2000 Outback wagon 180k miles, 2.5L n/a, AT. Lately it has been making a metal on metal squealing sound in right turns. But not in left turns. I am pretty sure it is coming from the rear brakes. What to check?

 

If I press the brake medium hard in the turns, there is no squealing. It isn't the parking brake because the squealing is still there if I pull the handle in a right turn.

 

I'm 90% sure it's from the rear brakes, I don't think it's from the front but it is possible.

 

No sound in left turns.

 

Lug nuts and everything seems tight; no obvious looseness anywhere.

Any metal on metal sounds coming from the brakes means you should jack the car up and do an inspection. First how worn are your pads? Second is there any debries stuck in the brakes, and third if you have brake drums (I'm unsure about wether that was even an option on this car) springs or metal parts didn't come apart.

Edited May 10, 201312 yr by mikaleda

inspect the brake pads. i think you will find that one side has brake pads that are not worn evenly.

that side brake caliper has / needs the slide pins cleaned and re-greased.

the caliper is hanging up on the slide pins.

 

i have re-greased slide pins without cleaning them or the inside of the caliper slides and it just happens again.

 

clean and then grease the slide pins.

Typically, a noise that only happens when turning one direction is a wheel bearing. IIRC it's the outer side that makes the noise (in this case, right turns = left side). So I would start by jacking the car up, and see if there's any play in the bearing (the wheel would wiggle in any direction, not just one).

Thanks, I am going to have to check it out. I think now that you mention it, in the fall, that was what I found, one of the pads was seized in the bracket. I think I filed it down a bit and got everything freed up, but maybe it is acting up again. It wasn't squealing at that time, just something I noticed during the check up.

wheel bearings. or possible stuck caliper slides. my car is doing this and i just rebuilt the whole thing. loose axle nut could cause it.

Thanks, I took a look. The sound was from the left rear. When jacked up if i even rotated the wheel slightly it squealed like crazy. The pads were still pretty good but I replaced them. The bottom guide/lock pin was siezed. The pads were pretty well seized in the brackets too. I replaced them. Not sure what was actually squealing since the pads were still at maybe 50% and the little wear indicator things weren't there so it wasn't those.

Thanks, I took a look. The sound was from the left rear. When jacked up if i even rotated the wheel slightly it squealed like crazy. The pads were still pretty good but I replaced them. The bottom guide/lock pin was siezed. The pads were pretty well seized in the brackets too. I replaced them. Not sure what was actually squealing since the pads were still at maybe 50% and the little wear indicator things weren't there so it wasn't those.

Pull it all off and inspect the backing plate. I have an 01 Outback that did the same thing on the passenger side. Turned out to be rust build up behind the backing plate that pushed it out far enough to make contact. A grinding wheel made short work of it.

 

The bottom guide/lock pin was seized.

 

this means that the caliper does not ''back off'' when you take your foot off of the brake. and so the pad drags on the rotor.

 

re-greasing the slide pin is the solution. but in my experience, you also have to CLEAN the inside of the caliper slide pin hole or the problem will re-occur in the near future.

 

my 97 obw did this. i re-did the pads twice before i figured it out.

i'm not sure i re-greased the first time.

apparently i have a fairly slow learning curve.

Edited May 12, 201312 yr by johnceggleston

Thanks, the rear pads and slider service fixed the squeal in the turns. Plus as a bonus the braking is much improved. I don't think the rears were braking much at all and were just along for the ride.

 

The pin that siezed up it looks like water got in around the rubber boot. I cleaned the rust up on the outside of the pin. Something is wrong with the caliper bracket too. The rubber piece that goes on that pin was stuck inside the bracket and I couldn't get it out. So I nipped the end of the pin (where the rubber bushing goes) off with bolt cutters. I wasn't sure if that would work but it seems to be OK so far.

 

I find I have to grind down the pad 'ears' on all my Subaru's, else the pads are too tight in the bracket. I remember there was a TSB out about that many years back. If you grid too much it will sometimes then make a 'click' when first applying the brakes but it isn't too bad.