Almost 4000 miles on a FE LC. Just experienced brake squeal in reverse while backing out of my garage. Drove in rain for about 50 miles the night before. No squeal the rest of the drive today. Thought I had dodged the squeal bullet. Nope.
Brakes Squeal
- Thread starter bgeorger
- Start date
So wet pads, sensors, first thing morning squeal, change in friction film. Utterly normal. Firm braking half a dozen times at the first opportunity. On most cars, the sensors, if still feeling moisture, close the pads to the rotors to dry and improve safety. Either or, visually you can tell if your rears need more bedding, keeping in mind that a front heavy bias makes it more difficult to bed rears on 98% of cars out there.
Would going in reverse help?
May seem intuitively so, but perhaps not enough speed nor deceleration. But adding a load at the back and braking, the sensor will detect the higher load on the rear axle so more brake pressure would occur at the rear. Because, let’s not forget, the LC designers spec the car for heavy use. So a light LC in an urban setting will have the lowest rear brake engagement force. One two passengers, sandbags etc would tell the load sensor to use more the rear brakes. Alternatively if bedding, as the fronts fade the rears will bite more. but adding a load would be my choice- some weights. Sandbags etc then do firm braking. Rear driving is pointless as the gear and speed will not meet the bedding intent. But a load would.
Thank you for all your insights. I’ve learned so much from reading your posts.
This morning backing out of the driveway heard a little squeak. My LC now has over 400 miles on it. I just bedded the brakes approximately 200 miles ago. I did run it through a brushless car wash yesterday. This morning I rebedded the brakes again. Hopefully no squeaks tomorrow.
Edit( I forgot to mention this) I sure am glad I requested for Toyota to not share or sell my driving data. The bedding process would definitely record some hard braking that could be interpreted into riskier driving behavior. An insurer doesn’t know that I’m just trying to bed the brakes.
I did my usual bedding in process when my LC was new, had zero screeching when backing out of the garage until I was over about 2,500-3,000 miles. Now it does it every time I back out of the garage and sometimes during the day when I’m braking while backing up. Last week I did a few mini re-bedding stops and the screeching while braking while backing out of the garage stopped for one day. Back the next and still here. This problem is ridiculous! Dealer did nothing, still waiting for Toyota to contact me. I like this LC but won’t keep it if they don’t come up with a solution. Seems the hybrid braking allows the rotors or pads to glaze over easily or something unless you drive it hard consistently.
I hear your frustration and totally get it. If you’re happy with everything else about the LC except the brakes I encourage you to hang in there. Maybe try to rebed the brakes like you did before (you got 2500 miles of no squeaks) and hold out until Toyota issues a TSB or recall. It’s just a matter of time. Make a video of the sound and email it to your service advisor. Get a document trail going and send your emails to Toyota. Send a link to this thread along with it. It’s just a matter of time.
It has nothing to do with hybrid breaking as many of the local owners here in the middle east are reporting the same issue with the non-hybrid petrol and diesel variant of the same car.
Max the AC/DC. Works for me. 
Good to know, thank you.
Living in a very high humidity area I hear it every single day backing out in the morning and it's quite loud and I've heard it couple of times while breaking going forward slow speeds in a car park.
This is the sound I'm hearing every morning 
embarrassingly loud. My entire neighborhood knows when I am leaving the house. I am pretty sick of it. Dealer said the brakes look fine.
Same situation with me. It is very loud and happens everyday, more now than before and we’ve had dry weather with low humidity and it still happens. Dealer didn’t find anything wrong. Waiting on Toyota to call me but not holding my breath.
Thanks for chiming in!
So one of the other members posted a link to report the brake issue directly to Toyota. I had no luck at my local dealer. When I reported it, I sent a video clip. They responded the next day. To make a very long story short, they reached out to the dealer who called me yesterday. They were very apologetic which means very little at this point. Still, during the vehicle inspection they were able to recreate the noise. They are going to replace the entire braking system, brakes, rotors and everything. They said one part was on back order but it should be in next week.
Any updates on this, I’m 4k miles in and it’s getting worse. Embarrassingly loud
I rebedded the brakes 3 days ago after getting my first squeak after a car wash. Since rebedding the brakes I haven’t had anymore squeaks, but it’s only been three days.
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