First of all, I have the Stillen cross-drilled rotors for the front and rear. I had these less than a year. Anyway, when I'm driving away slowly, I hear this squeaking sound. As I'm rolling, if I turn the steering wheel to the left or right a bit, I would also hear this noise. However, when the car was at a stop, I turned the steering wheel to the left or right, I didn't hear anything. Thought it could be my brake pads, but when I braked, I didn't hear anything. I just hear the noise when I'm rolling. It seem like it coming from the front, but I'm not certain. Any signs I could see/feel that would tell me it's a warped rotor for sure?

 

You have the Axis pads on there too?

Brake from 70 MPH down .. they'll vibrate and shake your steering wheel if the surface is uneven.

 

If the rotors are warped you would feel pulsing when braking. Brake squeal can be caused by vibration of the brake pads. When you hit the brakes, they can't vibrate. Do you have an anti-squeal coating on the back of the pads?

 

I have Raybestos Quiet Stop pads on the front and Axis pads on the rear. I haven't test braking from 70mph down. I did noticed when driving at 70mph or more, the steering wheel shaked a bit. It wasn't a rough shake, more an intense vibration. I could see my hands shaking when placed on the steering wheel driving at high speed. It could have shake too when I brake from that high speed, but I'm not certain.

 

Also when your rotors are warped, you'll feel it in your steering wheel when braking.

 

Yes I do have anti-squeal coating on all of the pads. My brake pedal didn't vibrate though when I braked.

 

Then it's not warped rotors. Might be strut bearings.

 

Darn it, I knew I forgot something. When I replaced the blown struts, I also replaced the strut mount and dust boots, but forgot about the bearings. Great...oh well, I'm going to install some new Eibach springs next week anyway, so I'm going to replace the bearings as well then.

 

wouldn't bad strut bearings make noise when u turn the wheel?


btw, u keeping the rotors mike?

 

Hm...yeah, there's no sound when I turn the wheel.


Yes I would like to keep the rotors, but not if they're warped. I'm going to take a better look at them on the weekend.

 

I have the same noise you are talking about. I agree that it is the strut bearings, I only get the sound when the wheel is turned while the car is moving. Rotors that are severely warped will cause a shuddering under braking no matter what the speed. Also, if the break pads are down to the wear indicators that can cause a similar sound.

 

The noise doesn't seem to occur when turning the steering wheel at a standstill. A failed strut bearing will make noise 99% of the time if you turn the wheel from lock to lock at a standstill.

Does the frequency of the noise change with increased wheelspeed?
-Or does it occur only in response to steering inputs?

Is this a shrill type squeak (metal on metal: brake noise) or more of a rubber/plastic muffled squeak noise (strut bearing/suspension noise)?

If the first type, it could be a brake-pad dragging slightly on a rotor. This can sometimes occur when turning at slow speeds if the following are not all ok:

Things to inspect:

caliper pins: skored/worn or poorly lubricated?
caliper piston: sticking? moves freely in the piston bore?
"anti-rattle" brake pad spring clips* installed? installed correctly?

Any of these problem areas could contribute to a slight dragging of the pads and cause the noise described.

*These were OEM equipment on '95/'96 if I'm not mistaken, but were omitted on later 4th Gens, so you may not have a need for them at all. There has been much debate about whether they're neccessary at all, but in theory, they help keep the pads off the rotor surface when the brake pedal is not depressed by "springing" the two pads off of one another and away from the rotor. I put them on when I did my rebuild on the basis that they couldn't hurt.

Good luck!