I would like to fix this squeak noise I hear going down the road. I can't tell if it from the front or the back. It will go away if I apply the breaks lightly. I can only hear it at low speed before the exhaust and wind noise drowned it out.

I have front disk and rear drums.

I was thinking of jogging next to the car while the wife drives and see if I pin it down. Pretty sure I can't duplicate if up on block and just spinning the tires.

Was your car a Factory Disc Brake Car? because if not, drum brake cars have a residual pressure valve in the master cyl for drum brakes that keeps some pressure on the pad to keep the pad against the shoe. if you did not change this than the disc brakes are hold pressure on them and squeaking going down the road.

It was not an original disk brake car. However I swapped it all over with an inline tube kit. I assume the residual pressure valve is the round cylinder the brake line goes through to get to the back? Yes I have that.

no. its built into the Master Cyl Usually

The MC was changed out to a disc unit. I don't recall who the vender was.

okay thats good. id jack that car up and spin both front wheels, one might be warped or it could have a piece of dirt or rock stuck in it.

I have one guess. Not sure if this is possible.

When I put the back axle seals in the rearend I do so with the axles. Make me wonder if the axle bearing retainer ring is riding on the axle seal and making the noise.

Did you lubricate all the points where the brake shoes contact the backing plate?

This is the year I'm going to try and fix that dang squeak.

I was driving the car yesterday and the squeak, squeak, squeak, down the road was really loud. Once again I could lightly apply the breaks and it would stop. I then did a quick lane change to the right and it went away completely.

One thing that I have wondered is if the retaining ring on the rear axle could be rubbing on the seal to make that noise. When I installed the axles and seal I was having a hard time with the seal depth so I just got the seal started and then use the retainer collar to push the seal in. So I'm going to pull the axle and check that.

At the same time I'm going to check the lube points for the brakes.

Do you have Rally II wheels with the trim rings? I had the same squeek you are describing, turns out the steel wheels flex somewhat and the trim ring retainers rub and cause a squeek at low speed....friggin' weird.
Pull the trim rings off and see if it goes away....this applies only if you have them

Was the suspension tightened before the weight of the car on the tires? I got squeaks when I tighten my suspension when the axle was on jack stands.

The trim ring is an interesting thought. I have wheel vintiques 8" ralley's. I have the rounded rings that I don't think are correct. Was thinking of swapping them out.

I don't think it would be the suspension as the squeak is with the rotation of the tire.

I also have a clunk in the rear when I take off hard.
Oil leaks
coolant leaks
exhaust drone
Rides like a hay rack.
Harmonic balance to change out because of a wobble in the pulley.
front end bounces around. I think its because I dont' have the front cocktail shakers in.
1/4 window seal came off and window needs adjusted.
Hood that stick up on the driver side
Need to re-glue the door badges on
putting in a 10"Continental converter
Tail pipes rattle against the rear 1/4. Really loud with the top up.

I'm thinking I'm not going to get to drive it much this year.

The cocktail shakers only take out vibrations that could cause the windshield to vibrate since there is no extra reinforcement from the roof. So that will not stop your front end bounce. That sounds more like shocks or suspension parts.

I got my exhaust tighten and no more rattle. Such Joy when you don't have to hear rattles. I actually drove several hours Saturday with no radio enjoying the ride.

That rear end clunk could be worn out or missing leaf spring pads...had a similar issue.

Leaf spring pads are polly ones that are brand new. So I don't think it would be that.

I hope I didn't break an axle tube. I have seen that before but thinking it would worse if that was the case. I have a eaton 3:36 setup in a 8.2. Almost everything has been replaced on this car.

I was wondering if the front perches for the leafs could be moving a little with the torq. I only hear the noise on a hard take off and/or a hard stop.

How about if you shift back and forth between drive and reverse?

No clunk just going from drive or reverse. If I power break hard it will do it before the tires break loose.

U-joints new
Trans mount new
motor mounts new
Leafs have polly bushings new

This is why I think it might be a little movement in the spring perch. but I don't know. I have a used set of Hotchkiss TVS springs that I will be installing. I will be taking a close look at everything.

A few suggestions...

Did you run her on jack stands or a lift and drive it to help isolate issue.

You can rent a chassis ear from a lot of places (part stores) Or buy for $30 ish. The chassis ear is a bunch of alligator clams that you place on various locations on suspension components or various parts you believe the noise is coming from. You connect the clams to a central control box that allows you to switch between clamps and listen with headphones when driving. This will get you darn close to area it's coming from.

see you did replace the bushings (control arms) with poly replacements. Not to beat a dead horse but in my experience unless they are poly graphite or have a zerk fitting they will squeak. If I remember correctly There is a you tube video of someone demonstrating the noise. If it's not them it will most likely be the sway bar bushings

Can you take a video and post to site to better aid fellow members in diag?

