I have an '09 Ford Ranger (about 100,000 miles) with disc brakes in the front and drum brakes in the rear. At least one of the drum brakes has been squealing during braking. Here are the facts:
- The squealing seems to occur during forward travel when the drum brakes engage gently. I can stop the squeal by using heavy braking (panic stop).
- The noise been getting worse over time, both in terms of volume and how consistently it occurs. It's been going on for a few months.
- Braking action seems to be fine. I haven't noticed degraded ability to stop.
- I had it in for maintenance as soon as I noticed the noise happening consistently and according to the mechanic the brakes are fine, they don't require service or replacement. (I'm not sure if I believe this)
- I have not noticed any noise while braking in reverse. However...
- I am very rarely in reverse. I almost always park in pull-throughs rather than spaces where reversing is necessary. Until now, I didn't know that drum brakes need to be in reverse to self-adjust, so I'll do some braking in reverse tomorrow and update this question with further information.
Assuming that attempting to force the brakes to self-adjust doesn't work, what else should I try in order to troubleshoot this squealing noise?