ragequeenvi

I have a 2008 Grand Touring Z with about 80,000km on the clock.

If I reverse out of my driveway (which is on a slight slope) and have my foot on the brake lightly, the car screeches. I'm not talking about a little whine, I mean it echoes around the whole street. It's the kind of high pitched screech that makes you irrationally mad. It's embarrassing. I have resorted to putting the car in neutral and letting it roll backwards until I absolutely have to brake lol. The screeching seems to be mostly coming from the rear, and when I turn it somehow makes it worse. When I drive 10 meters to the end of the road, it only squeaks a bit when I brake. After that, the car is fine save for a couple little squeaks until she has been on the road for more than 10 minutes. The other potentially key thing I noticed, is that when I hold the brake down, it sounds like it's screeching at a particular point during the rotation.

I have taken it to two mechanics, one general and one specialist Nissan garage. The first one charged me $60 to say there's nothing wrong with the brake pads, the car itself is safe to drive, and to come back when it's sunny so they can try again. It sounds like all they did was drive the car to replicate the sound but usually on a second run in a short time from the first, you can't hear it and much less so if you aren't reversing. They said there 'might' be a rock in there but they didn't actually take the time to check. So, no thanks.

The Nissan garage also said my brake pads are perfectly fine but it seems to be a common issue with Z's and ... Silvias I think he said? And to try the CRC brake quiet stuff. I let them inspect and clean everything and apply the brake quiet. Unfortunately it hasn't helped. They did also mention a possible cause being vibration between parts.

What I want to know is what I *can* do specifically to stop the screeching. Are there any parts in particular that I can upgrade that would stop this? Anything at all. I trawled through some older posts and found another person who tried brake quiet that didn't work. They replaced their pads with Hawk HPS and it seemed to fix their problem but I want to know if there's anything else that can be done as well or what other people have experienced.

Cheers!

jhc

Welcome!
A few questions then some general advice.

Did the problem start slowly or overnight?
Are the rotors shiny like they're wet?
Is the brake pedal spongy or solid?
When was the last time pads were changed and rotors turned?

If it were mine I'd jack up 1 corner at a time and spin each wheel by hand to make sure the pads are releasing. If yes, install new pads (OEM or StopTech), get the rotors turned and bed the friction surfaces in. It's an easy repair with a jack and a few hand tools. If you haven't ever retracted pads, mb watch a few YTs first.

It's also possible you have a dust-shield touching a rotor which will make a b!tch of a racket. Rule this out first. Easy fix with a large flat blade screwdriver. Gl!