Golf A3 front(?) brake howl

I have a 1998 Golf A3 with (solid) discs in the front and drums in the rear. Occasionally in the past I've had a mid-pitched, almost pure tone howl during braking - now it is happening regularly. It's only apparent at low speeds, as when coming to a spot - I suppose it may be happening at high speeds too and other noise is masking it, but I don't think so. It's very hard to localize but I think it is coming from one of the front brakes - there is no noise when if I use the hand brake. I've checked front pads and rear shoes and see plenty of lining everywhere. FWIW, most of the driving this car gets is easy on the brakes and with 50K miles these are original pads and shoes - at the current wear rate, I don't expect to need to replace pads until

80K or so.

I know this isn't a lot to go on but has anyone experienced anything like this or can anyone tell me what I might be looking for?

Thanks in advance for any help.

- Mark W.

Reply to
Mark Willstatter
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Are they glazed over?

Reply to
clubface

It's conceivable - as I said, I've checked for thickness but haven't had the pads out for a look. The brakes haven't been particularly abused but it has been hot here lately, a couple of weeks of 100+ days. As I said, this has happened intermittently in the past. Is it likely they would get glazed and then de-glazed? If that's the problem, is there any thing to do other than replace?

Reply to
Mark Willstatter

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