Brake noise -- help?

[angelasw]

Just got a 'new' car...2000 new beetle with 74,000 miles on it. it had sat on the lot without being driven for a few months before I got it.

many of the things that were off with it when i first started driving it (rust making the brakes squeak, starting hard) have faded or disappeared, but theres an intermittent shhhhh sound coming from the rear passenger-side area when I drive. i can only hear it at slow speeds, but thats probably because im going slowly! then when i press the brakes down the same shhh shhh shh sound turns into a continuous shhhhhh sound until i come to a complete stop. when i take off again from the stop sign or whatever theres a shh shh shh again at regular quick intervals until i pick up speed again.

i can only assume this is some kind of brake thing. perhaps the brake things ( i don;t know too much about cars, but am learning) are hanging down somehow? what is it? how can it be fixed?

[whatevers]

find out how your handbrake works, some cars have a disc and a drum on the rear, the hand brake uses the drum and the footbrake uses front and rear discs. if you only have discs then the handbrake will clamp the rear disc and if not used for a few months will warp the rears. if this is the case then new rear discs and pads are required. or sometimes just taking them apart, cleaning and putting them back together works (a little trick i learnt from my mate at Renault F1) clean them with a brake cleaner Wurth works best.

hope this has helped and solves the problems.