Squealing brakes

Google your question and you will get six possible causes and cures.

did they change the brake shoes? Probably not on a fair new caravan.  Did they even remove the drums? Could be a build up of brake dust 🤷‍♂️ Trouble is, that most drums are retained with a once use nut that need replacing each time they're removed, so removal of the drum for a quick look isn't as straight forward as it used to be.

We use mobile engineers to service our van and they always leave us with the old hub nuts plus they always paint a  mark on the nut and thread so can tell if they have been messed with

first There is a problem with alco 2019 and 18 brakes shoes all caravan makes a bad batch from a different company that was what i was told by my mobile engineer

once the shoes wear they rip the drums to bits it starts with squealing brakes

if i was you i would get this checked out soon. i did not  and it cost me over £500 for shoes and drums Alco did give a 3 year warranty ,but now they do not wont to know

let me know

 ...  and it cost me over £500 for shoes and drums

Good god .... how much?😲 I guess that was for a twin axle 🤷‍♂️ 

 The problems started in mid 2017. I had a new axle fitted to my Bailey unfortunately with different drums and linings which led to very loud squealing. Anyway to cut a long story and 4 sets of badly scored brakes I ended up with the original linings. Most inconvenient but all done under warranty. This has affected all makes as Alko made the changes in what was a " cost down" move in the modern parlance.

Swift changed our squealing brakes in 2019 through supplying dealer Salop Caravans Shrewsbury under warranty, 3 years on all good not a squeak.

My brakes have always squealed, the caravan is 4 years old now, has been serviced every year and the shoes & drums are all OK.

Strangely, I find it a re-assuring indicator that the brakes are working.

I had this problem on a 2016 Elddis Crusader whose brake screaming (!) would have woken the dead.  Back and forth we went to the local dealer who attempted a number of fixes as recommended by Alko, most of which worked for 100 miles and then back came the scream.  Ultimately Alko agreed to replace the brake pads and hubs, and the noise when to the skip with them!  I was told that a new brake shoe supplier had been retained and these new or replacement shoes had metal filaments in them which caused the noise, I imagine as they were grinding away at the inside of the hubs.

That van went in the middle of 2020 to be replaced by a Coachman, also new.  After a thousand or so miles - this one started the same noises and i asked the dealer (same one as above) to make a claim against Alko.  I was told that Alko had issued an instruction to all dealers saying they would no longer accept a claim for squealing brakes unless it could be proven that there was a safety issue.  Of course no one could but I replaced the brakes and hubs at about £600 and all is well so far.  I did learn that some time ago Alko acquired the chassis manufacturer Winterhoff so effectively they were the only chassis manufacturer for the UK so they could do as they wanted.

Hope this story fills in some of the holes.