Is it Safe to Drive with Squealing Brakes?

If you’ve ever had the brakes on your car squeak, you probably wondered “what causes a squeak?” or “why does it do it?” Well we’re gonna help you figure that out today. Welcome to Mercie J auto care, where compassion and craftsmanship come together. I’m Rick Smith master certified technician and with me is May-Hay, my granddaughter. She’s going to help us learn a little bit about break squeak. So to understand a break squeak we have to understand how a violin works. Why don’t you make a squeak for us May-Hay. *Violin squeal* So the way that squeak is made is by vibrating the string. So pluck one for us too. So that vibration of the string is what makes the squeak. Now on your car you have a rotor that’s attached to the wheel and it spins while you’re driving down the road. When you apply the brakes you’re applying some pistons against some brake pads. They push against the rotor on each side and they slow the car down to stop it. Now if those brake pads vibrate at all, *Violin squeak* We get a brake squeal, which drives us crazy. So when we’re doing a brake job, we have to make sure that all of this is clean. No greasy thumbprints. That is the difference between a high-level professional and a guy that’s not as professional. Also these brake pads rest inside of some brackets, so we need to lubricate them. Then we also put some lubrication on the back of the brake pad. Lastly, would be the quality of our brake pads. So hopefully that helps you understand why brakes squeak. It’s a high frequency vibration, same as a violin.