The squeak that goes away when the brakes are applied lightly is the wear indicator for the front disc pads. check and see how much material is left on them

Had to look up the Chassis ear.

I will try the jack stands, however the issue is intermittent so it may be hit or miss and still not sure if its front or back.

I'm confident the bushing are not the noise it sounds like a metal and metal noise. The bushing are poly graphite put in with a bunch of lube.

I will post a video if I don't find the issue while working on it.

How old are your U joints? A dry one will squeak while taking off and driving.
Cal

You hear what you are saying " Once again I could lightly apply the breaks and it would stop."

How could it be trim rings, or controll arm bushings if it goes away when you lightly apply the brakes.

I hear this all the time on cars with disc brakes when they need to be replaced
It is the wear sensor that is attached to the inner pad. If you look at the pad there is a thin metal tab attached to it. When the pads wear down it rubs on the rotor making the squeaking noise, to let you know they are getting thin, so you can replace them before it goes metal to metal on the rotors.
if you want to test what I am saying. Take your wheels off, look at the inner pad find the metal tab. take a screwdriver and bend it a little bit away from the rotor, and drive the car and see if it goes away. do both sides.

If you dont know what it looks like. check out this link, you can see the metal tab on the edge of the inner pads
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-16-052/overview/year/1969/make/pontiac/model/firebird

Let me know if that works


.

Check your front wheel bearings?

U-joints are new.
Brake pads are new.
Wheel bearing are new.
Car has less then 2K miles on it since my restoration.

You know it really does sound like the ware indicator though. That would be the sound that best describes it. The noise appears at around 30-35 mph. I can't tell if it from the front or back or left or right side of the car.

It wont be long before I start tearing into it.

Do you get any squeaks by jouncing it on all four corners?
Cal

Any time I've driven a car that has brakes worn enough to have the wear indicators squeal, they did on brake application not when brakes were not applied. If one keeps driving and wears the brakes even more do they squeal even with brakes off?

my convertible squeaks like that, it's my rt. rear brake drum dragging on the shoes because I have a slightly bent axel. Neill

Neil how did you know you had a bent axle? Can you see it or feel it going down the road?

I was changing my leaf springs this weekend. I put a dial indicator on the outside of the axle flange and measure about 5 thousands run out. Not sure this is even a accurate way to measure if Pontiacs or hub centric.

Anyway I could not see any uneven where in the shoes. I lubed the contact points on the breaks. I pulled the axles and pushed the seals in just slightly so they were not rubbing on the retaining collar.

I was out cruising for a several hours yesterday and yep the squeak is still there from time to time. Time to inspect the front now.

Jacked up and turned wheel and marked high spot on wheel runout. Removed wheel and re-positioned and turned wheel again. High spot on wheel stayed with axel position. Removed wheel and drum and re-installed wheel and tested again with same results. On the same car the left front wheel was shaking as well so I did the same test. It turned out to be the brake drum made wrong, thicker at one bolt hole than the opposite one. Neill

Do you think the clunk could be from an upper shock mount? Mine is worn and I get a nice clunk leaving the driveway and on hard take offs. one day I'll get to welding in a replacement.

I also have a squeak in the rear, but just figured it was a wheel bearing. I'm doing the brakes this weekend, so I guess I'll knowif its a bearing or not. If not, I'll be curious about your fix.

No shock mount issues. Everything is solid.

Might be looking at the front tomorrow. Going to see if I can measure any run-out on the rotors.

I'm leaning toward getting new front brake pads, like the EBC Reds. I think I bought the cheapest pads available at the autoparts store. I have no idea how likely it is the pads themselves would be the issue.

Your not to far away. Drive it on up and we will figure it out over a few cold ones.

I wanted to post up the resolution to my squeek squeek squeek.

Whoever guessed the brakes you win! No ware indicator just rivets. Remember only 2300 on the car at this time. The pad where new. I ruined one rotor but replaced both anyway. Below are the EBC red pads that I got. They cost almost around $90 but work as advertised. Less dust and very quiet.

This led into an investigation as to why the pads went bad so quick. I found my booster pin was to long and when I pushed the MC on it would squirt fluid up. Thus it was pre-loading the brakes. There is only suppose to be a .020 gap. I bought a tool from Master power to get the setting right however it was back ordered so I tried using modeling clay. I shaved down the booster pin too much and have a bit of a sponger pedal now. .020 is very thin.

I found out that MP will setup the correct gap for you if you buy the booster and MC together. Also no one sells an adjustable booster pin that I could find, but they do come with Master Power's boosters.

Hey Rohrt I'm also trying to diagnose a squeak...and small world I am also from Cedar Rapids! You think I could talk you into listening to it sometime?

I'm a total newb so I can't PM, but would be great to meet up w/ a fellow local Firebird owner - I'm tired of seeing all the Camaro's in town :-)

Just saw this. Sure send me your contact info and we can get together sometime.

you can contact me via
ryanohrt@yahoo.com