How to stop your brakes squealing 101

[JimX]

When I got my RB74 pads, they were rather quiet. After several months though, the right front brakes started to get a little noisy. When it got to the stage where it would squeal on every slowdown, I decided to see if I could fix it (well, I put it off for a few weeks because I'm a lazy bastard). Here's the brief rundown on how I did it.

1. Buy some red gooey anti-squeal stuff from my local spares shop.

2. Buy 1-2 sheets of 80 grit emery paper from the same shop (around $1.25 a sheet)

3. Jack car up, remove offending wheel.

4. Remove clips and springs from pads.

5. Remove pads from caliper.

6. Sand back the pads on the emery paper until the glazed surface is roughened up. There may be some scoring marks left on the pads, it's not essential to get rid of every little groove.

6a. If your discs are badly scored, get them machined. Maybe you should figure out whether or not they need machining before you sand the pads back.

7. If the discs are fine and you can be bothered, give the discs a quick once-over with the emery cloth. It's pretty difficult to make even a light indent in the discs though, so don't worry too much.

8. Put red gooey stuff all between each layer of pad and backing plate, as well as on the back of the plate that sits on the caliper piston.

9. Put pads back into the caliper after the red gooey stuff goes tacky.

10. Bend the anti-squeal spring in the opposite direction a bit, to give it more tension for when it's in place.

11. Put spring and clips back in, put wheel back on, etc etc.

12. Test everything.

13. If you crash your car for any reason, don't blame me (disclaimer).

It's weird how only my right front brake started squealing. The left front one has remained quiet all this time so I didn't bother doing that side. I only fix what's broken

[Duncan]

Great post jimx, do you mind if I move it to the FAQ section?

[JimX]

Sure

[nigelswazi]

Ever had the calipers overhauled? U might have some pistons not moving in one

[ferni]

whats the anti-squeal spring your talking about?

[someonestolecc]

Whats the red goo do?

[Munna]

Whats the red goo do?

Glues the pad to the caliper pistons to stop it rubbing against the disk.

[madmoomoo]

I had bendix ultimates and they squeeled like a beatch and drove me nuts. I went and bought some of that anti squeel spray but it didn't help me at all ( i still had anti squeel shimmy things in there though). When I changed brake pads I got LUCAS ones put in, and they have not made a single noise ever!

I'm so impressed with these pads, they stop beautifully, don't leave my rims as filthy as the bendix ones, and they don't squeek!

So there's my advice, use the Lucas pads! (I've heard the RB ones are a bit squeeky too!)

[NZM.031]

my RB74s squeal as i back it out of the shed... after that though, they dont make a peep.

Monkeykplunk has ultimates and they never shut up.

cheers

Linton

[r33GTS-t-200kw]

u can make ur ultimates quiet... just re-scuff the pad surface, and chamfer the front and rear edges so there is a 45 degree angle of chamfer... if you get what i mean.. glue them in and they are good to go

[DRFT33]

its mainly just the dust that makes the pads squeal after awhile. i have ferrodos that are hell dusty. i just got some anti-squeal from my work, cleaned up the discs and pads, put it on the back of the pad, includin the spring and it has never sqeualed again.

[Cubes]

I've had Ultimates, from readings I was expecting them to squeel so I bought my self a tube of PBR anti-squeal adhesive, slapped it every where over the back of the disk and antisqueel shims.

They never squeeled so it worked.

The car was only driven on the street and never saw anyhard braking.

[Big B R33]

What is the red goo glue called?

[MANWHORE]

It's called anti squeel shit. go to any auto store lilke repco, supercheapauto, autoone or autobarn

[Cubes]

PBR do an antisqueel glue.

I've always used it and never had issues, ultimates only squealed just before you came to a stop, so bearable.

[justin911]

my ultimates used to squeel as if they were getting molested or something..

i tried the paste stuff which didnt do anything at all..

the spray worked realy well tho fixed it up 100%

alltho i have a feeling the spray doesnt work for all that long ??

[BAMR33]

Just cross hatch the rotor with emery paper, around 80 grit as mentioned. The sqealing is caused by dust build-up in the grooves of the rotor. Don't be scared of giving them a good rub too.

My vote, the 'red gooey stuff' is not required.

[skylinegtts]

ive got some ultimates aswell... judging from other ppls experiences its a brake pad that squels quiet a bit, i mite try cross hatching the rotor as BAMR33 mentioned

[justin911]

well the spray lasted for about 50km of driving.....

my ultimates used to squeel as if they were getting molested or something..

i tried the paste stuff which didnt do anything at all..

the spray worked realy well tho fixed it up 100%

alltho i have a feeling the spray doesnt work for all that long ??

[justin911]

whats this anti-squeel spring you all speak of ??