Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting brakes...problem? or normal?

Well all the shops I've taken it to here tell me it's normal, but 1) I find that hard to believe and 2)I have a good feeling there are more professional and knowledgable people in CEG, so I bring you my problem...

I was having a little screech when I braked so I took it in to see what they could do about it. They machined the rotors and put new pads on (I think they're Mintex, but that hasn't been confirmed). The screech when I stop is gone. However, ever since fixed a screech when I am moving has been getting worse and worse. It's loud and I hear it over the exhaust and can't really stand it. It stops when I hit the brakes. Also, after I wash the car it'll stop doing it for a while but picks up shortly.

I've taken it to 3 shops other than the place that did the work and they said that it's normal. I understand a screech when the brake applied is normal for new pads, but even when in motion and the brakes are off? I've consulted a few people on this and they said I shouldn't have a screech with the brakes off.

So my questions are: is this normal/acceptable? any guesses on how long it will do this for?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

I just did my brakes and they are doing the same thing. I'm going to pull them appart and put some of that vibration dampener behind the pads. Hopefully that will help.

Either use the stick on shims or the spray. The spray makes the back of the pad tacky so they stick to the piston and guide.

They have a paste style too.

A screech is not normal with the brakes on or off. Since the sound is missing when you put on the brakes, the screech might not be brakes at all. Your SVT has disks in the front & rear so you might be able to see if it makes a difference if you use the hand brake, which puts on only the rear brakes. If the rear brakes are dragging you should be able to jack up the car, spin the rear wheels and hear something. I had a loud hum coming from mine which turned out to be an inner CV joint, but I had a heck of time isolating the where the noise was coming from. Try turning left, right, go slow and fast to see what makes the noise louder or quieter. Re-post your symptoms with some more clues and hopefully it will point to where your problem is. Hope this helps...

Thanks guys!

I have noticed that at times turning to the left will cause the screech to become a little louder. I understand that this may in fact not be the brakes, however when I isolated the screech, it was right on the wheel. The CV joint is in the center of the rear axle, isn't it? The screech still disappears for a while after a wash though. The screech goes away, or is at least minimized, after 25-30 mph. And it is louder when the car is moving slowly.

Thanks again for your help. I'll look at it more closely tomorrow and see if the screech is maybe not coming from the wheel afterall.

If it is the brakes, and it could be, you might have a pad that is hanging up slightly due to a sticky caliper slide pin. It could also be anything that keeps the pad from moving back to an at rest postition. It never does move back very much and always maintains a slight touch on the rotor. Another posibility is an edge on the rotor that didn't get machined off (not likely if they machined the rotors). Sometimes it helps to champher or bevel the edges on the brake pad.

If it were me, I would take the pads off and inspect for proper lubrication and installation and I would champher the edges before reinstalling them.

Proper lubrication often sets an average brake job apart from an excellent one. It means that the caliper slide pins must be lubricated and checked to make sure that they slide freely. It also means that the pad backing plate should be lubricated at every point that it touches the the caliper, especially including any points that the pad backing plate is expeted to slide as the pad wears. Any grease that is specifically made for disc brakes should be fine.

In the final analysis, some brake noise really is a normal fact of life. Some brake pad materials are more prone to noise than others. I would still try to do all you can to get rid of the noise before writing it off as normal.