Brake Squeel

[wtm442]

Brake Squeel

Owwwwww - hurts my ears. Driver's side rear. Only 8K miles. The SPF has the "stock" Wilwood brakes. Tires have never been off the car.

It only squeeks at low speeds (under 25 MPH) and only when there is light pedal pressure. It only happens when slowly stopping for a stop light. If I do a stop from 40 MPH with heavy pedal (quick stop), it does not squeel.

Any suggestions on a easy fix? Haha

P.S. - I checked and there are no animals being injured ...

[Zoom This]

Try pulling off the pads, clean and chamfer the edges. Clean rotors and replace pads. Go for a ride.

[Mike Simard]

The easiest fix is a bottle of 'Disc brake Quiet'. Rub some on the back of the pad and the edges that contact stuff. It's a lubricant and will help the pads maintain contact with the piston and not vibrate. There are more drastic measures like shims from Wilwood but you probably wont need that with street pads.

[rdorman]

While the pads are off, check them for taper and make sure the calipers are normal to the rotors. Also look for glazing of the pads.

[shaps]

Have Wilwood dynalites up front and they squeal like a proverbial PIG
I called Wilwood and ordered their shims. They did say the nature of the compound can cause squeals.
After installing the shims, i have the same squeal... Don't bother with them, IMHO.
Please let me know if anything u use quiets them down..
Shaps

[Rwillia4]

The cause for break squeal is harmonics between the brake caliper and the pad. It is like rubbing your finger around the rim of a crystal glass, the sound you hear is the resonating frequency. To stop it you need to have something between these surfaces. I would guess you have nothing. I agree the “break quiet” works well. When installing, clean the back of the pad with acetone or it will cook of in short period of time.
Another fix is to get some thin steel sheet trim it smaller then the size of the pad but bigger then the caliper psiton diameter, and so it is supported buy the pad guides or bent around the pad (not interfering with the pad material). This piece should not be symmetric and the greater it is not symmetric the better it will work. It will take some time to get the template right but silent bliss will be in your future (or the rumble of a 351!)

[strictlypersonl]

See this thread in the ERA section. We use Superlite-style calipers so the part numbers may not be appropriate to the SPF.

Brake squeal

[DonC]

Warren:
I fought the same problem with exactly the same symptoms. Only during light braking. In my case the cure was to change and go to a Hawk pad.
You can find the thread on the ERA site here on Club Cobra, just go back through the threads. Lots of information on what people tried to cure the problem. Some worked some didn't.
Changing to the Hawk pads cured my problem after trying compounds, different Willwood pads, shims, lubes and several other fixes either stand alone or in combination.
Check with http://www.hawkperformance.com/performance/hps.php for their pads and you will probably find one to match whichever caliper you're using.
DonC

[DonC]

Warren:
Chapter 2.. Here's the link to the ERA forum discussion.
Brake Squeal Issue
DonC