Hi all,

So my brakes were squealing pretty bad but only in the AM on slow braking. Weirdly enough, the wear indicators weren't even touching the rotors so the pads weren't that bad but what the heck, I changed them anyway this weekend.

I notice this AM that they still squeal a tiny bit but not nearly as much as before... Annoying nonetheless. What else could cause this ? I should mention that the rotors were not changed but they looked very good and there was never any pulsating when braking.

 

I was always under the school of thought that when replacing pads, if not replacing rotors, to at least re-surface them a bit..

Also make sure you bed the brake pads properly

 

Did you use OEM pads? If not, that could be the current issue.

 

should have at least milled the rotors for new pads. otherwise the new pads aren't going to bed correctly. i get not everyone does that, but that's the correct way to do it.

cold weather makes brakes make noises until they warm up. that's normal in my experience, with both carbon and ceramic pads.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone.
I did not use OEM pads. In fact, I got some cheap pads from Amazon :

Not sure how good they are but they certainly seem to work just fine so far.

As for milling, I didn't do that. Perhaps I should have. I'll know for next time. I do think the squealing is weather related though. It only does a very faint squeal on the first light braking and it's fine after that...

 

on the OEM pads. TONS of people use aftermarket pads with no issues whatsoever.


I think it's the milling/re-surfacing that you should do prior to the installation of the new pads. It's alright, live and let learn

 

Depending on which aftermarket pads are used, some are highly abrasive (for better braking performance) and will chew up the comparatively softer OEM rotors very fast.

 

The problem with changing the pads and not the rotors is this. Basically where the old pads embedded your new ones are making contact with the rust on the old rotors or the pads are just cheap and making a squealing noise.

Whenever changing pads you should always change the rotors too or get them machined. Because you won't have nearly as much braking power. Because the new pads won't bed in the rotor properly.

 

some pads squeal when cold. Did you apply the brake grease to the back of the pads/shims?