Can anyone diagnose this noise?

[Minklet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Minklet]

Noticed my Prado making this noise today. Rotational squeaking. It's very loud, doesn't seem to stop on acceleration or braking, but I hope it's brakes and not wheel bearings


Admin note: >>Please take a video of said noise and post. Saves any unsafe Dropbox or download links. <Links removed by admin>

[Minklet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Minklet]

I understand the safety concern, but you can play dropbox audio directly in the browser without having to download the file

However, I have added them to soundcloud

[Guest Close Guest]

We dont allow direct downloads as thus, too easy for someone to slip bad files in.

[Minklet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Minklet]

Ok, but what is wrong with SoundCloud? It's an audio hosting platform, no downloading required. It's no different conceptually to YouTube except there's no video.

Having to go out on my car and film a video to get an audio sample for people to listen to is a bit unnecessary. Do you have a preferred audio host?

[Guest Close Guest]

Yes, As explained a few times now, take a video and post it to the site. Then there is no issues as we have had in the past with viri and .exe files being hidden in links and unknown files. If that is not suitable then. No there is no host..

[Minklet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Minklet]

Ok, what is the extension I need to upload them to the site? It won't let me upload as mov. Can't upload as mp4 either

[Minklet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Minklet]

Right ok, I didn't understand from your instructions - post it to the site - that you wanted it to be embedded from one of the video hosts listed on the embed button

Noise is below, starts at 4s

[Minklet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Minklet]

Things to note are that my suspension bushings are shot but because this happens at every rotation it sounds less suspension and more wheel or brakes related. Gonna get it up on a jack tonight

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

The play button didn’t work on my phone, but you could start be eliminating the brakes. Remove a tyre at a time and check your pads through the inspection hole with a torch. See if there’s little meat left on them. There are metal wear indicators that will touch your rotor during the later period of pad wear which will make a squeaking sound. Over time as your brakes keep wearing down the squeaking will continue more often to the point where you’re metal on metal & they squeal all the time. Takes a long time to get to that stage though. I’m thinking you may have a warped rotor & pretty warn brakes which explains the rotational squeaking on the most protruded part of the rotor each time it spins around. If it your brake pads they must’ve been squeaking loudly each time you braked for months & months to get to this stage. Like I mentioned though I wasn’t able to play the video/audio as it did nothing on my phone when I pressed play.

[Minklet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Minklet]

Thanks, I'll be checking tonight. However, I only bought the car a month ago, and it had 40% of brake pad left on the front (60% on the rear) according to the inspection, and I've barely driven it since then, so I'd be extremely surprised if the pads are that badly worn. Definitely wasn't making this noise when I bought it, only in the last week or so. It also makes this sound whether I'm braking or not.

Weird about the video, it's a plain old YouTube embed, so not sure why that wouldn't play.

[Guest Close Guest]

Sounds like a worn pad or backing plate and a slightly warped rotor.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Thanks, I'll be checking tonight. However, I only bought the car a month ago, and it had 40% of brake pad left on the front (60% on the rear) according to the inspection, and I've barely driven it since then, so I'd be extremely surprised if the pads are that badly worn. Definitely wasn't making this noise when I bought it, only in the last week or so. It also makes this sound whether I'm braking or not.

Weird about the video, it's a plain old YouTube embed, so not sure why that wouldn't play.

Not that this is your situation but just lending a thought. Did you buy the car from a car yard? The reason I ask is because a dodgy road worthy happened to me when I bought my 90 series Prado in 2007 from a car yard in Aspley that’s now out of business thank god. They seemed reputable at the time. A few dodgy ups were done on my car by their regular road worthy mechanic which I started discovering as early as 2 days later when I took the car to Fraser Is on the rough tracks & worked the car hard & when I questioned the mechanic directly about it when I got back he made me out to be a liar. I then went to the car yard dealer principal and he quashed anything I said and sternly defended the mechanic without question. What he said spoke volumes to me about the business he was running. Seemed to me like they were cutting costs by masking things & not paying the mechanic to replace things that needed replacing. The mechanic was obviously on board with it all. I guess all I’m saying is you shouldn’t have problems like that this soon after a legitimate road worthy. Highly unusual. Check your calliper bolts are all in place and none are missing too. It happens. And you said yourself that you’ve barely driven it since you bought it.

[Minklet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Minklet]

That sounds awful, and I've had similar thoughts but tbh I think it's just bad luck. I bought it from a retired Swiss couple after they'd gone travelling and I got an independent inspection done.

You can see my initial fears about it in this thread http://www.pradopoint.com.au/forum/g...n-sold-a-lemon

But the guy has been quite helpful since, and has flawless reviews, so I just can't see it being a stitch up.

Couldn't get the car up yesterday as couldn't find a safe place to jack it up. Will try tomorrow. I guess if the pads are worn then I know the inspection wasn't accurate because it's physically impossible to have used 40% of a pad in that time without something seriously wrong with the brakes

[Minklet Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Minklet]

Wondering if it's the caliper pins, this sounds very similar imo

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Yeah if it’s a private sale then no need to question the mechanic. Still can’t play your posted YouTube videos though. I’m sure it just wouldn’t be me. I have an iPhone and when I click play the video image doesn’t do anything. Refer to the user manual the car came with for jacking points. Do you know much about cars? As in pulling wheels off and messing around with brake callipers & rotors? You might need a 450mm breaker bar plus some good strength or a 600mm breaker bar to loosen the bolts in the brake region if they were done up too tight by a heavy handed mechanic. Look for scoring on the rotor too that’ll indicate laterally where the cause is positioned. And then look for a clean polished shiny edge on a brake pad wear indicator for example that has been in contact with the rotor. Even get the suspect pair of wheels jacked up off the ground first and spin the culprit to hear the sound while you’re right next to it. I guess make sure the callipers are all held in tight with 2 bolts each, and the brake pads have been reinstalled properly too. Maybe the mechanic made a boo boo and fitted the pads back in incorrectly. Easy to do if you’re not 100% paying attention.