Yesterday after driving my car about 30min to work I am slowing down at the light near my office and I start to hear the squeeking noise that is in sync with the rotation of the car (seems directly related to the speed of the car). I assume it is the brakes, but the noise is different than other pad wear indicators ive heard on other cars. I hear it when:

I have been driving a while (at least 25-30min @ highway speeds)
I am going under 40mph (on the brakes or not)
I am not accelerating (aka while Im shifting under ~40mph I hear it)

Does this sound like the wear indicators or something worse? THe noise seems to be coming from the passengers side rear wheel area.

 

sounds like it to me

unless you havent washed your car in awhile and the break dust is building up

 

how many miles on the pads

if there is any doubt you need to take the wheel off and look at the pads, it dosnt take to long to do this.

 

Sounds silly, but I've actually had a small stone get lodged in between the rotor and the stamped metal shield on the inner-most side of the rotor (another car, not the S). Picked it up in a parking lot and it made a HORRIBLE screeching sound, similar to a wear indicator, but in this case 10x louder.

I agree with others... It's easy enough to pull a wheel and check the pad wear. If you aren't to the indicator yet, look for something in between the rotor and the guard.

(Of course, don't go stickin' your head in your wheel well if your car is not supported properly on jack stands. No jacks alone. )

 

~55k on the car. I bought it used, but to my knowledge they are origianl pads. Looking thru the wheel it looks like the pads have a decent amount of material left. At what thickness do you start to hear the indicator?

 

2mm its calling it close you should get them changed if there that low

55k with stock brake pads you should get it looked at

 

is it possible to remove the indicator without taking off the caliper?

 

my friends wedding is this weekend. so friday is the rehersal and saturday is the wedding. so the weekend is pretty shot. I was planning on doing it next weekend (no more than 200 miles from now). Is that too late?

 

Im already taking the day off tomorrow. But that is for things i have to do to get ready for the rehersal. Besides, I was planning on ordering the pads tomorrow. I looked at them and they didnt look that thin, but I will check again tomorrow morning.

The only way i could get it done tomorrow is take it to Sears and have them put on whatever crap pads they stock there. I guess if I went that route I could just change the fronts next week. But odds are they will charge me way too much.

 

I agree with the others, just be careful!