i know brakes can squeal when it's starting to get thin, but what if the squealing is mostly happening when the car is going backwards?

i mean, i hear it sometimes when i'm going forward and i brake, but it's not consistent... i mostly hear the squealing when the car is going on reverse, or when i'm on neutral and on a slight hill...

anyone know what's up?

 

Audi's tend to have noisy brakes once in a while but there are so many variables. I would replace the pads or at least go through them clean em and inspect. If your pads still look great, reassemble with a little bit of anti-squeak on what looks like troublesome metal on metal noise spots.

If they are OEM pads, I'd replace them regardless. First, OEM Audi pads dust horribly. Second, a nice high quality set of aftermarket brake pads tend to be quieter and don't trash your wheels with brake dust.

When I had my 02 A4, I replaced them all with some high-grade brake pads from O'Reilley in my driveway. Never heard a squeak again and the best part is no more brake dust on my wheels! Granted, the brakes on these two cars are different ... but the same philosophy should apply. The pads I got from O'Reilly's were lifetime replacement and had the brake wear sensors built in.

 

I had some ceramic brakes installed, I'd say a couple year ago. Not sure if that's past the lifetime of these sort of brakes. There seems to be alot of dark brake dust accumulating now.

I understand what you're saying, but is it normal to mostly hear it only when i'm going backwards? A friend just told me that the hand brake may need adjustment.

What are your thoughts on that?

By the way, I'm no mechanic, but I don't mind taking some chances on repairing it myself. Is it easy to check and replace the brake pads?

 

Replacing brake pads wasn't hard to do - read up on some DIYs and study them carefully first though. When I replaced my pads I didn't go ceramic either ... I went with a high grade semi-metallic. They actually had an anti-squeak coating on them already and my brakes didn't dust ever again.

That reminds me - I need to replace mine because I'm tired of cleaning my wheels!

Is noisy in reverse normal? Not normal but but if there is an issue a good visual inspection will tell you a bunch.

Not sure on e-brake adjustment. I haven't seen that issue on a later model Audi before but that doesn't mean it might not need it.