I know that when the brakes start to squeal it is time to replace the pads soon.

My brakes don't squeal when coming to a stop going forward, but they sometimes squeal when stopping from backing up.

Does any squealing mean it is time for repair? Or just when it occurs going forward?

Thanks for any replies.

 

I've had this happen when backing out of a parking space. Usually the car is cold and I attribute that to some moisture being on the rotor. Another cause could be the brake pads bite the rotor a little differently when backing. It only takes a minute to pull the driver's side tire and eyeball the pads if you're worried. I always check the driver's side front wheel because front brakes do most of the stopping and driver's side always has weight of the driver on it.

Finally, I've had brake pads be sneaky on me and never squeal when they needed replacing. So it probably wouldn't hurt to check.

 

I replace my brakes when the wear indicator scrape the rotor, not when it sqeal when I brake.
Just look at the pads.

 

Disk brakes are pron to squeal noise, lots of companies make squeal stop products. Steveh29 has something there also the pads are getting a different bite. You can check this by backing up ride the brakes for more than normal I would say 30-40 ft at the most..towards the end of the distance the squeal should be less. If that works then I would class this squeal as normal and not worry about it. Let a brake wear indicator tab scrap the rotor can allows it to create a "valley" in the rotor surface that sometimes can not be removed with turning. replacement rotors can get pricey so I try to replace my pads before the tabs start touching