Topic: Squeaky front brakes!!!!

[Duanob]

I think it has to do with the quality of steel in the japanese rotor. I had a 1976 Datsun 280Z that did the same thing. They were known for squeaky brakes as much as old hondas. I could never find a permanent solution. Just have the rotors "cleaned" by a brake shop but you can only do that so many times.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned drilling out the rotors yet. I plan on having that done this winter if I can find a reputable brake shop.

[aperry]

I think it has to do with the quality of steel in the japanese rotor. I had a 1976 Datsun 280Z that did the same thing. They were known for squeaky brakes as much as old hondas. I could never find a permanent solution. Just have the rotors "cleaned" by a brake shop but you can only do that so many times.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned drilling out the rotors yet. I plan on having that done this winter if I can find a reputable brake shop.

I've been thinking about that too.  There's a member in the "services offered" section who does it for $40 plus shipping.

Also, I believe in Hondaman's book he mentions that EBC makes a kit to help reduce the noise.  Looks like some material that you cut and attach to the back of the pads.  I noticed when I put Corning grease on the back of my pads, it stopped the squeel for a few miles and then it came back.  So maybe some more permanent material would work better.

[shinyribs]

Caliper arm - must be parallel to the brake disk. Misaligned arms cause the pads to tilt

Pretty hard to do with one fixed pad on the inside end of the calipar. Once it wears off a perfect setup, well you know the rest.

Very true. The caliper moves in an arc that can never run parallel to the rotor. Reliable brakes,yet poorly designed. It is what it is.Gotta love it. Hardcore simple to the bone. Old bikes rock,but modern advances are oh so nice.

[Bailgang]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned drilling out the rotors yet.

Read reply #13.

[crazypj]

Caliper arm - must be parallel to the brake disk. Misaligned arms cause the pads to tilt

Pretty hard to do with one fixed pad on the inside end of the calipar. Once it wears off a perfect setup, well you know the rest.

Very true. The caliper moves in an arc that can never run parallel to the rotor. Reliable brakes,yet poorly designed. It is what it is.Gotta love it. Hardcore simple to the bone. Old bikes rock,but modern advances are oh so nice.

Caliper can still be parallel in vertical plane.

[aperry]

Caliper can still be parallel in vertical plane.

Is there an easy way to adjust that?  If memory serves correct, doesn't one of the pads have a rounded back so that it can automatically align with the surface of the rotor?

Aaron

[Bailgang]

Though I've been riding my 550 regularly since I cross drilled my rotor last weekend I still don't feel it's a significant amount of miles to give an accurate account of whether my brake squeal has been taken care of and nor can I say it's 100% gone but it's about 99.9% gone. It has squealed on a few occasions but it was just a whisper compared to before and even then it was just for a very brief moment. Compared to how badly it squealed before I'm happy with the results.

Initially the EBC pads didn't like the drilled rotor, they didn't squeal but I had to squeeze a bit harder on the brake lever to slow it down but once the rotor and pads got to know each other a bit more the front brake works better now than it ever has so much so that I've had to get used to it all over again. As I had stated before the rotor I drilled was a different rotor and it wasn't glazed as bad as the rotor that was on the bike so was it the cross drilling or the glaze? I couldn't care less, all I know is it hardly squeals at all now and I'm loving it.

[Jv550]

Got my disc drilled a couple years back and it still squeaks the tiniest bit sometimes, though not enough to bother me. Can't say it was all in the drilling though, as I redid the whole brake system then, too - had it apart about ten time before I finally got it right but had the sense to leave it that way once it was dialed. Got a new rotor and hope to get it drilled and go dual disc this winter because the single disc just does not stop grab hard enough...

[Bailgang]

Got my disc drilled a couple years back and it still squeaks the tiniest bit sometimes, though not enough to bother me. Can't say it was all in the drilling though, as I redid the whole brake system then, too - had it apart about ten time before I finally got it right but had the sense to leave it that way once it was dialed. Got a new rotor and hope to get it drilled and go dual disc this winter because the single disc just does not stop grab hard enough...

Agreed. When you have "variables" involved it's hard to determine just exactly what it was or was it a combination of them all that addressed the problem which is why I'm gun shy at saying that drilling my rotor all in itself is what did the trick because the fact that I used a different rotor makes it arguable. Even though the front brakes work better now in regards to stopping power it still has plenty of room for improvement and I too plan on going dual disc as well.