close to the edge of the discs and the slight movement in the bearings when cornering might explain that effect.
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Sun 9 Sep 2007 17:10
05 loud squealing - steering or brakes ? - wmo
No. An independent garage fitted them.
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Mon 10 Sep 2007 00:47
loud squealing - steering or brakes ? - mikej
You're right guys - I'd not heard of this 'screeching' brake pad wear indication before so hadn't had reason to check in the manual, but I finally tracked down a couple of lines on the matter on page 5-10 :

"Brake Pad Wear Indicator - when the disc pads become worn, the built-in wear indicators contact the disc plates. This causes a screeching noise to warn that the pads should be replaced."

However - I've checked all the pads on the car and they are all fine. The pads on the front look almost new in terms of wear and those on the back are more heavily worn, but still have plenty of life left in them and should be good until next year at least.

Do they screech way before they get to the minimum thickness ? If I was being cynical, I'd suspect that the screeching is a way of Mazda trying to get you to change your pads more often !

Incidently - is it normal for rear pads to wear down first ? (I'm presuming that the pads have not been changed since new) I've only ever had cars with rear drums before, so am not sure of the brake force distribution when you have discs all round.

I might as well get Mazda to look at it when it goes in for it's 2nd service next week. If it is a dodgy caliper, what are my chances at being able to get that done under warranty ? They shouldn't go after 26k miles, surely ?
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