Vauxhall Astra high pitch noise coming from right rear brake

hi,sounds like the brake is sticking on, jack the car up & spin the wheel it should spin freely,

Depending on the noise it could be something as simple as a stone stuck in the brake disc shield, as mentioned on the last reply though if you jack up the wheel you will see if it spins freely with the handbrake off and the front wheels chocked so the car cannot move forward or backward. The wheel will be hot even if ok if driven then checked straight away so it is best to give a bit of time before doing it, it does sound like the caliper is sticking on though. If this is the case dont try and fix it yourself take it to a garage.

Hi,
The exact same thing happened to my 60 plate Astra shortly after a trip down to the coast.

The car would make a high pitched noise whilst driving, at first only at high speeds (like on the motorway) but it gradually got worse. Like you, the noise would stop when the brakes were applied.

It was intermittent, but unbearable. I was frustrated because the car had only been serviced about three weeks before, but after contacting my local Vauxhall garage was told it would cost me to have fixed so...

If you can put a jack under both sides of the car it's a lot easier, but you need to establish which wheel is sticking. If they both spin freely at first, apply the brakes and then try to rotate the wheels. In my case one was noticably catching.

Remove the wheel and take the brake calipres from around the disc.
Ensure the disc is smooth and stone free (as someone else suggested). If it is, continue.
Get the pads out of their housings - you might need to get a screw-driver behind the pads to do this.
Once I had done this it became that the pads had been sticking within their seatings. There were two small inserts at each end of the seats, which were completely stuck into position with rust. I took them out and cleaned them, and also rubbed the outside of the pads to make sure they went back into the seat easily.

That's pretty much all i did (besides putting the wheel back on, of course) but it resolved the problem completely.
I haven't yet established whether salty water from the coast effected the problem, or whether it was just coincidence.

Re. Sqealing rear brakes on Vauxhalls

I have taken this common problems to at least three garages over the past 7 years or so and they keep replacing the pads, or discs and pads on my 1999 Astra LS DI. The noise keeps coming back after a few thousand miles once about 15 miles are covered, so I thought I would see what others were saying about the problem on the web.

Having got some ideas, I jacked the back end up, removed the rear wheels and close examination showed definate but very slight shiny parts on the inner and outer lips of the discs. Out came the black and decker drill with a conical grinder fitted and I ground down the lips, finishing off with a rotary emery cloth grinder on the outer lips and where I had slightly ground the disc contact face. I then used emery cloth by hand on the inner lip. The whole assembly was then cleaned with a dry rag ensuring that a fresh part was used each couple of swipes.

Since I was on a roll, I also WD40'd the pivot points of the brake system and top / bottom of the suspension springs - obviously keeping the spray away from the disc and pads.

I put it all together again. The wife has just been to see the Proclaimers about 50 miles round trip and NO SQUEALING. Never mind walking, "I'll drive 500 miles ... etc."

My conclusion is that once our car has done a few thousand miles and then after about 15 miles with normal use of the brakes, the pads expand more than the disc due to differential material and then scrape on the outer and inner lips of the disc.

As I said earlier, I was on a roll - I don't think the WD40 solved the problem, and of course, I made sure I wiped any fluid off the rubber covers.

If you are a suealing sufferer, give it a go or see if your garage mechanic will do it for you. By the way, I could have chamfered the pads but my way saved me taking them off and also from reducing the cross-sectional contact area and possible braking efficiency.

My car makes this noise and every garage I've been say I need. New pads & discs please help