Brembo Brake Woes.

[Macca]

Hey guys, I know there are a few of these threads around but I've had this problem for so bloody long that I thought I'd start my own thread.

So a while ago I bought some second hand Evo 8 Brembos and fully rebuilt them with new genuine seals, clips and pins and painted them up and installed them.

I fitted Girodisc two piece slotted front rotors: Link and single piece slotted rear rotors.

I used Girodisc "Magic Pads": Front and Rear. With Titanium shims: Front and Rear, to keep the heat from the pads cooking my seals and paint.

They were good for a while but gradually started to squeal so I put some CRC Anti squeal goo on: Link and it didn't really make much of a difference so I removed the magic pads and installed some Ferodo DS2500's (they came with the Brembos) also with the CRC and it was just as bad.

They only squeal on light brake applications from 60km/h down and only once they have a little bit of heat in them.
Well as the CRC stuff didn't work I pulled the pads back out and bought some Bendix brake grease and tried that as I was told it was great stuff. That didn't work either so I bought some Project Mju anti squeal brake shims and installed them again with the blue Bendix grease on the back of the pads and the edges. No luck, still squealed.

I bought some copper washers and some fibrous washers and installed them on the caliper attaching bolts and it seemed to slightly reduce the noise but not by much. So I put up with it for a while but got sick of the noise and bought some Elig 2021s as I was told by a bunch of guys on here they were great and quite. I got the rotors machined and installed the Elig pads with the Titanium shims with grease between the shims and pads and on the edges of the pad, I took the car for a drive today accelerated up to 80km/h moderately brake to 60km/h then accelerate back up, did that 4 times and then just drove for a while to let the pads cool down then did the same process again. After that so far so good so I was heading to the shops when I came to a corner, started to slow down and the squeal appeared again, pretty much as bad as it was before.

Tomorrow I'm going to pull the shims out and see if that makes it any better, if that doesn't fix it I have Josh's brand new Girodisc single piece slotted and drilled rotors that I'll try but after that I'm pretty much stumped.

The only time they were absolutely quiet was when the caliper mounting bolts loosened themselves off and the caliper was loose on the hub, dangerous for sure but damn, at least they were quiet for a little while.

Does anyone have any idea what the hell I can try next?

 

[battery]

Have you put a chamfer edge on the pads?

 

[AKKO]

As above, also did you manually alter the rotor surface at all with a friction medium prior to fitment?

 

[naughtika]

im quite stumped that the elig 2021 squealed on yours.. as this fixed my pig squeal..

also, I was told that this happened more often with the RDA rotors and not much on the DBA rotors..

I think Gorgath here never experienced squeal like what we experience.. he also got the rotors from US..

ill go nag him and ask to add his opinion/experience on here

 

[Size1]

Don't know much about this setup but sounds to me that the problem lies on the caliper that came loose. I would be checking that side out carefully. Maybe get someone to depress the brakes and try feeler guages to see if there is any parallelism issues between the rotor and calipers.

 

[AKKO]

My Brembo's with DBA's and Project Mu pads squeal pretty much the same as what Macca has described here and were fitted by a local & reputable Evo workshop. I've almost accepted it as something i'll have to live with atleast until I wear this set of pads out and I can try something different. Until then it has altered my braking style and it happens less.

 

[Black_Ice]

Hey macca have u read the posts on Evo oz? A lot of talk about this and a lot of suggestions...

 

[TME_Steve]

Its a common problem, my theory is that they're too good, sort of. On a sliding caliper there is different force distribution on the piston pad than the sliding caliper pad, this means the pads react slightly differently to the rotor and there us less chance of chatter.... With 4 spots, the distribution of force is the same both sides and it makes them prone to chatter. I bet if you put the elig pads on one side of each rotor and the 2500s on the other your problem would go away.

My problems went away with an on car disc machine but only while going forwards, in reverse mine squeal every time which tells me its how they're machined as well, don't ask me which way they did mine though.

Now assuming that's all a bit difficult or you don't want to run 2 types of pads, what happens if you use a more worn pad on the outside and a less worn pad on the inside (inside wears faster due to less heat dissipation so best to put the thick one there), given you have a few sets if pads you could try rubbing back one pair of one set to try.

