2000 Sonata brake squeal

When the car is cold the brakes tend to squeal (a minor squeal but
noticeable) when coming to a stop.
Partially easing up on the break pedal when stopped results in a sort of
a scraping sound.
After the car has warmed up it seems much better, although if I listen
closely I can still hear a bit of a squeal when stopping.

Do I need brake pads or something?

I bought this car used a few weeks ago. It has 68000 km on it. I've had
the service depts of 2 Hyundai dealers inspect the car for mechanical
problems. Both of them told me the brakes were probably fine, although
they may not have actually inspected the brakes themselves. (Evidently,
at one dealership, inspecting the brakes would have been $30.00 extra
but he didn't tell me about that option until after the inspection and I
was ready to go home by then.) I have described these sounds to them
though and I'm pretty sure they both told me it was normal. Doesn't seem
normal to me though.

Tips/advice?

TIA



--
Joey Goldstein
http://www.joeygoldstein.com
joegold AT sympatico DOT ca

Joey Goldstein wrote:
 > When the car is cold the brakes tend to squeal (a minor squeal but
 > noticeable) when coming to a stop.
 > Partially easing up on the break pedal when stopped results in a sort of
 > a scraping sound.
 > After the car has warmed up it seems much better, although if I listen
 > closely I can still hear a bit of a squeal when stopping.
 >
 > Do I need brake pads or something?

That's a strong possibility. The squeal is likely to be the wear
indicators on the pads (they're supposed to do that when the pads get
low) and the scraping is probably a worn out pad scraping on the rotor.
Brake pads are easy to check, simply by pulling off the wheel(s).

The dealers had to be pretty stupid not to check this, as it would mean
service work for them. BTW, $30 to check the brakes is a rip-off, as it
takes all of five minutes from scratch and a minute or less if the car
is already on a lift.

If you don't want to DIY (it's easy), you may want to take it to a
reputable local garage, rather than one of these dealers. I'd also stay
away from the big chains, as they tend to try to sell a lot of
unnecessary work.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->