Loud reverse braking

I have a 2015 SV and during winter when the steel rims are on the car it makes a very loud friction sound when reversing and lightly applying the brakes. It sounds like metal against metal. It's not a high pitch sound it sounds more like a loud hum, similar to a barge door closing. The wheel spins freely when jacked up so I don't think it's the parking brake (I don't use the parking brake unless on steep hills).

The sound does go away after driving for a bit.

Has anyone encountered this problem or something similar?

I am not sure if I should be focusing on the brakes, parking brake, bearing or something else.

All my cars do this it just some rust on the brake disks after sitting in humidity. After the overnight rust is worn off the noise goes away.

I have a 2017 SV Leaf. I park in our garage. In the mornings when I back up while lightly applying the brakes, the car sounds like screeching cats. Loud high pitch sound, very annoying.

My other cars have never done this.

Wonder if this is a design problem or the pads were not installed properly.

lkkms2 said:

I have a 2017 SV Leaf. I park in our garage. In the mornings when I back up while lightly applying the brakes, the car sounds like screeching cats. Loud high pitch sound, very annoying.

My other cars have never done this.

Wonder if this is a design problem or the pads were not installed properly.

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My 2015 has recently begun doing this. Only in reverse and only when cold. Still plenty of pad material. I imagine it just needs some fresh anti-squeal compound on the backs of the pads. It's not annoying enough yet for me to bother. But if I do bother with it I'll probably just replace the pads and be done with it. Sounds like it's coming from the front.

Does the sound go away with the original wheels? If so, it's either the wheels themselves or more likely, some sort of system interaction between the wheels/brakes/bearings/etc. If you're sure there is no mechanical issues with clearance, wheel fitment, etc I wouldn't worry about it and just try to avoid the conditions that cause the noise. Were the lug nuts torqued to the correct spec? Do the wheels have a 66.1mm center bore?

goldbrick said:

Does the sound go away with the original wheels? If so, it's either the wheels themselves or more likely, some sort of system interaction between the wheels/brakes/bearings/etc. If you're sure there is no mechanical issues with clearance, wheel fitment, etc I wouldn't worry about it and just try to avoid the conditions that cause the noise. Were the lug nuts torqued to the correct spec? Do the wheels have a 66.1mm center bore?

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The sound does go away with the OEM rims and it only is coming from one side not both, the clearance seems good. I had zero trouble getting them on and off, nothing seems to be rubbing.

The wheels move freely when the car is jacked up so I am starting to wonder now if maybe something was not greased well or a back plate was missed during the pad install. The dealer told me the breaks were replaced so when the snow around here clears next week I'm going into that rear wheel and checking over the install.

I will also try to produce a video of what the current sound is.

Also yes, I always use a torque bar set to lb/ft for every lug I put on to be safe. The rims are hub centric so they should by all means meet the specs.

I finally got around to recording the sound. Sorry for the black screen my phone was placed on the center console.
https://youtu.be/x3t9T72s-W8

I've narrowed it down to the breaks but I cannot locate which wheel it is since I'm in the car and oddly enough when I called a friend over to help the sound is gone but I heard it again this morning.

That noise is normal.... All cars do it. Especially in reverse... Forget about it....

As long as the pads have plenty of material left you might give a "bedding" procedure a try. It may modify the friction interface enough to avoid the resonant frequency you're experiencing now.
https://www.autozone.com/diy/brakes/bedding-brakes

powersurge said:

That noise is normal.... All cars do it. Especially in reverse... Forget about it....

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Really?
I've dealt with over 10 cars in my life so far and have never heard anything like this. I can hear it from the back of my house (50 ft) indoors when my wife reverses it out of the driveway.

Nubo said:

As long as the pads have plenty of material left you might give a "bedding" procedure a try. It may modify the friction interface enough to avoid the resonant frequency you're experiencing now.
https://www.autozone.com/diy/brakes/bedding-brakes

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Thanks for the link. In going to give this a try. I have a bad feeling though it's just bad break work. When I bought the car pre owned the dealer kept trying to use the new breaks as a selling feature. I get the feeling the mechanic who did it didn't prep the caliper properly or put in cheap pads.

