wheel squeak

[Tomkinsm]

I'm getting an annoying 'squeak-squeak' noise from the rear of my 300CE. I'm fairly sure its one of the rear wheels making the noise. Its a regular noise which increases with speed, but disapears below about 15mph. Touching the breaks doesn't make any difference. Sometimes the noise will completely stop and then come back again several miles later. I went around a sharp bend the other night and that stopped the noise too.

Any ideas what might be causing it? The wheels show no sign of touching or scraping, and spin freely wheel jacked off the ground.

Thanks

 

[mattkh]

Hi

What is the rate of the regularity ?

Some thing stuck to the tyre..

Did you notice any play in the wheel when you jacked it.

 

[Myros]

it could be

the backing disc just touching the brake disc. That would produce the symptoms. It also might be a small piece of grit betwixt disc and pad. or a pad rubbing.
You should be able to find the culprit by whipping the wheel off and having a good look at the discs and pads and backing disc.

 

[eric242340]

the backing disc just touching the brake disc. That would produce the symptoms. It also might be a small piece of grit betwixt disc and pad. or a pad rubbing.
You should be able to find the culprit by whipping the wheel off and having a good look at the discs and pads and backing disc.

Both good answers, one thing I noticed he said when he goes round a corner the noise stops, this is a prime sign of wheel bearing. Check for play by holding the wheel in 12 oclock and 6 oclock position.

 

[Tomkinsm]

Usually there are about 2 squeaks per second, which doesn't seem to correspond to wheel revs? But, sometimes the sqeak has been continuous.

First 3 miles of my drive to work was fine, then the squeak started.

I thought it might be brakes, but it doesn't stop when I brake, only when speed drops right down to below 15mph. Its not the tyres, because I had new ones fitted on Saturday, which has not stopped the noise. The garage did not report any wheel play, but I'll check this myself. I'll also check the brakes.

Might it be wheel bearing?

 

[eric242340]

A simple road test should answer this. Whilst driving the car swerve to the left and then to the right ( at low speed please) if in one direction it gets quieter and in the opposite direction it gets louder, then check the wheel bearings, but I think the brake option is more likely and if its grit between the pad and disc then applying the brakes wont make any difference, same goes for a backing plate touching the disc.

 

[fivenil]

Handbrake

Hi

Have you tried very lightly pressing the handbrake pedal, while it is squeaking. Mine has exactly the same problem, and the springs holding the handbrake shoes to the backing plate have gone.

 

[eric242340]

Hi

Have you tried very lightly pressing the handbrake pedal, while it is squeaking. Mine has exactly the same problem, and the springs holding the handbrake shoes to the backing plate have gone.

A very good answer, ive seen this many times. suprised I hadent thought of it, but one thing ive noticed with broken shoe springs is the noise is there in forward gear and not in reverse gear. So maybe you could try the reverse and see if the noise is still there.

 

[television]

Hi

Have you tried very lightly pressing the handbrake pedal, while it is squeaking. Mine has exactly the same problem, and the springs holding the handbrake shoes to the backing plate have gone.

This would be a fair bet,wheel bearings do not squeek, backing plates make a scrapping noise,worse by turn in one direction.

You have to unbolt the calliper to get the drum off,quite easy to do.

The only other thing that can happen is that one of the pads has become tight,and not backing off, with all of the rain we have had. Its only a matter of removing them and filing or sanding the edges then re greasing.

Malcolm

 

[fivenil]

Update

Further investigation revealed it's not actually the springs, but the backing plate has corroded through, meaning that the springs have nothing to hook on to.

This is my 3rd Mercedes, and I'm pretty dissapointed in the rust issues. Apart from body, having a brake backing plate rust through is pretty poor, I feel. I had a look at the exploded view on the Russian site mentioned elsewhere on these forums, and it looks as though the backing plate is seperate to the axle.

Has anybody any first hand knowledge of them?

Thanks

Tim

 

[television]

When Type49 comes on he will know how easy it is. could you put something behind that the spring could hook onto for now ?

Yes it is bad that they have rusted through


Malcolm

 

[bigasotonuk]

don,t dismiss buying new ones i think ECP may even do some, i bought some genuine ones for one of my cars for the same reason rust. If i remember rightly they were only about £10-15 each.
Get a price from MB you maybe surprised how cheap they are.

 

[television]

It looks as though the half shafts must be removed to do this, on looking at the picture.

malcolm

 

[David124T]

don,t dismiss buying new ones i think ECP may even do some, i bought some genuine ones for one of my cars for the same reason rust. If i remember rightly they were only about £10-15 each.
Get a price from MB you maybe surprised how cheap they are.

I agree about genuine parts. I have the Russian web address for my cars in my favourites folder and Mercedes Benz Parts Uk as well. When I find the part number from the russians, it is then a simple mouse click to the Mercedes site to enter the number and get a price. It can be surprising how inexpensive genuine MB parts can be sometimes.

David

 

[Tomkinsm]

Thanks for all your comments.

I took off the rear nearside wheel this evening (where I think the noise is coming from) and had a quick look for anything amiss. The disc is in good condition (I fitted new ones less than a year ago) and shows no sign of damage or scoring. The wheel spins freely too. I also checked the play in the bearing - there is none at all. It was getting dark and starting to rain, so I couldn't inspect further.

As expected, the noise is still there, but seems to disapear after about 10 minutes (3 miles or so).

To answer a question from one of your replies: No, the noise doesn't stop if I gently apply the parking brake.

Could it be coming from anywhere else on the car?

Whilst driving home the wipers and windows stopped working too. I poked about (by the light of a streetlamp) in the fuse box, and when I got back into the car all seemed to work again. Strange, because I didn't think there was a common fuse for the wipers and windows. Hmmm, another job to do...

 

[bcraig]

just an idea

It might not be that serious, maybe it's just something stuck in the wheels. For mercedes parts, check out www.mbpartswarehouse.com

 

[television]

Whilst driving home the wipers and windows stopped working too. I poked about (by the light of a streetlamp) in the fuse box, and when I got back into the car all seemed to work again. Strange, because I didn't think there was a common fuse for the wipers and windows. Hmmm, another job to do...

Yes your mlti funtion relay the N10 controls alot of thes things,I would have thought that it is more to do with the fuse holders arcing, clean tham all with a good switch cleaner,the same with the relay pins,get a non drying cleaner .

Arcing causes heat, heat spoils the tension on these things.

Malcolm

 

[Tomkinsm]

OK, update:

I stripped, cleaned and reassembled (with copper grease on all the right parts) the rear brake. All the springs were ok, and the wheels spun freely. There was no sign of contact or anything, even on the back plate. Still the noise is there.

Because I'm not sure exactly where its coming from, I did the same with the other rear brake and I also removed the front wheels and inspected the brakes. Still the noise is there!

I'm wondering now if it's coming from under the car. Could it be propshaft, diff, or driveshafts?

The noise disapears after about 10 minutes of driving. Its very strange.

 

[Tomkinsm]

The car went to my local mechanic today, who couldn't find any problems at all. He tried to identify the noise by running the wheels with the car on stands, but the squeak is only present when the car is on the ground. All driveshafts, wheels bearings, propshaft etc seem in good order.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

 

[kth286]

It's a know fact that rear calipers gradually sieze up on the W124 models.

Do you have the calipers with opposing pistons ??
If you have, I guess that one side brake piston is sticking a bit and the pad is rubbing on one side of the disc.

You mention by cornering, the noise went away - but I guess only cornering one way.
Try a corner the other way next time the noise is there. If it does not go away and I suspect it will not, it is a sticking pad and caliper piston.