Advice needed on front brake issue

[TheJMan]

I've noticed since the day I bought this car almost a year ago, the front brakes seem to squeak rather obnoxiously. I thought that for sure the pads were down to the "chirpers" so I took it in to have brake work done on all 4 wheels. The mechanic told me that the pads looked almost new and had still had about 90% left and even more on the rears. He said that the pads were a bright blue (not OE) and that it was caused by a slight fitment issue, causing them to chatter when I apply the brakes, and that they were still safe.

Anyway, 9,000 miles later, the squeaking is still there and seems even louder, now when I hit the brakes, people turn around and look. Sort of embarassing. Should I just wait until these pads wear down and get new ones? Replace just the front pads? Or do all 4 at the same time? The rotors are still in good shape.

 

[Ranger Al]

Did you buy the car new? If it is new you should be able to demand them to have Motorcraft pads install. If it is not under warranty, you could buy brake grease. You'll need to remove the pads and apply thin layer of the brake grease on the back side of the pads (DO NOT APPLY TO THE FRONT) and the noise should go away.

 

[TheJMan]

No, I bought it used and these pads came on it. It's a 2000 and had 58,000 miles on it when I bought it. I do have an extended warranty, however.

 

[CDW6212R]

You have two choices. Either do the brakes now, replacing pads, and possibly the rotors also. Or check to see that the pads are still good, and then attempt to "wear out" the noise. Chances are very high that your pads are of a poor quality, or they have been glazed/improperly bedded in.

If you'd like to, drive it on a highway, and in a safe location, quickly slow from 50-80mph, down to 0-10mph. If any smoking or brake smell occurs, then the brakes were not bedded in properly. The point is top use a different brake pressure than usual. You are trying to get heat into the brakes, and properly seat them, or condition them. If no improvement is had after several several hard stops, then the pads definately aren't worth the noise anymore.

For any vehicle, the factory pads/shoes are an excellent choice. I like Ford pads, and EBC pads, which I have on my 98 Mountaineer now. Most brakes bought at Autozone, Advance, etc. can't take hard brake use, and wear out faster, or make too much noise. Good luck,
Don

 

[TheJMan]

Thanks for the help. I usually do most maintenance myself, but I don't have the tools or the experience to do it. I've done a few repeated hard stops before on these pads, and it didn't seem to help.

Being a college kid, I don't have a whole lot of money. Should I have the brakes done at the dealer, an independent shop, or a brake service chain? I also need a new radio (blank display). I am leaning toward the independent shop because they use Motorcraft parts and charge about $170 for all 4 wheels.

 

[Lloyd10977]

TheJMan,
One thing you might want to consider trying is a trick I had to reevert to on a Pontiac that I owned a few years back. Using a triangular file, score several deep grooves across the brake pad surface (short way), equally spaced apart (approximately). As with drilled or grooved high-performance brake rotors, this helps to reduce the buildup of gases between the pad and rotor under hard braking and may be a cheap temporary fix for this annoyance.

 

[the_tool_man]

Hi TheJMan:

I have had the same squealing problem with my brakes. I tried new pads, and the blue goo that you're supposed to put on the back of the pads. In both cases, the fix lasted about 2 weeks. Then I took the brakes apart and spent about 2 hours cleaning and buffing all the stamped metal clips that grip the brake pads until they were very clean. I put a small dab of grease where each clip touched a pad and reassembled everything. No more squealing brakes after 3 months.

Regards,
John.

 

[TheJMan]

Thank you all for your help.

 

[CDW6212R]

I assume that you are ready to toss the pads that you have. Unless you know that the rotors are relatively new, I'd replace those also. Some noises and vibrations result from too thin rotors, or rotors which have had too much heat in them.

Avoid any pads that require a backing lubricant. Only buy pads which have an anti-vibration plate attached to the back of the pads. Those plates do the job well. Don't buy cheap pads, always buy the best that you have time to get. There are several very good aftermarket brands, but it will take longer to get them than the factory pads.

There is not a lot of difference between less expensive rotors, factory rotors, and high dollar rotors. Unless you have a high stress application, choose rotors based on your budget, and appearance. There are relatively low cost aftermarket "pretty" rotors.

Use the best brake fluid that you can get, and always remove as much fluid from the master cylinder as possible. Brake fluid in the lines is not clean/good as new. That's where a lot of the degradation of performance is. Try to have someone available to bleed the calipers, when you compress the pistons. If any old brake fluid is pushed back into the ABS pump, it can carry small debris into the pump, and ruin it. Repair shops most likely will compress the pistons and push the fluid back into the master cylinder.

If you have an independent shop do the brakes, either take them the brake parts which you want installed, or insist on factory parts. Chances are that there idea of high quality parts will be the cheap stuff from parts stores.

When driving a vehicle with new brakes, do not use the brakes hard for 100-200 miles. Vary the brake pressure which you use, slow down sooner, more gradually. After some time, purposely stop more abruptly, for short periods of time. Let the brakes cool enough between those stops. New brakes will create a smell when they are first getting a lot of heat into them. Good luck,
Don