Loud brake squealing

dzankizakon · Feb 28, 2015

Hello everyone,

I hope someone can help as this problem is slowly driving me insane.

The car is A3 Sportback s-tronic (1.4T COD although that makes no difference).

The car is one and a half years old. This problem of squealing back brakes started a couple of months after the car was delivered to me and Audi still haven't solved it. I've been to the garage at least ten times and still nothing.

Every time the car is left alone for an hour (or overnight), or sometimes even half an hour, when I turn it on, press the brake pedal, move the gear lever to D and drive off, the car makes a low squealing sound, but when I brake, the car squeals like there's a cat being ripped apart violently in the boot. It's seriously loud, high-pitched squealing noise. I have to drive the car for about 1 minute (and brake a few times all the while) before the squealing stops. It's very embarrassing since it's really loud and especially since the car is new. I have neighbors with 20 year old cars that make no sound whatsoever when braking.

First they've "done something" and the squealing stopped. A few weeks again, the squealing starts again. I patiently wait for a month hoping it goes away, but it doesn't. Then they said it's the brake pads, they changed them and it seemed OK. 10 days later, the squealing starts again. Then they've changed the brake discs, squealing stopped. Two weeks again, it starts again. I wait for a month hoping the problem will solve itself, nada, squealing as loud as ever. Then they said it's probably the calipers in combination with s-tronic P mode. Fine, change them. No squealing for 10 days, starts again. All this agony has been going on for a little over a year.

I'm really ****** off, TBH.

This is the audio I recorded this morning:

I cropped a small portion not to annoy your ears too much, but you get the picture.

Does anyone have any idea what can cause this loud squealing, other than pads, discs and calipers?

Thanks a lot for any helpful ideas.

WetFishDB · Mar 1, 2015

Same here on S3 :/

mjcourtney · Mar 1, 2015

Had this on mine for 2 years, surprised your dealer has gone to the lengths they did to try and resolve it as both the ones I took it to said it was "normal first start brake noise".

As you say, after the first mile it all disappears, but even the courtesy cars I've driven did the same. Bad design I guess.

WetFishDB · Mar 1, 2015

Thinking of getting a Brembo set instead as it's embarrassing pulling away from the house.

dzankizakon · Mar 1, 2015

I'm surprised people put up with this. It's an Audi, not a Hyundai, I paid more than 2 times the price of a top of the line Hyundai i30 and they're unable to fix this, even after replacing discs, calipers and pads. I'd understand if it squealed a little bit for a second or two, but to loudly sqeual for a minute, and every time, it's embarrassing even for a Hyundai, in my opinion.

If anyone solved this in any way, I'd love to hear about it.

A3_Rider · Mar 1, 2015

Had this on the 8P, just got used to it.

On the S3, on a cold start in reverse it makes the same noise, but stops when I PRESS the brakes, which is weird. Once its warmed up theres no noise in reverse.

Few other niggles I plan to tell the dealer when its due a service, just have to make sure I dont get a "yes sir" who doesn't really listen, man do they annoy me. /rantover

dzankizakon · Mar 1, 2015

I still have wife's A3 8P, but it makes no noise when braking, it never has.

The Audi people are very understanding and accommodating, but the problem is unresolved. I'm now thinking of replacing the pads with aftermarket ones, just to get that out of the equation.

Symon · Mar 1, 2015

I would kick up a fuss. It's not normal- it's a defect. If it was a washing machine you wouldn't put up with it- you'd get it repaired/ replaced. You pay £25k for a car- I'd be writing a letter of complaint and telling audi to fix it for good or replace it.

nickatkinson · Mar 1, 2015

My m135i has started doing the brake squeeking in reverse and it is embarrassing. My last car did it too and stopped when I had the brakes taken apart and cleaned, new discs and pads and braided hoses. That was more of a performance upgrade that just happened to sort the problem though.

Hope you get it sorted and keep us posted on the progress.

dzankizakon · Mar 1, 2015

Thank you for your message!

nickatkinson said:
My last car did it too and stopped when I had the brakes taken apart and cleaned, new discs and pads and braided hoses.

The problem is that they've already replaced the discs (the back ones, as that's where the sound is coming from), brake pads and the calipers. I don't even know what else can they possibly replace. Do you know?

JohnM100 · Mar 2, 2015

Do you jet wash / pressure wash your wheels?

