Drum brakes squealing

Hello folks

At around 5000 or 6000 miles I noticed a squealing coming from the drum brakes when the brakes were still cold. Ambient temperature would be anywhere from the 80s up. The squealing would occur only in the first three breaking applications meaning coming to shortstops in a parking lot or the first intersection.

Fast forward to now at 11,000 miles and I'm beginning to notice drum squealing occurring when the brakes are hot after driving steady 20 miles or so in city traffic. I'm wondering if anyone else has this experience on the 17s and what kind of maintenance work was performed to help get rid of the squeal? Would brake cleaner or just simply opening the drums and blowing compressed air?

Thanks in advance.

 

I would take it to the dealer.

 

i probably would as well. haven't noticed any recurring reports of that around here, unless i just haven't noticed.

 

Thanks Honestly I would like to avoid the dealership simply because of how slow moving and completely helpless they act.

If I could spend about .5-1 hour spraying the brakes down and that fixing the problem I would much rather do it myself. I am more or less curious if anyone else has this problem.

 

The pads may be out of adjustment or a wheel cylinder could be bad (sticking). You could take them apart and take a gander. I would say if it truly is sticking, you will probably need new brakes and the drum turned or replaced.

 

I did see post on here a few months ago where a guy rear pads disintegrated. I think he was using all that traction control stuff on an off-road model.

 

Thanks. I plan on doing that soon when the temp outside goes down a little as expected this week. Seems like its just my truck so far. Like @St.Germain said i havent noticed widespread reports on this either.

 

Dont panic, the occasional squeak when cold is normal.

But I would have a look inside the drum to see what's what. It's easy and if there is a problem you'll probably see it right away.

Sometimes drums will squeak when they get dirty inside from off roading. You can also get very small pebbles caught between the shoe and drum sometimes, and those will squeak.

My Mitsubishi has four wheel drum brakes and I wheel it pretty hard, so I've gotten used to abused drum brakes making minor noises lol

 

I had this problem. First trip to dealer they couldn't replicate. Second trip to dealer I took service manager on a ride and he heard it. Long story short they did an entire rear brake job. I guess Mike Sweers was incorrect...drums really aren't better than disc brakes.

 

Take the drums off clean out all the brake dust and hose everything down with brake cleaner and use sandpaper to put a slight bevel on the leading and trailing ends of the shoes and the out board edge that bottoms out in the drum

Or take it to the dealer....

 

Thanks. I will do this and report back.

If squeal remains then ill try dealership, but i wont hold my breath.

On separate note, i find it quite ironic that the hyundai and even kia dealerships ive gone to seem way more accommodating than the 2 toyota dealerships ive tried. Also toyota service dept had wayyy more cars waiting to be serviced, so im sure the sheer load on the department is a major factor.

 

I'll get murdered for saying this but what the fuck, here goes. My father in-law owned a GM dealership in the 80s and 90s then ran an independent repair shop that repaired all makes for 20 years before retiring last year. In other words, lots of auto industry experience. He said both Hyundai and Kia were shit for the first decade or so they were in the USA respectively quality wise relative to Honda/Toyotas but by the mid-late 2000s they had caught up and are actually a better value based on price/quality. I know my Mom loves her 2013 Kia Soul with it's 100k mile warranty and is very happy with her dealer and how they treat her. YMMV of course.

 

My father sold Fords, managed and then owned a Ford dealership (3 decades in the industry) and has said the same.

 

If it's under warranty, DO NOT do it yourself. Let the dealer fix it. It's what you paid for!!

G.

 

Youre right.

Like i said, the problem is you schedule, drive in and wait for a while to have a tech even evaluate the car, most of the time they give a bs response to get you out of the way because they are packed with customers, which really bothers me.

Honda, acura, kia, hyundai, they dont have huge waits like i see at toyota. Quite troubling but besides that fact, toyota service guys in general just seem to act like they truly dont care.

 

There is a possibility it is brake dust build up, but after that many miles on new drums i would doubt it. You can try pulling the drum cover off and looking at it/cleaning it up. Also check the wear pattern on the shoes, if it looks all goofed up the drum probably isn't even round. If you are under warranty though, I'd just let the dealer deal with it unless they aren't willing to do anything but clean them.

One drum on my previous ford truck squealed when I replaced it and the shoes. Would squeal the last couple seconds before coming to a stop. I tried everything and the only thing that fixed it was putting another new drum and shoes on there.

 

Yep. That's what fixed my Turd gen

 

So I just had a chance to open the drums and all looked fine other than the usual brake dust that accumulates from the shoes. I sprayed brake cleaner very well, and then high pressure air spray from my compressor. Put it back in and squeal is completely gone.

When I consulted with my mechanic, he mentioned that usually it's due to the material of the shoes that can do this, and even though it makes noise, nothing is actually wrong with it.

I'll post some pictures of my open drums in just a bit.

 

wait.... its 2017 and Toyota is still using drums