Squealing brakes

[AlanS]

2006 xc70. My front brakes are really squealing upon braking. I figured I would just replace the pads, as they are worn. What pads are recommended? What precautions can I take to prevent further SQUEALING?

[Xfingers]

When I did my brakes and rotors a few years back, some anti-squeal grease packets were provided to apply to my Bosch brake shoes. FCPEuro has a pretty good youtube video on replacing the brakes and how to apply the anti-squeal grease that I followed. I ended up with smooth quiet braking but there may be other factors involved which can cause squealing.

[Astro14]

If the pads are worn, and you’re going to get new pads, then I would get new rotors.

Worn rotors, even when turned (and you just turn them so that new pads will bed properly) are nowhere near as good as new. Rotors are cheap these days. Brembo makes good rotors (Tire Rack). Zimmerman are good. I’ve had great results with R1 Concept drilled rotors on the XC and the T5.

Akebono Euro Ceramic pads will give you good braking, long life, and no dust or squealing.

Whatever rotors you choose, go with the Akebono pads.

[albertj]

2006 xc70. My front brakes are really squealing upon braking. I figured I would just replace the pads, as they are worn. What pads are recommended? What precautions can I take to prevent further SQUEALING?

Some comments not yet offered:

Inspect the brakes to plan your job. When you pull the wheel look at the rotors and pads.

On the rotors, drag your fingernail radially across both faces. The rotor faces will have circumferential undulations. But if the fingernail catches in an undulation - call it a groove - resurfacing the rotors is likely to make them narrower than the specified wear limit. So - if on one of the rotors there is such a groove, go ahead and replace both. If the fingernail does not catch, simply measure the rotor thickness and compare to spec. If it's in spec, and you (plan to) do the rest of the brake job right, consider using the old rotors. Again, if one of your rotors fails inspection, plan to replace *both*. If you reuse a rotor, consider spraying some rotor conditioner on the faces, it's a silver spray, a little abrasive, serves in part to deglaze those rotors. Be sure to follow the label directions. Finally - if you are reusing the old rotors and your replacement pads are not the same brand and composition as the old ones, you really must use the conditioning spray or the new pads will result in "judder." What happens is the new pads and old will have incompatible compound, which will build up on the face of the rotor unevenly and so make the brakes pulsate when you are stopping. Pain in the butt.

As for the pads, look at them thru/around the caliper. If they are not worn pretty much evenly you may have an issue that favors caliper replacement. That is, in replacing the pads you always break down the caliper and clean/relubricate the slide pins. And inspect the piston and its boot. Point is, though, that if the pads are not worn evenly you may also need to make sure that the replacements slide properly when installed, which can mean using a small file to smooth the sliding parts on the pad backs (there can be variation issues). ATE produced a good tutorial on making those adjustments but I can't find the link ATM - try some searches and see what you turn up.

Concerning caliper replacement, the point is that many/most people replace sticking calipers rather than honing them with a ball brush hone and replacing the rubbers. Depending on how your brakes are used that sort of quick reconditioning can be inadequate and you'll replace calipers anyway. Fun and games.

Albertj