Your original post says the squeal is on virtually every start which I know will be more often than you wash the car but wonder if periodic jet washing is removing any copper grease or other anti squeal product in there.

roadrunner_oz · Mar 2, 2015

These are performance pads. You need to get pads to deposit a layer on the discs. Find an open road with no traffic and perform a series of hard braking from 100kph to 5kph about 10 times in succession until you start to feel brake fade. Then drive for 10 mins without stopping to cool off the brakes.Do not stop the car with hot brakes as you will get uneven deposits and then you will have vibrations. Just Google 'brake bed in' if yoi want to know more https://www.google.com.au/#q=brake bed in procedure&tbm=vid

veeeight · Mar 2, 2015

Sounds exactly like a FX4 London Taxi brake squeal.

glospete · Mar 2, 2015

dzankizakon said:
I'm surprised people put up with this. It's an Audi, not a Hyundai, I paid more than 2 times the price of a top of the line Hyundai i30 and they're unable to fix this, even after replacing discs, calipers and pads. I'd understand if it squealed a little bit for a second or two, but to loudly sqeual for a minute, and every time, it's embarrassing even for a Hyundai, in my opinion.

If anyone solved this in any way, I'd love to hear about it.

Don't knock the quality of Hyundai my friend! I've had 2 Santa Fe SUVs since 2006 and they were absolutely faultless. Not just no squeaking brakes but everything worked and nothing fell off. Only criticism is the standard of the interior fittings - not in the same league as Audi but for the price ..... And the quality is really good even though there are hard plastics.

veeeight · Mar 2, 2015

I'd go with that. I've been in the rear of a Santa Fe all across Europe, and jumped in and out of Q5's, Cayennes, Touaregs etc. on the same trip.

The back of the Santa Fe was a nice place to be, and the quietest in terms of road noise compared to all the other vehicles. The standard fit Kumho tyres were exceptional on that trip.

Way too much badge snobbery in the UK

dzankizakon · Mar 3, 2015

glospete said:
Don't knock the quality of Hyundai my friend! I've had 2 Santa Fe SUVs since 2006 and they were absolutely faultless. Not just no squeaking brakes but everything worked and nothing fell off. Only criticism is the standard of the interior fittings - not in the same league as Audi but for the price ..... And the quality is really good even though there are hard plastics.

Well I had to compare the price to a non-luxury brand car (I could have picked a Fiat or a Dacia, but I don't think they make cars in the same segment as i30 and A3). My point was that Audi has to do much better than anyone else given the prices they're commanding - my A3 cost twice the price of a petrol 130hp automatic fully loaded Hyundai i30. You pay premium not only for interior quality but overall quality, at least that's what I naively think ;-)

I'll try roadrunner_oz's suggestion and if it doesn't fix it, I'll be knocking on Audi's door until they fix it. ;-)

rajeevx5 · Mar 3, 2015

It might be an error in the brake drying system, where the brakes are slightly applied to dry the disc. In VCDS there is a setting to disable or reduce the amount of brake drying under the brake electronics

lucas-suisse · Mar 3, 2015

Or maybe something linked to the place you live/drive. Is you place a kind of sandbox ? ;-)

dzankizakon · Mar 9, 2015

roadrunner_oz said:
These are performance pads. You need to get pads to deposit a layer on the discs. Find an open road with no traffic and perform a series of hard braking from 100kph to 5kph about 10 times in succession until you start to feel brake fade. Then drive for 10 mins without stopping to cool off the brakes.Do not stop the car with hot brakes as you will get uneven deposits and then you will have vibrations. Just Google 'brake bed in' if yoi want to know more https://www.google.com.au/#q=brake bed in procedure&tbm=vid

Thanks for the advice. I did it and the next morning the brakes were quiet, however the morning after the squealing continued the same as before.

jimmydougle · Mar 11, 2015

Ah I also have this problem, to add to my list. I thought it was normal but apparently not. The dealer offered to drive my car home for "overnight testing" at my fuel expense and 50 miles each way... of course I said no to that, nobody is ragging my car 100 miles on my petrol. Do you also occasionally get a horrible noise when reversing?

dzankizakon · Mar 11, 2015

jimmydougle said:
Do you also occasionally get a horrible noise when reversing?

No, in fact the brakes squeal only when I go forward (and for a minute or so). Strangely, when I reverse, they're totally quiet.

veeeight · Mar 11, 2015

jimmydougle said:
Do you also occasionally get a horrible noise when reversing?

