I have been hearing an intermittent chirping sound which seems to be coming from front wheel

does anyone know what it could possibly be?

1) I hear it without touching the brakes, if I tap the brakes it stops
2) it is intermittent and I cannot produce it on command
3) it seems to appear between 50-60km/h while coasting
4) seems to happen when the car is warmed up and I’ve been driving awhile
5) I have gone over speed bumps and it doesn’t appear when going over them or specifically uneven road which leads me to believe not shock/strut related
6) the sound is in rhythm to the wheel spinning
7) it comes and goes maybe for 30-60 seconds and disappears
8) it sounds like a bird chirping
9) Turing the whee left or right doesn’t trigger it which leads me to think it’s not bearing related
10) it’s loud enough I can faintly hear it with the windows up and radio off but if I put the windows down it’s pretty noticeable - (as of yesterday it has got louder)

My brakes have been squeaky as of lately when slowing down to a stop sign/red light etc. but I read this is just the pads. I mentioned it to the dealer the last visit and they were disinterested completely about the brakes “these brakes do this” but as I mentioned this chirping comes without touching the brakes. Not sure if this could be related in some way.

I have about 25,000KM on the car it’s a 2019

 

It might be the brake wear sensors.

 

As far as remember on my old W204 there was only 1 sensor on the passenger side. It would clip into the brake pad and go inside the pad, I only hear it sometimes And even with the brakes not touched.

also it’s only 25,000km pads are still “good” despite the squeal

 

no problemo
When the brake pressure is released, the piston retracts with the pad that's clipsed to it... the 2nd pad on the other side of the disk has nowhere to go unless it's able to force the caliper to slide back over its pins.

In a perfect world, both caliper pins would get lubricated at the factory with a long lasting silicon.

To fix that, remove each pin one at the time to try and preserve the alignment. That's all you need @20k unless your rotors got warped ✌️

 

Could it be a birds nest? Crazier things has happened!😃

 

I has to think back to my w204 days I haven’t done a brake job on this beast yet, but now what your saying could make sense.

maybe pins just need to be lubricated, I don’t think there is any warping as when the brakes are engaged no wobble in steering wheel or pedal.

Any suggestions to make the pads more quiet to solve the squeal to stop? Might aswell see if there is anything I can do on that front while I have the brakes apart

 

MB's brake pads are notorious for creating brake dust. It gets everywhere. The mild chirping you are hearing is likely the pads not fully pulling away when the brakes are released. This is actually fairly normal, since the pads just barely touch the rotors even when fully "off". Any dust, dirt, or wear can impact the position the pad ride at when "off". A good cleaning can go along way, lubing the pins and sliders as well as the back of the pads wouldn't hurt but is a bit more work. Sometimes something as simple as a few hard stops can make a difference. FWIW, over the years when I have had to change pads I've started going with high quality aftermarket instead of OEM. Hardly any dust and they never squeaked. Performance is about the same, maybe a bit better.

 

Periodically I do a series of 5 or so of maximum braking stops from high speed (65-70 mph). It heats the brakes and cleans the rotors and pads. I find it easiest to do in the early morning hours (4 am) on a section of vacant I-275 near my house. Only once did a curious deputy ask what I was doing.

 

on my old W204 I used Zimmerman Rotors and CarQuest Platnium pads and they last 80,000 up until 190,000km when I traded it in. Never any dust or noise.

I am thinking about the same here. I just don’t want to junk oem parts if they still have life.

I agree it’s probably brake dust causing the squealing but there is another intermittent noise like a pad is loose or not coming off the rotor fully when I push the brakes it stops but comes back awhile later .

is there any videos how to replace the pads and remove the rotors on w213

so far gather i gather i put the car into brake maintenance mode, push out the pins and slide out the pads from the top, how do you remove the caliber so I can remove the disc? Do I leave key on the ignition when changing the pads?

im going to try and clean and lubricate everything first before I go drastic and scrap the front brake hardware

 

Hi,

it doesn’t look like I have any pins, I have the AMG style calipers with pistons on both sides.

I took the pads out and cleaned everything and lubricated and everything was fine for about an hours drive and then suddenly they started squealing again (not AS bad) and the intermittent chirping came back, almost as if part of the pad was just barely touching the rotor, then would go away and randomly reappear….

 

Do you hear it when you are accelerating then letting go of the gas just enough to about 10% throttle and you hear the chirping? if so, coming from the right front intake air runner creating a chirping noise with the flap barely opened. This is what mercedes told me when i went in with this problem and recreated it with the tech. Makes sense though.

