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Squealing Brakes (After Upgrade)

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 6:38 am
by Terra
I thought I would bring it up again and see how the posters are going with there squealing brakes.

I have just upgraded to Brembo's, DBA's and Bendix Ultimates and now after i have bedded them in, once I get some heat into them the squeal there f*c*i*g head off when I’m coming to a stop at the lights. I red most of you guys had squeal when they are cold not hot?

Some people talk about anti-squeal paste.......Does that mean I have to take the callipers back off again?

Has it worked on anyone else’s brakes? What else can shut these things up? (Apart from taking them off) I love them apart from this minor annoying, embarrassing, head turning problem......... :oops:
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UPDATE: Just spoke to the brake man, and i now need to give them a HARDER time for another two weeks to get the glaze of the pads....... :roll: Lets see what happens......Look out in the mirror, here comes the last of the late brakers.......... :shock:

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:22 am
by smythie
ahh, so you didn't bed them well enough? Better head up into the hills and do a Spurs lap. Should get enough heat into them coming down the Reefton :D Should be good fun as a bonus too :D

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:28 am
by tangcla
Might also be due to pads. Hawk Ceramic pads have been said not to squeal on the Brembos.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:39 am
by coyote
No, you don't need to take the calipers off to apply the paste, just take the pads out - which should be simple on the Brembos.

While you have them out, roughen them up a bit too. That may help.

I've got to ask, what was the thought process behind spending all that money on Brembos and then putting in Bendix Ultimates?

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:11 am
by Terra
The spend wasnt that great (except for the rotors) I got them from a mate at a great price......... but with out trying them ALL, I went with what was recomended from a DBA supplier.

Lets see after some spireted braking in the next few days..... :lol:

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:24 am
by Arith
Interesting! I was just talking about this same issue over with members offline. At the moment I'm running Dixcel slotted rotors and Dixcel Z-Series pads up front. They squeal like a little girl being beaten with a rubber hose at every stop. It's horrible and not to mention embarassing. The grip is incredible, but the trade off for me is the squeal. And yes, I've bed them in normally and through extreme braking, and anti-squeal paste has been applied during time of installation. They still squeal.

From what I understand, others who are running a similar or same setup (some with M-series pads) do not have this issue. So I reckon it's due to my commute to work. I drive the M5 every day, and all that continuous light to medium braking tends to glaze the rotors after a while. Because the pads started off quiet, but as the weeks passed they got worse and worst in terms of squeal. I seriously thought about machining the rotors, but have been advised that the rotors may glaze up again after a while due to my brake habbits.

When I ran the Hawk Ceramics, I didn't have any issue with noise. They were quiet! However the grip from the Hawks are a lot less than the Dixcels, as they are made more for the street. So therein lies the trade off.

But since I'm old, I treasure my silence. So I'm going to run Hawks for my day to day driving, and keep the Dixcels for track days which probably won't happen anyway because my car wasn't meant for track use.

coyote wrote:I've got to ask, what was the thought process behind spending all that money on Brembos and then putting in Bendix Ultimates?

Heh-heh, that's what I was thinking as well. While Bendix are a quiet street pad, they're a bit mismatched to the Brembo's. I would probably go the factory Brembo pads (I forget who makes them) as the minimum.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:27 am
by tangcla
Arith wrote:... the factory Brembo pads (I forget who makes them) ...
Don't Ferodo make them?

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:38 am
by AndrewCowley
Arith wrote:Interesting! When I ran the Hawk Ceramics, I didn't have any issue with noise. They were quiet! However the grip from the Hawks are a lot less than the Dixcels, as they are made more for the street. So therein lies the trade off.

I'm getting some Hawk Ceramics fitted on Monday to replace my very squealy and insanely dusty Ferodo DS-2500's. Interestingly, they come with some of the anti-squeal grease, which I'll ask the workshop to apply (hope they actually do it).

Great to hear the Hawk's may not squeal. That will be a nice change. I assume they'll still be decent step up from stock. In downgrading from the DS-2500's I did not want to return to stock. I chose the Hawk's as an attempt to find a balance between performance, cost, dust and squealing. Another good thing is they don't need cutting.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:42 am
by GTSPECB STI
dixcel M's for street use, dixcel Z's for track use and Bendix ultimate for neither imo. No squealing from my M's to date.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:47 am
by tangcla
I think the Hawk Ceramics are OEM-replacement type pads. Probably slightly better than stock, but not by a great deal.

FWIW, I went from Ferodo DS2000s to the Hawk Ceramics and I found the initial bite to be much less.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:48 am
by smythie
I have hawks in mine (stock 2 pot calipers and DBA 4k rotors) and they work well - easily enough performance for hard road driving. After 6 or 7000km's they are starting to dust a little bit but it is easily manageable. They can also sqeak a little bit on really light application at slow speed. Any more than really light application and the noise is gone. It's only noticeable because I am listening for it though

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:52 am
by Arith
GTSPECB STI wrote:dixcel M's for street use, dixcel Z's for track use and Bendix ultimate for neither imo. No squealing from my M's to date.

I originally ran the M series when I first upgraded to the Dixcel rotors. Worked great for the first 4 months. Then they started to squeal after that. Then the squealing got worse after that so I had to jump to the Hawks.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:25 am
by GTSPECB STI
Arith wrote:
GTSPECB STI wrote:dixcel M's for street use, dixcel Z's for track use and Bendix ultimate for neither imo. No squealing from my M's to date.

I originally ran the M series when I first upgraded to the Dixcel rotors. Worked great for the first 4 months. Then they started to squeal after that. Then the squealing got worse after that so I had to jump to the Hawks.


stock rotors vs after market rotors would seem to be the variable then in terms of squealing. Mine have been on about 3 months now using stock rotors and no issues at all. Bedding them in properly will be critical I believe.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:01 pm
by 3rspecb
tangcla wrote:
Arith wrote:... the factory Brembo pads (I forget who makes them) ...
Don't Ferodo make them?


On the earlier model WRX STi brembo's, they used to use Jurid brake pads. Not sure what brake pad manufacture is on the current Subaru brembo's.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:45 pm
by Terra
UPDATE: It’s only been a few days i know (not 2 weeks) but after this weekend of braking like a maniac, still no change.

We have taken all the pads out to give a light scuff to notice they are not glazed. Scuffed them anyway.

Put them back in, greased them (anti squeal) up were required, and NO f*c*i*g difference.............. :evil:

Arith, are you saying that Hawks don’t squeal much? Do they get quieter when they heat up or louder? Are they very dusty?

Anyone else have any user experience of (which pads you are using) with Brembo's and cross drilled DBA rotor applications?

AndrewCowley, How did you go with your new Hawks pads?