Common problem.
See here:
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/thread...-when-reversing-noisy-seatbelt-socket.227736/
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/squeaky-brakes-i-think-hope.234492/

brake squeak squeal noise noisy reverse

ACWKGYTO · Mar 12, 2015

Apparently I was told by Audi main dealer they dont use copper grease anymore, took my old S1 back due to annoying brake/wheel squeels, the copper greased the brakes and it was a lot better, I sold it about a week later ! Had it on previous S3 8P and was told it was due to salt on the road in winter, washed it off cam back, my latest S3 not got it yet ! Fingers crossed !

mfl · May 2, 2015

Took my S3 for a fast drive the other day, morning after - reversed car out of garage, loud squealing noise from rear brakes , but only when cold coming out of the garage ? glazed pads maybe or ......

-- also managed to get all 4 pipes black....

Snibo · May 3, 2015

dzankizakon said:
The problem is that they've already replaced the discs (the back ones, as that's where the sound is coming from), brake pads and the calipers. I don't even know what else can they possibly replace. Do you know?

Hmmm......had this on a friend's car recently - different Manufacturer.
I would have sworn that the squealing was coming from the rear wheels / brakes - I would even have put money on it, I was that confident.

Went in for the Dealer to look at it and they replaced the front discs / pads. Said they'd checked the rear and all was okay.
Something about a "lip" on the front discs that was causing the problem.

Been two weeks now and not a single sound.
(This problem has taken 5 years to appear though, which is pretty good - and yet another nail in the Audi quality product :flush:

)

bluemoona3246 · Jan 6, 2016

I know it's an old topic but I now have this symptom!

Sounds trouble, taking it into Audi soon, can't stand the shame of leaving work and being in the traffic and hearing "squeak, squeak" every time I inch forward in the traffic!

Audimad · Jan 7, 2016

Our S3 had the same problem with squeaky brakes, we solved it by selling it.

thebluefox · Feb 2, 2016

Audimad said:
Our S3 had the same problem with squeaky brakes, we solved it by selling it.

This actually made me laugh out loud in the office.

Mine is currently in the dealer for this problem - very loud squeak when reversing off the drive first thing in the morning. Technician I spoke to (not the service guy who seemed like he didn't want to speak to me) made it sound as if it was normal. My reply was that I don't spend nigh on £40k on a car to have it wake the street up every morning with squealing brakes.

I await their findings....

Ignition1 · Feb 3, 2016

I remember @veeeight saying it was the brakes cleaning the pads on start-up. This has only started happening to me during all this wet and cold weather.

It's a tooth-cracking squeak though. But happens intermittently for about a minute.

veeeight · Feb 3, 2016

Nooooooo !

I'm sure I didn't say that ! :lmfao:

It only squeals in reverse, not going forwards!

(But there is a water-wipe function on the pads/disc, I doubt its that. More likely it's worn in a wedge-shape on the pad, or the pad has detached from the backing plate, or the clips aren't clipping correctly in both directions of travel. But at least you haven't got the terminal RS3 brake squeal problems!)

veeeight · Feb 3, 2016

I do remember saying that the rear EPB does a self test from time to time

LynxACN · Sep 12, 2016

A3_Rider said:
Had this on the 8P, just got used to it.

On the S3, on a cold start in reverse it makes the same noise, but stops when I PRESS the brakes, which is weird. Once its warmed up theres no noise in reverse.

Few other niggles I plan to tell the dealer when its due a service, just have to make sure I dont get a "yes sir" who doesn't really listen, man do they annoy me. /rantover

i have the exact same issue on my s3 8v....and i just recently had the car serviced... I've never had squeaks and squeals this bad on any car i've had before.

A3_Rider · Sep 12, 2016

LynxACN said:
i have the exact same issue on my s3 8v....and i just recently had the car serviced... I've never had squeaks and squeals this bad on any car i've had before.

What a revival!!!

Well they changed the rear pads free of charge on service and it went...BUT....it made the noise once a few weeks ago! :box:

LynxACN · Sep 24, 2016

A3_Rider said:
What a revival!!!

Well they changed the rear pads free of charge on service and it went...BUT....it made the noise once a few weeks ago!

I took it in for them to check....was told theres no issues with breaks but they said it was the engine oil pump making the noise on cold starts....i live in Sydney a cold morning in my apaprtment garage is still like 11 degrees minimum... so i duno what went wrong...

HOWEVER they did discover a problem with my haldex system... essentially my car is a front wheel drive atm as the coupling pump is broken i was told...

If anyone else has wheel spin issue even at low throttle tehn take it in before ur warranty is out

Loud brake squealing

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

I am a very pretty girl

Registered User

I am a very pretty girl

Registered User

S3

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

I am a very pretty girl

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Ignition1

Guest

I am a very pretty girl

I am a very pretty girl

Registered User

Registered User

Registered User

Similar threads