I have just purchased my first luxury car of any kind. It is a 2001 S430. The car only has 19,000 miles on it and no problems so far, less one.

The brakes squeal VERY loudly.....mostly in reverse...mostly on the first use of the day. They do squeal just a little at stop signs and such, but that first back-up out of the garage in the morning causes bystanders to cover their ears, literally.

At this point, I don't really trust the local dealer just yet. My wife stopped in yesterday and they "roughly" estimated the repair at $1,800.00, although they didn't really look at the car. I would not think I need a complete brake job at 19,000 miles.

Hoping for a simple fix...little less expensive.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

 

New pads would probably fix it, even though you shouldn't need new pads at 19K miles. Maybe one or more is defective? I think you can buy some squeal-stop goopy stuff but you have to put it behind the pads, which means you have to remove them--so why not just put new pads in?

I'd at least remove the wheels and look at each disc/pad assembly. Make sure everything is tight.

Feel for deep grooves in the discs. I had a serious squealing problem on an older car that turned out to be a small pebble stuck between a pad and disc.

 

Funny I have the same problem with my 1989 Mercedes 560SEL. It only squeals when in reverse. and never when forward. I took each wheel off and checked the pads and the pads are basically new and the discs are perfect condition too. The previous owner said that he just replaced the pads 50 miles before I bought the car and that's how the pads look. Now, reading the response to the original question may have solved my problem too. I bet you they didn't add that anti-squeal grease before putting the pads in.

Sound like the classic mechanic "See a Mercedes equals money" syndrome. $1800 repair without actually looking at the car? Rubbish. Squeaks can be caused by a number of things, some no more than a $10 fix to up there in price for a complete brake job. The whole brake job would be undertandable if your car was about as old as mine or with high miles on it but your car is practically new so an expensive major brake jobs should not even be on the horizon yet.

 

Funny I have the same problem with my 1989 Mercedes 560SEL. It only squeals when in reverse. and never when forward. I took each wheel off and checked the pads and the pads are basically new and the discs are perfect condition too. The previous owner said that he just replaced the pads 50 miles before I bought the car and that's how the pads look. Now, reading the response to the original question may have solved my problem too. I bet you they didn't add that anti-squeal grease before putting the pads in.

Sound like the classic mechanic "See a Mercedes equals money" syndrome. $1800 repair without actually looking at the car? Rubbish. Squeaks can be caused by a number of things, some no more than a $10 fix to up there in price for a complete brake job. The whole brake job would be undertandable if your car was about as old as mine or with high miles on it but your car is practically new so an expensive major brake jobs should not even be on the horizon yet.

 

were you using the car early in the morning?
if you were it was probably too cold, but it gets better during the day

 

It don't gets better as the day acually. Like, when I go to work in the morning, the brakes squeal when reversing, but this was during the summer and fall when the temps usually didn't fall below 65 degrees. Then they might squeal after sitting say like when I go on my lunch break in the middle of the day and when i go home in the evening. But sometimes my job requires me to drive around alot in a day (and I got to arrive in style) and the brakes don't make a peep even in reverse. But I'ma try that anti-squeal grease when I get my car out of storage in April. I think that will solve the problem.

 

You may loose or missing shims, that can start a humongous squeal. I took my to someone who turned out to be a YAYHOO, and when I got the car back it was singing so loud that I started crying.

What's up LugNut, I see you're still around. Ole Timer here y'all. I would definitely like to see a pic of that Black '55 Bel Air though. You ought to put a pic in the gallery.

 

There's one in there. Click that camera under my avatar.

 

Aw Yeah...that's a beast right there.... Na that's a CAR! An Iron Horse fer Sure! That's a BEAST. And she is BEAUTIFUL! You ought to buy a dozen roses... Hey...it's Valentine season!