Squeaky Brakes on a Brand NEW Forester

[kbky2408]

HI folks!

 

I'm a first time Subaru owner of a 2018 Forester 2.0 XT Touring. So far I love the vehicle except for it's squeaky brakes. I have 3k miles on it and the brakes have squealed like crazy since we took ownership. I have taken it to the dealer, which they cleaned the pads, but it didn't fix the issue. Are there any Forester owners who have experienced this and maybe had it fixed? Thanks in advance. 

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

exceedingly rare to read this complaint, kinda wondering if Subaru has changed suppliers or design in some way on newer vehicles.

 

hope the dealership figures it out.

[Fairtax4me]

Put some Akebono pads on it and call it good?

Not often that brand new brakes squeak.

How often do you drive the car?

When does it squeak? Backing/pulling out of the driveway in the morning? Soon after you first start driving? Only after you've been on the highway for 20 minutes?

[kbky2408]

We have had for 6 months and has always had this issue. It squeals in reverse and forward upon it's first drive and when it's sat for an hour or two. 

[GeneralDisorder]

It's a Turbo - The newest iteration of the Akebono (OEM) ceramic pads seem to do this. Get them hot and it will stop. 

 

If you didn't want performance brakes that need to be USED and get hot to function optimally, then you shouldn't have bought a performance car. Just the nature of the beast. 

 

We have a saying - "Because race car". And that's exactly what it is. The turbo versions of the various Subaru models are very little different from the STi "factory rally" cars. With extremely minor modifications your vehicle can EASILY put over 300 HP to the wheels. It has brakes that are commensurate with this performance potential. 

 

Get them hot, or turn up the radio. 

 

GD

Edited February 21, 2018 by GeneralDisorder

[kbky2408]

I wish the service manager would have known or told me about the performance brakes instead of me having to return on numerous occasions. It's interesting that these high performance brakes squeal, my Audi A7 is a high end performance car and doesn't make sound. Foresters seem to sell easily so I shouldn't have a problem getting rid of it.   Thanks for everyone's input on my issue. It's greatly appreciated. 

[1 Lucky Texan]

whoa - how about trying a set of Centric Posi-quiet Ceramic pads instead of selling the car?

 

or StopTech Street Performance if you actually drive in a ;'spirited' manner

those don't squeal on my soobs.

 

 

or, a 'bedding in' procedure of the current brakes? (at least, in a safe area, try left-foot dragging the brakes while maintaining 40mph or so for 2-3 blocks of travel, followed by a half mile or more of cool-down - DO NOT stop the car immediately afterwards without the cool-down run so, choose your road carefully!)

 

 

you could also ask/search around at http://www.subaruforester.org/

Edited February 21, 2018 by 1 Lucky Texan

[idosubaru]

is it the fronts or rears or both?

test drive another on the lot and see if it does it - they either *all do it*, or they don't.  

 

i'd just have another brand brake pad installed if it's the pads making the noise.  I generally am not around turbo Subarus but Subaru brakes are robust, noiseless and effortlessly make 250,000 miles with very few issues, so it shouldn't be hard to navigate this.  

 

I wish the service manager 

 

"service managers" are mostly "customer service" and "marketing" positions, not technically astute mechanically trained.  they know just enough to get by and know more than customers which in most cases doesn't take much.   that's not always true of course, but it's the norm.

 

audi's can suck !(%)*! to use and maintain over a long period of time so take your pick or pay up.

[Fairtax4me]

The pads might still need to be broken in properly.

Performance style pads don't get worked in with soft diving and 3k miles in 6 months... You really haven't gone very far.

 

Take it out and drive the hell out of it and USE those brakes to get them thoroughly broken in and the noise may stop. If not, a change of pads is the only answer.

 

I wish the service manager would have known or told me about the performance brakes instead of me having to return on numerous occasions.

The service manager doesn't know what brakes are on the car, and probably doesn't know any other technical aspect of it either. Service managers tell technicians and advisors what to do. Techs work on the cars. Advisors do the paper work and handle customers. An astute salesman Might know the difference in brake pad type from one model to another, but not likely.

Car salespeople are focused more on knowing how the car stacks against competition in size, cargo volume, and price. They're also trained to focus on the important aspects that a customer asks about; like leather seats, moonroof, and what color it is. almost no one asks a salesman how the brakes on one car compare to another, it's iust not something people ask about, so it won't be brought up.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Fairtax4me

[GeneralDisorder]

I wish the service manager would have known or told me about the performance brakes instead of me having to return on numerous occasions. It's interesting that these high performance brakes squeal, my Audi A7 is a high end performance car and doesn't make sound. Foresters seem to sell easily so I shouldn't have a problem getting rid of it.   Thanks for everyone's input on my issue. It's greatly appreciated. 

 

The Audi is not factory equipped with competition level brakes. Neither is the Forester, but on the sliding scale of brakes, the factory Audi brakes are larger and so they can equip them with a much cooler running pad to the get the same braking effect. If you actually tracked the Audi the brakes would perform terribly. So would the Forester - but less so given the pad composition and it's lower vehicle weight . The difference is the rotor diameter and the number of caliper pistons. And you can see that in the price tag of the two cars.

 

The brakes on the Audi would have to be upgraded for track use - and that would cost a small fortune. I've installed full Stop-Tech kits front and rear on an S6 for track use. It was still a heavy pig that wasn't suited for track use and got destroyed on track by our friends Mini-Cooper.... and just about everything else. 

 

It sounds like you need to get more track time in so you can understand your performance vehicles. 