 

no. I would go as far to describe it as a chirp or even quick high pitch squeal, in line with the wheel movements.

I’ll just be coasting and it starts for 20-30 seconds then goes away. It only comes after the car has been warmed up.

I’ve checked the brakes 3 times. the first time I just checked the pads, the 2nd I lubricated them and 3rd time I took apart all the hardware, cleaned and reassembled.

There’s no signs of anything out of place, no pistons stuck, pads are even on both sides, rotors are good.

if I tap the breaks the squeal stops.

I am starting to believe this could possibly be a wheel bearing? I have read on a few sites that describe the exact same issue. (Non Mercedes)

A intermittent squeak/chirp - people have replaced pads and rotors with the issue still present. On both websites (think it was Audi and Ford) someone said that when tapping the breaks it will realign the bearings briefly which is why the chirp stops when I hit the brakes.

the brakes are still squealing when I press them but I’ve ruled that just to be “that’s how these cars are”

After the cleaning and using “squeal stop” on the back of the pads between the shim and pad I will say the squealing has gone away and it only squeals sometimes.

my main concern now is this intermittent high pitch chirping that lasts a couple seconds that seems to appear only after the car is warmed up.

i had originally thought all these noises were brake related but doesn’t seem the case now

 

Just my $.02:

Assuming your car is under warranty and from above you are able to duplicate the sound, I would warm the car up, make an appointment with Mercedes and have them fix the problem.

 

I had issues with my S211 and weird wheel noises. It turns out that the dust guards were making contact with the wheel. Sometimes it was pretty dramatic and could be heard in the cabin while driving, other times only noticeable when driving underground with windows open. The dust guards were a constant problem (and I was running with stock wheels that came original with the car), and every time I had winter/summer tire swaps done, the issue would inevitably arise. I don't know if the 213 has dust guards, but if so you might try forcing them a little. On the 211, that was enough to solve the issue.

 

you are right, and I did that.

They drove my car today for 30 minutes and claim they only heard the noise for a “second” (it never just happens for a second).

they claim it’s “brake related” and are going to charge me $200 just to take off the wheel and “look”.

I believe this is just a gateway to start into:

1) charging for new pads
2) charging for new rotors
3) possible calliper replacement


they are also claiming because the calipers are painted this could be related as they can see paint on the back on the shim at the bottom (which doesn’t actually touch anything.)

ive asked for the car back without work to be performed, does anyone have any suggestions

what I should do to proceed?

I don’t feel comfortable enough for someone to say “they heard a sound for a second” when it’s so loud that people can hear it walking on the street.

I also don’t feel comfortable that they are setting this up to be brake related right off the bat without even looking at it.

 

it could be a dust guard, but it’s weird how it’s intermittent, there one second gone the next. You would think if they were making contact it would be on going, was yours intermittent?

where was it rubbing?

 

In my case, if a dust guard was making contact, the noise was generally constant. By intermittent, I mean to express that the sound varied from wheel change to wheel change. I never did see where it was rubbing. The tire store guys dealt with the issue without me seeing what they did. It was so ingrained though that over time they got to know me by sight, the Benz guy with the dust shield problem.

 

I would ask the service manager to come with you as you drive the car.

It seems that the sound is pretty much there whenever you drive the car.

Did you have the calipers painted?

 

They were painted when I got the car, no issues and no changes were made until this week when I took the brakes part to investigate the brake squeal and intermittent chirping noise which I thought were both related.

the intermittent chirping noise got worse after servicing brakes. Which I know screams brake issue but I don’t see anything wrong at all. Unless lifting the car made something worse

 

Got the car back from dealer, immediately within 10 minutes the noise is back loud as ever people are actually looking as I drive by. Yet tech claims he “heard it for a second” while driving it for 30 minutes today.

If the car is under warranty I fail to understand how they can charge a “diagnostic fee”. This is exactly why I tried to avoid the dealer in my the first place. They are already blaming painted calipers and unicorns. I already know they will charge me $200 then start quoting caliper, pad and rotor replacement.

I’m starting to question my own sanity and starting to actually think this could be coming from the rear now and not the front.

It’s hard to tell because it echos. It’s intermittent so it’s not like I can ask someone to stand outside and listen. I briefly looked at the back today, no shield in the way, turned the wheels but realized I didn’t have any brake cleaner left so I aborted.

