Are there more than one or two sounds that are more annoying than the sounds of your brakes squealing? The term “squealing” is such a great term to use because the noise coming out of your brakes seems to be making that exact sound: squeeeeeeeee! Everyone’s experienced at one time or another, and you know how overwhelmingly annoying it can be. It’s almost as if your brakes were grinding their “teeth,” or perhaps acting like the bitter middle school teacher who purposely drags the chalk across the chalkboard in an effort to get the attention of her wayward pupils. When you are sitting in your car and begin to brake, you can almost feel the squealing manifest itself physically inside of you, not to mention how the noise causes others to look at you as a disturber of the peace.

If your Volvo 960 brakes are engaging in this sort of inappropriate behavior, you need to know what’s happening so that you can fix it immediately! Most of the time it’s due to vibration of the brake components, usually between the brake pads and the brake rotors. In this instance your braking performance won’t be affected negatively.

It’s more just a matter of driving etiquette, sparing your passengers and fellow drivers the pain of being subjected to the high-pitched squealing. Applying some oil will remedy that. Other times it’s an indication that it’s time to change your brake pads, as many pads are designed to make a fuss when they are wearing to thin: a built-in alert that it’s time for them to be changed.Whichever situation it is, be good to your Volvo 960 brakes and to those around you.