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High Pitched Screeching from MP

J

JulieG

Active Member
Hi
Our van has developed an intermittent high pitched screeching noise which seems to emanate from the rear of the vehicle. This first happened last year at the end of a long drive from Horwich. The noise then reappeared in the past week. When the brakes are applied it usually but not always reduces in intensity but only whilst the brakes are pressed. It also is more likely to appear if driving at 30 mph or less and will improve to a degree at higher speeds. The noise is loud enough to attract looks from pedestrians as we drive past. We are in Scotland at the moment and due to drive back to Yorkshire on Saturday then hopefully off to Switzerland on the 28th. MB have it booked in for inspection on the 27th but I was wondering if anyone on the forum had experienced anything similar.
 
JulieG said:
Hi
Our van has developed an intermittent high pitched screeching noise which seems to emanate from the rear of the vehicle. This first happened last year at the end of a long drive from Horwich. The noise then reappeared in the past week. When the brakes are applied it usually but not always reduces in intensity but only whilst the brakes are pressed. It also is more likely to appear if driving at 30 mph or less and will improve to a degree at higher speeds. The noise is loud enough to attract looks from pedestrians as we drive past. We are in Scotland at the moment and due to drive back to Yorkshire on Saturday then hopefully off to Switzerland on the 28th. MB have it booked in for inspection on the 27th but I was wondering if anyone on the forum had experienced anything similar.
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Maybe you have some debris stuck between the pads and the disk.
 
Had exactly the same problem and brakes needed to be stripped down and cleaned. Wasn’t covered by warranty so was an expensive bit of cleaning.
 
You could take it to a regular garage and ask them to take the brake pads out and give them and the disks a clean. That shouldn’t cost much. The same service from a MB dealership would cost a lot more.
 
Taking the brake discs off and replacing them is a diy job.
It’s certainly worth checking which corner(s) the noise is coming from and removing a wheel to see if something such as a small tone has become trapped. That would be good practice if you need to do remove a wheel in anger. However, the wheels are heavy and centering is a pain - see the posts here on snow tyres/wheels.
Another less exhausting option that sometimes works to remove a trapped stone is a couple of hard applications at a decent speed in reverse. Best to do in a large area with nothing else around !
 
Epigram said:
Taking the brake discs off and replacing them is a diy job.
It’s certainly worth checking which corner(s) the noise is coming from and removing a wheel to see if something such as a small tone has become trapped. That would be good practice if you need to do remove a wheel in anger. However, the wheels are heavy and centering is a pain - see the posts here on snow tyres/wheels.
Another less exhausting option that sometimes works to remove a trapped stone is a couple of hard applications at a decent speed in reverse. Best to do in a large area with nothing else around !
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I certainly don’t agree that it is a DIY job! You need to jack the vehicle up, safely prop it with axle stands, take it all apart and put it back together using a correctly set torque wrench. Don’t do this yourself unless you’re experienced with this type of thing.
 
Sorry. Each to their own.
I must be old school but a trolly, jack, axle stands and a torque wrench are basic vehicle DIY kit to change over winter wheels and checking and changing brake pads is one of the few things on a modern vehicle that is not rocket science.
Obviously if anyone is not confident they shouldn’t do it
I certainly wouldn’t keen on changing a wheel with the Mercedes jack unless forced i.e. with a puncture and out of mobile signal range for breakdown recovery.
 
Epigram said:
Sorry. Each to their own.
I must be old school but a trolly, jack, axle stands and a torque wrench are basic vehicle DIY kit to change over winter wheels and checking and changing brake pads is one of the few things on a modern vehicle that is not rocket science.
Obviously if anyone is not confident they shouldn’t do it
I certainly wouldn’t keen on changing a wheel with the Mercedes jack unless forced i.e. with a puncture and out of mobile signal range for breakdown recovery.
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Thanks for all the input.
Off to MB this AM so will update later when I have set up my GoFundMe page
 
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As with Robin the issue was caused by an accumulation of crud preventing the brake pad from fully retracting. Dealership refused to sort it under warranty as there was no faulty part to send to MB. In 40 years of driving I have never encountered a similar problem with any vehicle so seems to me that it is a design fault if your brakes need dismantling and cleaning every 12K miles.Dealership wanted to charge £300 but negotiated down to £150.
 
JulieG said:
As with Robin the issue was caused by an accumulation of crud preventing the brake pad from fully retracting. Dealership refused to sort it under warranty as there was no faulty part to send to MB. In 40 years of driving I have never encountered a similar problem with any vehicle so seems to me that it is a design fault if your brakes need dismantling and cleaning every 12K miles.Dealership wanted to charge £300 but negotiated down to £150.
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Maybe it’s worth a spray of this type of stuff each the van is cleaned? https://www.screwfix.com/p/holts-aerosol-brake-cleaner-600ml/1396g
 
Epigram said:
Taking the brake discs off and replacing them is a diy job.
It’s certainly worth checking which corner(s) the noise is coming from and removing a wheel to see if something such as a small tone has become trapped. That would be good practice if you need to do remove a wheel in anger. However, the wheels are heavy and centering is a pain - see the posts here on snow tyres/wheels.
Another less exhausting option that sometimes works to remove a trapped stone is a couple of hard applications at a decent speed in reverse. Best to do in a large area with nothing else around !
Click to expand...
Where do you place your jack stands when doing a brake job?
 
Having just had new pads all round. Maybe something in parking brake too. My local garage found their diagnostic reader allowed winding parking brake back to allow removal or change pads per se… Merc dealers have their correct diagnostic tool to connect to ODB to back off. I think also there’s a procedure on ‘vehicle settings’….
 
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