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Detroit, 5:29 PM
Tue Dec 8
28 posts in the last 24 hours
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05/18/09
They didn't say a darn thing about the rotors. Pad material transfers onto the rotor and builds up. Hot spots (bluish tint) on the rotors will start to cause squealing. Sometimes just going over the rotor contact area with a fine grint sand paper in a small circular motion on both sides will knock down the buildup. Hot spots can be deeper and may require them to be turned down. Costs about all of $5-7 a piece at most shops. Then, always wash your rotors in a soapy washing machine detergent bath to get all the grit and grim off, rinse clean with water, and then spray down generously with brake parts cleaner. A nice cross hatch pattern on the rotor surface will insure proper pad break in and nice quiet stops.
Also, most people don't bed in their new set of brake pads properly. A new set of pads that has not been properly broken in will invariably lead to squealing. Most brake shops will just hang the pads and call you to say the car is ready. You have to bed the pad surface in with a series of short low speed stop allowing plenty of time for the brakes to cool between stops. I usually stop the car about 20 times in a row, never going above 15 mph, and allowing about 1 minute between stops. It is crazy, it is boring, and people that get stuck behind you will most certainly be pissed, F 'em its your brakes, you have to live with it, not them. Pull over and let em go by and continue with the bed in.
05/18/09
05/18/09
Also brake squeal is caused by the pad vibrating against the rotor. This is not exclusive to people with warped rotors, nor will any amount of prep or procedure or 'nice cross hatch pattern' eliminate the potential for vibrations to occur. That's what the thin sheetmetal pad shims and popmech quick fixes are for, to absorb those vibrations.
The way the internet told you to bed in your brakes does technically work, but that's advice I would only ever tell someone who's changing their brake pads one night with plans to use them HEAVILY at autocross the next morning. And, in that scenario, the person I'd be giving advice to would probably slap me for thinking I was patronizing him. I promise that within a few days of commuting to work and light highway travel, that a fresh set of brake pads will bed themselves in just as well for the overwhelming majority of daily drivers' intents and purposes.
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I have found that the best way to prevent squeaky disks is to clean and lube the caliper slides as well as I can when changing pads. Also, turning the disks if they warp (damn camry's) is critical.
05/18/09
05/18/09
Do you hear that bone-scraping-death-grind? That is a couple hundred dollars down the toilet.
05/18/09
05/18/09
@lilwillie's E21 leaks no more.: Good. Some people don't deserve to own cars it seems.
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05/18/09
Now shut-up and get on over here so I can kick your ass, stick-boy.
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05/18/09
Not that I know...
05/18/09
05/19/09
05/19/09
But not too gentle.
05/18/09
/someone had to
05/18/09
03/16/09
03/16/09
2) To actually solve the problem:
a) Learn to diagonally-approach things
b) Just deal with it
c) Remove the thing
d) Quit yer whining
03/16/09
03/16/09
I mean seriously...
"I poured Windex into that hole on the engine marked "Oil" to clean it out and make it run better. Now it runs kind of rough, and it doesn't accelerate like it should. My boyfriend says to run it on the highway until it gets hot enough to boil it out. What do you think I should do?"
Troubled BMW Girl in Van Nuys