I'm on my third Scooby now (UK300) and they have all suffered from really nasty brake noise after a few months. Subaru changed the disks and pads on the second one and the problem went away for a while. They have not come up with another solution.

The problem manifests itself under very heavy braking from somewhere above the legal limit. Lets say that if I was approaching a roundabout on a private road at about 100mph and left the braking to say the last 150 yds, in order to stop, my brakes would be howling like there was no pad left.

On public roads that can be simulated by stopping very quickly from 70mph twice in fairly quick succession.

The brakes don't fade btw. Am I correct in thinking there is an audible brake pad warning devcice on these vehicles?

Anyone come across this before, my local dealer tells me only one other owner has complained of this noise and he was stopping from 120mph (must be on a track day!).

Andi.

 

I had this problem and found it was cured using a 'hotter' pad, like DS2500's. The noise is a sort of grinding/rubbing noise combination which increases the more times you brake in succession. What pads are you using?

 

Mine have just started doing that on the the drivers rear, or at least thats where the noise is coming from

It has only done it twice tho, both under heavy braking, and one of those times was a test from 70mph to 0 mph, to check the pads

I have visibly inspected the pads, and there is at least 6mm on each all round

They are nearly 3 years old now, and still the original pads, and the car has done about 18-19k miles, and is a MY00

 

Thanks guys, that sounds just like it. It's due a service in a couple of thousand miles so I'll try changing the pads. I'll let you know what happens.

Andi.

 

I've been getting this too. A kind of resonant howl that fills the whole car. Very alarming when it happens.

 

I've just had a quick look at my front pads and they are about 2-3mm !! Maybe that's the problem. I'll get them changed and see what happens.

I'm still not sure about this audible brake pad warning I've heard about from somewhere though.