 

And as stated above - the Audi is a complete wallet humping $hitbox. If you enjoy such things then the Subaru is almost certainly not for you. Take it from someone that works on all manner of performance cars on a daily basis. VAG is a just a raging group of Nazi loving thieves.

 

GD

[kbky2408]

The Audi is not factory equipped with competition level brakes. Neither is the Forester, but on the sliding scale of brakes, the factory Audi brakes are larger and so they can equip them with a much cooler running pad to the get the same braking effect. If you actually tracked the Audi the brakes would perform terribly. So would the Forester - but less so given the pad composition and it's lower vehicle weight . The difference is the rotor diameter and the number of caliper pistons. And you can see that in the price tag of the two cars.

 

The brakes on the Audi would have to be upgraded for track use - and that would cost a small fortune. I've installed full Stop-Tech kits front and rear on an S6 for track use. It was still a heavy pig that wasn't suited for track use and got destroyed on track by our friends Mini-Cooper.... and just about everything else. 

 

It sounds like you need to get more track time in so you can understand your performance vehicles. 

 

And as stated above - the Audi is a complete wallet humping $hitbox. If you enjoy such things then the Subaru is almost certainly not for you. Take it from someone that works on all manner of performance cars on a daily basis. VAG is a just a raging group of Nazi loving thieves.

 

GD

 

Are you referring that competition and performance brakes are one in the same or different? In one post you say that the brakes are performance brakes, then you switch and say competition.Also, If my Audi is $hitbox isn't the Forester one as well since it comes with a VAG motor?  

[1 Lucky Texan]

[matt167]

Are you referring that competition and performance brakes are one in the same or different? In one post you say that the brakes are performance brakes, then you switch and say competition.Also, If my Audi is $hitbox isn't the Forester one as well since it comes with a VAG motor?  

 

Subaru licensed the Boxer design from Volkswagen/ Porsche. That's about where the similarities end

[1 Lucky Texan]

it all starts with Hans Ledwinka via Tatra from Nesselsdorfer.

 

'probably' the NW type C from 1902 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NW_C )

 

 

from wikipedia;

 

********In any case, of Ledwinka, Porsche admitted "Well, sometimes I looked
over his shoulder and sometimes he looked over mine" while designing the
Volkswagen Type 1.^[1][2][3] There is no doubt that the Type 1 bore a striking resemblance to the earlier Tatra.^[1] Tatra launched a lawsuit, but this was stopped when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia.
At the same time, Tatra was forced to stop producing the T97. The
matter was re-opened after World War II and in 1965 Volkswagen paid
Ringhoffer-Tatra 1,000,000 Deutsche Marks in an out of court settlement********

 

and it seems reasonable that he would have pondered taking the 2 cyl horizontal Benx engines and add 2 more cylinders.

 

Ledwinka was a very innovative designer; http://gulfnews.com/the-legendary-hans-ledwinka-1.1199592

 

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-hans-ledwinkas-revolutionary-tatras/

Edited February 23, 2018 by 1 Lucky Texan

[idosubaru]

Are you referring that competition and performance brakes are one in the same or different? In one post you say that the brakes are performance brakes, then you switch and say competition

splitting hairs, clearly he’s suggesting the pads are different. Maybe materials discussion would clarify that but the adjective used isn’t assumed to be technically definitive.

 

As to VAG, there are zero similarities.

[kbky2408]

[GeneralDisorder]

Also, If my Audi is $hitbox isn't the Forester one as well since it comes with a VAG motor?  

 

Since it doesn't, no.

 

The Subaru engine was a rip-off of the Lloyd engine (water cooled). Completely unrelated to VW which was air cooled and used a crankcase that was separate from the cylinder jugs. The Lloyd uses a monoblock wet liner casting with crankcase and cylinders all cast together. Just the Subaru design.

 

Subaru never "licensed" anything from anyone. Lloyd had gone defunct before Subaru introduced the STAR in 1970. But it's fairly clear that Subaru took the Lloyd design and ran with it - knowing that the company was defunct and bankrupt so there would be no licensing required or anyone to scream infringement. 

 

Subaru engine:

 

 

Lloyd engine:

 

 

GD

Edited February 23, 2018 by GeneralDisorder

[kbky2408]

It seems that the comments are more subjective then objective, so I can't trust the information I'm receiving. Most folks with 21k plus posts are blinded by their brand loyalty. I could two $hits, what brakes they are, point is they should be making a peep.  I was just seeing if anyone had any experience with their own 2018 XT, but looks like most commentators don't even own one so they are going off speculation.  

[GeneralDisorder]

Brand loyalty has nothing to do with anything. I don't even drive a Subaru anymore. I own a performance shop. I work on more performance cars and brake systems in a month than you will own in a lifetime. 

 

Go get the brakes HOT. Bed in the pads properly. They need to be used. If you aren't going to USE them then swap out to grandma pads. 

 

GD

Edited February 23, 2018 by GeneralDisorder

[1 Lucky Texan]

did you visit the Forester forum I linked above? Is brake noise now a common complaint on Forrys?

 

were you able to demo the sound for the service writer? Sometimes, folks with complaints about failures "on cold mornings" or "after it sits for a while", have had to leave a car at a shop, then meet the tech in the morning to demo the problem. You could try that.

 

If the dealerships seems reluctant to pursue this, call SOA. Dealers often won't pursue oddball stuff without assurance from Corporate that they will be compensated.

 

you said you love the car, unless a bunch of other Forester owners can lead us to believe there's a design flaw or poor materials/workmanship involved, I think you should take another shot at warranty service.