Back in January I had new rotors and pads put on my front wheels. Since then I have noticed what appears to be alot of break dust on my hubcaps and from time to time either a squeaking sound or kinda a grainding sound. Doesn’t happen all the time and was told the breaks were fine, but just not sure what it might be or what I can do to reduce both.
You may have a stuck brake caliper that is keeping the brake pads pressed against the rotor. Ask someone to grease the caliper slides so the caliper can slide freely from side to side, and to make sure the caliper piston is moving freely.
Semi-metallic and natural brakes pads make dust. After-market pads can squeak and make grinding noises. I use ceramic brake pads. They don’t dust as bad or squeak. I use akebono ceramic brake pads. I also put a little brake grease on the back of the pad to make sure they don’t squeak.
Likely the original pads were ceramic and the replacements are semi-met or organic, as knfenimore said.
I always use factory pads. Never a problem.
Factory pads though not cheap are always best. I do a ton of replacements after people slap on cheap pads and cant stand the noise/dust issues. If you do brakes do them right have the rotors properly machined, use factory or top quality pads, use the correct grease on the pins/slides and make sure all shims and hardware are correct and in good condition.
Steve
Factory pads though not cheap are always best. I do a ton of replacements after people slap on cheap pads and cant stand the noise/dust issues.
There are a whole lot of GOOD QUALITY PADS between Factory pads and cheap pads. I’ve been using Wagner pads for 30+ years without any issue what-so-ever. Wagner is also an OEM manufacturer for several companies Asian, European and Domestic.
We stock Wagner brake pads for our fleet vehicles, and I have mixed feelings
Severe duty for the hard working trucks
Thermo quiet for cars
They fit well, the hardware is generally included, they brake well enough and don’t dust up
However, they tend to be noisey, no matter what. Replace the rotors, machine them, clean and lube all the sliders, etc. It doesn’t matter, can’t get rid of the noise
Ironically, the thermoquiets tend to make more noise than the severe duty
Perhaps they are not the OEM manufacturer for the vehicles in our fleet . . .
I run the cheapest possible pads, don’t use any special lubes or whatnot and have never had a problem with squeaking or shuddering brakes.
They do dust up the fronts pretty good, but nothing soap and water can’t fix (or, realistically, couldn’t fix, if I cared enough to clean 'em).
For years and years I almost exclusively used Wagner Thermo-Quiet pads with excellent results. Then about 2 years ago I started having complaints about noise. Nothing else in our brake service procedure changed. The complaints were enough that I don’t use Thermo-Quiets anymore.
Through the grapevine, I’ve heard good things about centric posiquiets
Anybody have any comments about them?
Good or bad?
Centric makes a wide variety of brake pads, Posiquiets are their premium line and I’ve had good results from them. In my opinion they are as good as the Thermo-Quiets used to be. Centric also makes a very good rotor. Very nice finish, painted hats, straight and true.
Centric also makes some very, ahem, “affordable” brakes that I rarely use.
I started using thermo quiets in all of my personal vehicles about 5 years ago. I found varying results that were very specific to certain vehicles. For example, I simply slapped them into my truck and they were quiet as a church mouse from the get go. The experience with my Camry was quite a bit different. They squealed like a banshee from day one. I tried everything from anti-squeal grease and pads to brand new OEM shim kits (very pricey for the Toyota!). No luck. Until I bit the bullet and bought OEM pads for it and they stopped squealing like magic. I have since switched and no longer use the thermo quiets since they ended up costing me time, money and aggravation on the one ride. That’s all it takes for me…
If a DIYer got good service out of the original pads then OEM is a safe bet; no need to experiment.
However, I had warping with OEM Honda rotors for several years ('84-'90) with 3 different cars.
I finally gave in and bought some high-quality aftermarket rotors that were trouble free.