Girlfriend refuses to ride in the GTR because of squeaky brakes. Help. R32 GTR.

[kevboost7]

My girlfriend is refusing to ride in the GTR with me because she says that the brake squeel is driving her nuts and is embarrasing. So now i have to figure out whats wrong. 

I notice that when the brakes are cold, there are no squeels. However after 5-10 minutes of driving, the squeel starts. And its always when i'm coming to a stop at a intersection. It dosent matter if i brake lightly, or apply the brakes very hard, it will 100% squeel. And i'm talking about a screeching loud sound that every car next to me will turn their heads to look. 

Something else i noticed the other morning when the brakes were cold, when i applied the brake, the car would pull to the right a little bit. Why would it do that? Would the left side or the right side be the culprit?

 

[Duncan]

I thought the squealing was meant to come from the passenger seat, not the brakes.

Are you using factory brakes? And do you know what pads and rotors?

More aggressive pads and rotors (eg race ones) are more likely to squeal, but it always comes down to being caused by a tiny vibration when the brakes are being used.

You need to pull everything apart, including taking the disc off the hub. Make sure the hub surface that the disc sits on is flat and clean (ie no rust flakes etc). Clean the disc with brake cleaner, scuff the pad surface on some rough concrete to give it a new surface (they might be glazed), clean the rear of the pad and both sides of the anti-squeal shims thoroughly. Make sure the surface of the caliper piston that pushes on the pads is also clean.

Then reassemble everything, and if you are still concerned you can buy anti squeal compounds to put between the back of the pad, and each side of the anti squeal shims, although that shouldn't be required and can affect pedal feel.

For the pulling to the right, that suggests the pistons in your left caliper are sticking a little, you should be able to tell if the right pads and disc are wearing more than the left. Either way, a rebuild of the calipers might be due

[Murray_Calavera]

If I had to guess, I'd say you are missing some/all of the factory brake shims. 

In addition to the above - when was the last time you bled the brakes? It could be as simple as your fluid has turned to jelly on left side causing them not to work. 

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

What pads are you running?

I can help with Intima SR pads if you want something streetable and not squealy 

[joshuaho96]

14 hours ago, kevboost7 said:

My girlfriend is refusing to ride in the GTR with me because she says that the brake squeel is driving her nuts and is embarrasing. So now i have to figure out whats wrong. 

I notice that when the brakes are cold, there are no squeels. However after 5-10 minutes of driving, the squeel starts. And its always when i'm coming to a stop at a intersection. It dosent matter if i brake lightly, or apply the brakes very hard, it will 100% squeel. And i'm talking about a screeching loud sound that every car next to me will turn their heads to look. 

Something else i noticed the other morning when the brakes were cold, when i applied the brake, the car would pull to the right a little bit. Why would it do that? Would the left side or the right side be the culprit?

 

Few things. You need to put grease in key areas as directed by the FSM, failure to do this will cause interesting brake noises. Less is more when it comes to this, getting grease on the friction material will cure your brake noise issues but otherwise ruin your day. You also want to have the appropriate shims to go with your pads. You also want to make sure your pads are a reasonably streetable compound. Anything designed for hard track use will sound like what you're describing. 

If the car is pulling when you apply the brakes you need to inspect and figure out why. Could be a caliper that isn't behaving properly, could be worn/contaminated pads, could be anything really.

[funkymonkey]

install a triple plate clutch and dog box transmission. she won't hear the squealing brakes anymore

[admS15]

You've had some decent suggestions above now, I'm just going to suggest the obvious.

Change girlfriend, problem solved. Other random unpredictable problems may present themselves. Your experience may vary...

[soviet_merlin]

Quote

And its always when i'm coming to a stop at a intersection. It dosent matter if i brake lightly, or apply the brakes very hard, it will 100% squeel. And i'm talking about a screeching loud sound that every car next to me will turn their heads to look. 