I am really surprised the brakes were replaced before you got the car. My 2015 had over 82,000 miles and the original ceramic brake pads were in good shape when I traded it for the new SL Plus. My guess is that cheap pads were installed without adequate anti-squeal compound.

GerryAZ said:

I am really surprised the brakes were replaced before you got the car. My 2015 had over 82,000 miles and the original ceramic brake pads were in good shape when I traded it for the new SL Plus. My guess is that cheap pads were installed without adequate anti-squeal compound.

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My thoughts exactly. I was concerned when the dealer told me that the breaks were new, but unfortunately at the time it was the second lowest priced Leaf we could find that had a clean accident record and looked to be maintained well. It had high mileage but ran very well. I'm thinking either no anti squeal was used or cheap pads without backing plates were used. I just wish I knew what wheel so I don't have to take all 4 off.

Another possibility is that the car has a sticky caliper or some other hydraulic problem that first wore out the previous pads and now is causing the noise with the new pads.

nateads said:

powersurge said:

That noise is normal.... All cars do it. Especially in reverse... Forget about it....

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Really?
I've dealt with over 10 cars in my life so far and have never heard anything like this. I can hear it from the back of my house (50 ft) indoors when my wife reverses it out of the driveway.

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Yup.... You ask for opinions, and you are going to get them. That is my opinion with 50 years of servicing and fixing my cars....

.... You ask for opinions, and you are going to get them. That is my opinion with 50 years of servicing and fixing my cars....

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Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate your input. But if you have been servicing cars for over 50 years and that sound is normal to you and you didn't feel the need to fix it or look into it... I guess it's a difference of opinion.

I'm the type of person that if a door squeaks in my house and I have the ability to fix, it I will.

I don't know if the video I provided does not do it justice but I am sure the houses the next street over can hear it early in the morning. It just sounds like poor workmanship done on the breaks.

If you mean the load moan-like sound at :12 and :18 in your video, that isn't the normal break squeal (surface rust) I heard in LEAF and still hear in my Tesla the first time I back out of the garage in the morning.

I tend to agree with Oilpan as far as it not being a mechanically necessary repair. It's an aesthetic problem. The squeal is a stick-slip vibration that just happens to match the resonant frequency of the steel wheels and/or discs, making them act as a sounding board. All brake pads squeal in this manner; the trick is to get them to "squeal" at an inaudible frequency or at least one that doesn't excite other components. I still think the bedding procedure might help in this regard. Or it might not

My 2014 Tekna makes an awful screeching sound when I reverse if the parking brake has been on. Sometimes it positively impedes progress and requires a greater power input to overcome the drag. If I park without the parking brake being applied the noise is greatly reduced. I don't think this has a lot to do with the service brake, but everything to do with the drum-type parking brake have a sticky mechanism. Stronger pull-off springs on the shoes might fix it I suppose?

motco said:

My 2014 Tekna makes an awful screeching sound when I reverse if the parking brake has been on. Sometimes it positively impedes progress and requires a greater power input to overcome the drag. If I park without the parking brake being applied the noise is greatly reduced. I don't think this has a lot to do with the service brake, but everything to do with the drum-type parking brake have a sticky mechanism. Stronger pull-off springs on the shoes might fix it I suppose?

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I wish it were that simple. The car has 4 calipers which is easier for me to work on. Unfortunately it's not the parking break, when the car is jacked up all 4 wheels spin freely. The parking break is used maybe once a month and the issue occurs daily.

I forgot who responded earlier in this post, but I am 95% sure they are right that is was a poor breaking service where either the guides or back plate were not lubricated or maybe one of the pads is missing the back plate and the problem is always there but the thickness of the steel rims and the enclosure shape cause the sound to resonate almost like a sound in a cup vs on a flat desk.

My only caveat now is trying to locate exactly which wheel it is so I don't have to remove and service all 4 wheels. Last time I tried with my neighbor the sound magically disappeared while we were trying to locate it. When my wife leaves in the morning and the sound is present I'm inside with our 2 year old so I can't run out and try to locate the sound.

I will definitely report back to the forum once the issue has been resolved so hopefully whatever fixes it for me might help someone else.