'08' 2.0 TDCI Mondeo MK4 Edge Rear Brake Squeal

[Nick1983]

Hello all,

I am looking for a bit of advice or to see if anyone has had or is having a similar experience with their Mondeo.

I bought the car last year and all was well until about 3 months ago when i suddenly heard a very high pitched squealing noise coming from one of the rear wheels, after i had parked it up for a couple of hours and got back in the noise was gone. Now i have noticed that after heavy braking periods the noise will re-appear very subtle just a intermittent squeak as the wheel turns and then it just gets louder and louder until it is a head turning constant hell raising scream, i have also noticed when i exit the car after this event the rear offside wheel is boiling hot.

If we have no heavy braking events the car is perfectly fine, over the last 2 weeks i have done several 40-80 mile runs down the motorway with no issues at all, but a quick run to the shops when i had to brake heavily on one occasion set it off again.

Things i have noticed:

• The squeal stops if i slightly touch the brakes or handbrake.
• Squeal becomes less noticeable while turning left or right.
• Rear offside wheel, brake disc, and caliper become VERY hot.
• Stopping the car for a few minutes seems to remedy the issue.
• Noise will eventually suddenly stop if i continue driving at speed (Motorway).
• Braking is fine, no grinding, fade or vibrations etc.

Things we have tried:

• New brake pads twice (After several loud squeal events the pads literally turn to charcoal)
• New Disc
• New Caliper
• New handbrake cable

We have wondered if it could be the wheel bearing, but would that not cause issues on every single journey? also the car just went through its MOT with no issues at all.

Any help greatly appreciated.
Nick.

[BOF]

Well the brakes are sticking - on one side at least. This is quite common particularly for the rears for some reason. Quite how you have managed to change so much without curing the problem is a slightly different question.

Have you tried  jacking up the wheel that gets hot, operating the handbrake, and trying to spin the wheel having released the handbrake?
 

[Tdci-Peter]

3 hours ago, Nick1983 said:

Things we have tried:

• New brake pads twice (After several loud squeal events the pads literally turn to charcoal)
• New Disc
• New Caliper
• New handbrake cable

I am not sure if it is like the Focus braking system, but that has a caliper bracket that the caliper mounts on.

The pads locate in this bracket. If it has a wear mark where the pad should slide, the pad could jam on, in contact with the disk. So did the new caliper include the caliper bracket?

[Nick1983]

16 hours ago, BOF said:

Well the brakes are sticking - on one side at least. This is quite common particularly for the rears for some reason. Quite how you have managed to change so much without curing the problem is a slightly different question.

Have you tried  jacking up the wheel that gets hot, operating the handbrake, and trying to spin the wheel having released the handbrake?
 

Unfortunately i have not had the opportunity to jack it up while hot, but i will check this asap.

16 hours ago, Tdci-Peter said:

I am not sure if it is like the Focus braking system, but that has a caliper bracket that the caliper mounts on.

The pads locate in this bracket. If it has a wear mark where the pad should slide, the pad could jam on, in contact with the disk. So did the new caliper include the caliper bracket?

The rear brakes do have a mount that the caliper sits inside, i was surprised when the new caliper did not come with this, any ideas where i can get this part?

[Tdci-Peter]

8 hours ago, Nick1983 said:

i was surprised when the new caliper did not come with this, any ideas where i can get this part?

It is not usually included with calipers. A quick look did not find any eBay sellers, so it might be via a Ford dealer, and it looks to be expensive!

However, careful inspection should reveal any wear ridges or damage. A small amount of wear or roughness can be corrected with a file, if there is no damage or cracking visible. It is just the small area where the pads locate, that has to be smooth.

Another thing to double check is the caliper sliding pins, and the rubber bushes they slide in. These should have been lubricated with rubber grease (usually a clear silicone grease) when the caliper was replaced.

Also the use of copper slip (copper grease) on certain points might help. It has always been standard practice to put a little of this on the pad ends where they slide in the bracket, and between pad and piston. Though I believe Ford practice is to not use this now, for some reason, It may be that some garages were over-applying it, and contaminating the pads. But most people still use it.

[pragmatix]

Certainly check the pins these can corrode and cause the calliper to lock on, the pins can be bought cheaply and are allways worth doing when changing calipers

[Nick1983]

Just thought i would drop an update on this while touching wood

We changed the pistons/pins on the slider, they looked fine and moved freely but changed them as we had it apart anyway, we also removed the caliper holder/bracket and scrubbed away all the slag and corrosion with an air powered wire brush, once this was all cleaned up the pads were so easy to put back in were as before they were really stiff, put copper slip on required areas with a little on the end of the pads.

Its been almost 3 weeks now and no noises at all, hopefully all is now well.

Thanks for the advice.

[pragmatix]

Glad you're sorted