Can I ask how you put up with this yourself? That sounds terrible and it would drive me nuts as well

[r32-25t]

The easy fix would be to trade the girlfriend in 

[GTSBoy]

Yeah, this really does sound like a girlfriend problem more than a car problem.

Have you done a pros and cons list to help you choose between them? What does she give you that the car can't?

[The Bogan]

1. Fix the brakes, simple. You and the GF are happy, and safe by the sounds of it.

Or just get a cheap daily for when rolling with the girl friend, and roll around with 5hit brakes on the street yourself. See point 1.

Some women folk tend to have some good points if you put the testosterone away and listen to them, yours sounds like she has her head on straight. It would be a shame if you bined a good GF because you don't like her comments about noisy, possibly dangerous brakes, on the street.

Meh, if it wasn't for the brains (read: common sense) of my Mrs when it comes to me doing dumb 5hit, I would be poor, or visiting the hospital alot more than I do at best, or dead at worst.

I tend to have the "just send it mentally" whilst fun, sometimes the consequences are not.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Or buy my R33 as your daily, climate control, non squealing Brembos, subwoofer, rolling anti lag and flex fuel 😅

[MBS206]

Install a louder exhaust.

Don't press the middle pedal.

Problem solved...

[kevboost7]

i had a good laugh at all the girlfriend jokes 🤣 but shes gonna stay lol so im fixing the brakes. Truthfully, the squealing brakes bothered me but not enough for me to do something about it. So in a way, shes making my project car better 😆

Anyways, i took off the wheels last night and i think i found the culprit. There was no shims!! only the thin metal peice that came from the brake pads. I ordered a shim kit and its on its way. 

The brake pads i have are Hawk HPS something. on the last picture there was a thin metal plate on it, but i dont think it has the shim kit. 

Also, do those pads look glazed? 

And has anyone done a caliper rebuild? or should i consider going to a big brake kit?

[joshuaho96]

4 hours ago, kevboost7 said:

i had a good laugh at all the girlfriend jokes 🤣 but shes gonna stay lol so im fixing the brakes. Truthfully, the squealing brakes bothered me but not enough for me to do something about it. So in a way, shes making my project car better 😆

Anyways, i took off the wheels last night and i think i found the culprit. There was no shims!! only the thin metal peice that came from the brake pads. I ordered a shim kit and its on its way. 

The brake pads i have are Hawk HPS something. on the last picture there was a thin metal plate on it, but i dont think it has the shim kit. 

Also, do those pads look glazed? 

And has anyone done a caliper rebuild? or should i consider going to a big brake kit?

Pretty sure you're missing some hardware: 

Glazed pads should almost look like glass. Your picture isn't good enough to tell what's going on there. If there's a good amount of surface roughness and it's not shiny you should be fine. Inspect the caliper after cleaning it up and see if everything is behaving as intended, if you have doubts you can rebuild the calipers: https://www.z1motorsports.com/hardware/centric/nissan-300zx-z32-brake-caliper-rebuild-kits-p-3366.html

[Duncan]

I reckon the pads look fine, but you can see that not having anti squeal shims might cause squealing.

Even while you are waiting for them, give everything a through cleaning brake cleaner, you should be able to quieten in up

[Duncan]

I should add, if you dont have the spring that holds the pad retaining pins you run a risk of the pads falling out. At a minimum put r pins or even split pins through the hole on the retaining pins to make sure they dont back out

[MBS206]

Looking at the photo posted by OP, the pad retaining pins aren't going through the pads to begin with.

Those pins also look super gunked up. They need to come out and be cleaned on a wire wheel.

 

It does look like one pad is removed, and that may be why the pad retaining pins aren't through the pad on the other side.

[r32-25t]

Everything is there and installed correctly, the issue is the pads 

[MBS206]

3 minutes ago, r32-25t said:

Everything is there and installed correctly, the issue is the pads 

Did you mix up pictures Brett? The OPs photo is missing stuff, another photo was posted with all parts showing, but that person saying parts missing.