Brembo brake squeal problems help?

[metzger]

Sportsfans:

My '02 came with Brembo brakes installed by the first owner. I'm getting some incredibly annoying squealing. It sounded like it was coming from the passenger side rear, so this weak I replaced the pads on the rears with Hawk HPS pads, the backs of which I first treated with Noise Free, an anti-squeal compound. This had exactly no effect on the squealing. This suggests to me that the problem must be in the front brakes, even if it sounded as if it was coming from the rear. Anything else that I should be checking? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Mike

[dwz8]

Mike,

I have Brembos installed, and I never experienced any squealing so far. Usually they check rotors and pads to stop the noise, however, with high performance pads you may have to live with some noise.
I would check which pads are on the car, Brembo sells at least two kinds of pads, one for regular street use, and one for track use. If you have the latter ones that would explain the squealing.

The one thing I would like to recommend is to change all pads - front and rear - at the same time, and especially, do never drive different pads front and rear. It may give you surprising and hence dangerous results during heavy breaking.

[macfly]

At the track we will run different compounds front and rear to change the brake bias, but I wouldn't recommend this on the street, as the balance is very well set for all uses. The Hawk pads are very abrasive, especially the blues, which are often used at the track to clean uneven deposits from racing pads off the rotors, so they will have a much higher friction coefficient than your fronts, meaning the bias will be to the rear. The ABS will prevent lock-up, but you'll loose overall stopping power, as the fronts should be doing the lions share of the work.

I would also suggest calling David Zeckhausen (david@zeckhausen.com) on 973 761 5054 as he knows about as much as anyone about brakes, and will give you the right recommendations for your set up.

[metzger]

I bought the rears from Dave, and have sent him and e-mail. These pads are Hawk HPS - street pads, and I've run them before (e46 M3 with euro drilled disks) without squealing or any other problems. Will get a matching set for the fronts. Thanks for your help (and your prayers, I hope).

Mike