Brake Squeal on Rear Discs

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Hello all.

I have a 2013 Altima that has been making a brake squeal under LIGHT braking (Never on hard) for quite a while now. I believed it was coming from the rears so I went ahead and got new rotors (AC Delco Pro Anti-Rust Coated) and new pads (Akebono Ultra Prem) to put on the rears.

This week has been extremely rainy in Houston, and after making a trip across town, I walked back to my car from the Passenger side for once and noticed rust on the braking surface of the rear rotors. Thinking that was odd I went around to the driver side rear to see if they were rusted too, so there would at least be symmetry. The driver side rears were 100% clean on the braking surface.

I'm just curious what this could be. I'm planning on tearing the passenger brakes off and seeing what I can tell. Both slider pins had just been lubed with silicone paste, brake hardware/clips are new and lubed with anti-seize/moly. I'm hoping the caliper isn't bad, or that I have a brake fluid leak somewhere on that line.

Pictures for reference. These were taking after driving back to my office and doing several moderate/heavy braking to see if I could clean the rotor:

Passenger side rear
qYI4x9j.jpg


Driver side rear
lj3d4ZM.jpg
 
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I believe the next possible step is to bleed that caliper and see if there's any air stuck in the caliper cavity or line causing insufficient pad squeeze on the disc.
 
I plan on taking the wheel off this weekend and taking a look at that side. I'll take it all apart, bleed it some more, and then put it all back together.

If that rust isn't cleaned off by braking after that then I'll just get a new caliper and see if that fixes it.
 
From the pictures, there is nothing wrong. The rusted area is a rust ring on the unswept areas of the friction surface. If you look closely, the swept area is the same size on both sides.

Look at the size of the pad compared to the rotor, and you will see what I mean.
 
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Originally Posted By: The Critic
From the pictures, there is nothing wrong. The rusted area is a rust ring on the unswept areas of the friction surface. If you look closely, the swept area is the same size on both sides.

Look at the size of the pad compared to the rotor, and you will see what I mean.


I hate to say it (only because I was hoping I found the cause of the light braking squeal) but I think you're right.


Got a closer look at the brakes and it looks like this is indeed the case:

70Ij1Dt.jpg



dDIXln5.jpg


I really wish I could figure out what the squeal is.
 
Did you apply the included lube pack in the Akebono pads to the backing plate before snapping the shims on and on the inboard pad shim where it touches the piston? Did you also lube the pad edges that touch the support ledges/abutment clips?

Some brands of aftermarket brakes use an adhesive to secure the shims onto the pads, but if you can pop it off applying the included lube to the pad/shim interface doesn't hurt.

ACDelco brakes are rebadged Raybestos, but I doubt Nissan being the cost cutters they are specifying high-carbon rotors.
 
Originally Posted By: nthach
Did you apply the included lube pack in the Akebono pads to the backing plate before snapping the shims on and on the inboard pad shim where it touches the piston? Did you also lube the pad edges that touch the support ledges/abutment clips?


Akebono is really stingy with the brake lube
cry.gif
mad.gif


That's about my only complaint about them
 
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