I will check again later this week. Pull apart and clean rears.

 

Becareful when taking the pads off. The back plates are naturally sticky and you only need to lubricate the edges of the pads. What grease are you using?

Does the sound get louder when you go round corners?

Also, have you jacked the car up and tried to pull/push the wheel in different directions to see if there is any play?

I assume you have no brake judder?

 

too late.

I didn’t lubricate the backs of the pads I saw they already had the fixed shim with anti squeal pad (for lack of a better word)

i used kleen flo eze slide where the pads sit, they were bone dry.

took everything apart, lots of crud and dust caked on. More that I couldn’t see without taking everything apart.

cleaned everything up and put it back. Will report soon.

noise would just come driving down straight road. And I tried to pull the wheel but it didn’t really move.

 

If it’s high pitched ie squeal, it means the brake pads vibrate when they just touch the disc. Did the pads feel secure and tight in the shims?

You’re probably hearing it at a certain speed because that will be a resonance frequency.

Also, have the alloys ever been refurbished?

 

it’s not a high pitched squeal as far as “squeaky Mercedes brakes” I have that issue aswell but after lubricating front and back and using anti squeal paste in the front it has got better and doesn’t happen as long as before or as often.

after the rear brake I job took it out for 10km drive, nothing

then later went out for a 50km drive, near the end I heard it making a very low chirping noise, so low if I wasn’t listening to for it I wouldn’t have heard it.

I every so lightly just touched the brake pedal
and it went away. I heard it possibly 2 times in the trip both very low.

it only comes at speeds of 50km-60km/h on straight road - and from what I recall I wasn’t even touching the brakes before it showed up just coasting along.

it’s almost as if a pad is ever so lightly touching the rotor for a few seconds but pads were secure in the brackets for sure

I don’t know what alloys refurbished means

I will take it out again today and see how it is. On Friday/Sunday and Monday it was extremely loud metal on metal screeching.

 

the extremely loud screeching has gone away after lubricating the rear brakes.

I still periodically get the light brake squeal when coming to a stop at lower speeds like a stop sign or red light.

on rare occasions I hear a chirping for a second or two as of one of the pads is so ever lightly touching a rotor.

I guess I will monitor it and if it gets worse or if I continue to be annoyed I’ll just replace the pads with ceramic pads as I think these factory pads are semi metallic.

I’m kind of disappointed that the dealer was going to charge me to just “look” at the noise when the car is under bumper to bumper warranty. What’s the point of a warranty if I need to shell out money if there’s an issue? Then they start blaming stupid things like painted caliper as the cause.

this is the 2nd time the factory warranty has failed me on this vehicle with only 25,000KM, first time was a trim issue same as this user (not as bad) https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ent-panel.html in the EXACT same spots. It started to get worse over time, took it in and the dealer actually scraped it off, made it worse and then sent pictures to MB for warranty approval and they declined warranty coverage because they said I was the one who damaged it by wiping it with a armoral wipe (it was there when I bought the car prior to wiping it with anything) when I brought up with head office they told me “we make these cars and they don’t do that” and when I told them the dealer scrapped it off and made it 100x worse they told me “sue them” I even had pictures prior to taking it to them! Luckily where it was peeling I was able to use a sharpie marker and colour it in and it’s not “as” noticeable. They quoted me $1500 for 2 new fake wood front door panels

the quality of these cars is really going down hill and the warranty and dealer support is a joke. I keep reading all these people on here with some good stories they have from the dealer but out of 2 dealers in my area I have been to it’s been horrible.

I hate to bring it up too but my wife has a Ford and has taken it in for 3 separate issues, all 3 times they have fixed problems, no questions asked, and one time they ordered the wrong part and had the car for an extra day and fully detailed the car as a good will gesture upon return.

In fact, this last time I took the e450 in for the brakes last week I literally watched the guy on the dash cam click and play with all my turbine vents in the car click open and close like 50 times and open my glove box as he had my car in the wash. Not to mention tech said to
the advisor he thinks he heard it but only heard the squealing “for a second” while driving and I heard it on the dash cam MULTIPLE times while he drove and it was loud as hell!

I’m I the only one going crazy here? Am I expecting too much? The whole reason I bought a car that is still under warranty is so that when issues come up I can get them repaired not, every excuse in the book not to cover them. As well as diagnostic charges.

/end of rant

thanks everyone who replied.