There are two major areas of auto repair that are a concern for all shops. The ability to make the car go and the ability to make the car stop! Your car is telling you there’s a stopping issue

when you hear your brakes making noises.

    Like fingernails scraping across a blackboard, brake squeal is enough to make anybody's hair stand on end. For some neurological reason that is not fully understood, human beings react negatively to high-pitched squeals like crying babies, sirens and screeching breaks. So if your brakes are squealing, you want the noise to go away.

    Complaints about brake squeal became a problem when front-wheel drive and semi-metallic brakes arrived on the scene in the 1980s. Semi-metallic pads are harder than their ceramic counterparts, and thus are more apt to chatter and squeal if there are any irregularities or roughness on the rotor surface, or if there is looseness between the pads and calipers.

    Brake squealing is produced by high-frequency vibration in the brakes. With disc brakes, vibrations can occur between the pads and rotors; the pads and calipers; the calipers and mounts; and/or within the rotors themselves. With drum brakes, the vibrations can originate between the shoes and the backing plates, and/or within the drums.

    The noise is not dangerous as long as there is no metal-to-metal contact, the brakes are working properly and there is adequate lining thickness. But, it sure can be annoying. So, to get rid of it, you first have to figure out what is causing the brake noise.

   You cannot properly inspect your brakes without removal of the tires and without a micrometer. The micrometer is a precision tool used to measure the thickness of the brake rotors. A vehicle with thin or warped rotors can be dangerous and thus the rotors must be replaced while replacing the brake pads.

   Trying to fix a squeal problem the wrong way can often make the problem worse. If somebody does a quick brake job and replaces the brake pads but does not resurface the rotors, the result can be an even louder squeal. The same can happen if the rotors are resurfaced incorrectly, too quickly or with dull tools.

  In short, some jobs no matter how simple they may seem, are best left to the experts. A brake job done incorrectly can result heightened frustrations, cost and danger to you and other motorist.