Hello,

I have a toyota corolla 1999 CE and the car squeals very very badly everytime I press the brakes. It does not make any noise if I hit the brakes hard, but it makes an irritating noise if i press the breaks slowly like while stopping at the lights. What do u think the problem is? I am a new car owner and if I have to get it repaired, how much should I expect to spend on this?? Thanks, Nikki

Hi Nikki
Sounds to me like the anti squeal shims have expired they are just a shaped piece of Tempered metal which keep the brake pads tensioned against the brake disk
Best thing I can suggest is that you fit a new set of brakepads (you get brand new shims) on both wheels
They are sold as sets so you can fix both sides
Top price quoted for these I found on this site is over $50 But If you have to watch the pennies
I found another set at less than $19 (JC Whitneys)
Only thing you'll have to get somebody to fit them (Garage labour charges are very high) Perhaps a mechanical minded gentleman will do it for a few dollars and a mug of coffee?

go get your brakes checked before you cant stop at all. please we have enough people getting killed out here on our highways. dont ask ?s just get them checked out. before you kill somebody.bad brakes. i see this stuff all the time.remember the next time you got to will be because a kid just ran out in front of your car.IS IT WORTH IT.

It could be the anti-squeal, or it could just be the wear indicators on the bads grinding against the rotors, tellign you you need new pads =)