High pitched squeal when braking lightly
Most brake pads have a small steel tab built in. When the pad wears down to a few millimetres, the tab touches the rotor and squeals. It is meant to annoy you into booking a brake check. You have some time, but not months.
Squeal on the first few stops of the morning
Overnight moisture puts a thin layer of rust on the rotors. The first few stops scrub it off, sometimes noisily. If it goes away after a few minutes, it is normal.
Grinding
This is the one to take seriously. Grinding usually means the pad material is gone and the steel backing plate is scraping the rotor. Every stop is cutting grooves into the rotor, and stopping distances are getting longer. Book right away.
Grinding can also be a stone caught between the rotor and the dust shield, which is harmless and easy to fix. Either way, get it looked at.
A pulsing pedal or shaking steering wheel
When you brake from highway speed and the pedal pulses or the wheel shakes, the rotors have uneven thickness. People call it warped rotors. It is often caused by pad material building up unevenly, or by wheels tightened unevenly with an impact gun. New rotors or machining fixes it.
Pulling to one side
If the car pulls when you brake, one side is braking harder than the other. In Ottawa the usual cause is a caliper slide pin seized with rust and salt. Left alone, it wears one set of pads out fast and overheats the rotor.
A soft or sinking pedal
Not a noise, but the most urgent one on this list. It can mean air or moisture in the fluid, a leaking line, or a failing master cylinder. Older cars in Ontario often have rusted steel brake lines. Do not keep driving on a soft pedal. Call Tow Kings at (613) 276-4714.
Road salt and your brakes
Salt is the reason brakes wear differently here than in Vancouver. It seizes slides and pins, rusts rotor faces and eats brake lines from the outside. A brake inspection every spring, once the salt is gone, catches most of it early.
Book a brake inspection or call (613) 745-0004.