I tried copper eaze, shamfering the ends, scuffing the pads, new brembo backing plates, nothing worked. 2 different pads worked well, and then the on car machine meant I could run same pads all round.

 

[Macca]

Have you put a chamfer edge on the pads?

The Eligs come with a chamfer but yes I put one in the other pads too.

As above, also did you manually alter the rotor surface at all with a friction medium prior to fitment?

Nope, just as it came from the factory the first time then how it was when it came from the machine place recently.

im quite stumped that the elig 2021 squealed on yours.. as this fixed my pig squeal..

also, I was told that this happened more often with the RDA rotors and not much on the DBA rotors..

I think Gorgath here never experienced squeal like what we experience.. he also got the rotors from US..

ill go nag him and ask to add his opinion/experience on here

Cheers mate.

Don't know much about this setup but sounds to me that the problem lies on the caliper that came loose. I would be checking that side out carefully. Maybe get someone to depress the brakes and try feeler guages to see if there is any parallelism issues between the rotor and calipers.

Both front calipers came loose, I think maybe the bolts weren't done up tight enough, I've loctited them and they haven't loosed up since.

Hey macca have u read the posts on Evo oz? A lot of talk about this and a lot of suggestions...

No I haven't, I had an Evooz login once but I forgot my login and just cut it away.

Its a common problem, my theory is that they're too good, sort of. On a sliding caliper there is different force distribution on the piston pad than the sliding caliper pad, this means the pads react slightly differently to the rotor and there us less chance of chatter.... With 4 spots, the distribution of force is the same both sides and it makes them prone to chatter. I bet if you put the elig pads on one side of each rotor and the 2500s on the other your problem would go away.

My problems went away with an on car disc machine but only while going forwards, in reverse mine squeal every time which tells me its how they're machined as well, don't ask me which way they did mine though.

Now assuming that's all a bit difficult or you don't want to run 2 types of pads, what happens if you use a more worn pad on the outside and a less worn pad on the inside (inside wears faster due to less heat dissipation so best to put the thick one there), given you have a few sets if pads you could try rubbing back one pair of one set to try.

I tried copper eaze, shamfering the ends, scuffing the pads, new brembo backing plates, nothing worked. 2 different pads worked well, and then the on car machine meant I could run same pads all round.

Well, I've taken out the shims and swapped the rotors around, LH to RH and vise versa. Turns out they were on the wrong sides, thanks to Girodisc labelling them the wrong way when I first got them. They seem a bit more quiet but I haven't really had a good chance to drive it so I'll report back tomorrow.

 

[eyecandy]

I believe the rotors are a massive contributor to the squeal, I tried everything on my Galant which had RDA slotteds and the only thing that seemed to work for a while was getting them really hot, they would be fine for a few days and then gradually come back. But my evo has never squealed on me at all with stock style rotors.

 

[Black_Ice]

My Evo has rda rotors and remsa pads and no squeal...

 

[Oggie]

simple yet effective.

remove brake pads. sand them really well , clean off all and any shavings. place pads back into the brembo's and let me know how it went.

 

[TME_Steve]

Tried that, works for a few days....

 

[STAGTR]

Fellas,

I had the same problems with my rotors. Running Brembos, Elig's and RDA slotted.

What worked for me ended up being going back to basics. I fitted the stock Evo Brembo anti squeal shims. Laminated steel and rubber. These fixed the squeal on the fronts instantly where nothing else worked.

The rears still squeal when backing down the driveway, but the fronts... blissful silence. Wife is now happy(er) to drive the car

Resonant frequencies established in the pad to caliper interface is what is causing the squealing. Appropriate shims will change the resonant response... and in my case, the stockies were right on song. Bought them from Meek when getting AYC bleed.

 

[STAGTR]

^^^ ah yeah, should've mentioned that rears still squeal cause I only changed the fronts. However, this confirms the above, the shims that were changed stopped squealing, and the shims that weren't changed still get squealing.

For your consideration.

 

[Jonson]

From my experience the greases, pastes and most shims don't work. One that I've had good success with is the Wurth brand anti squeal. It is an aero that turns very tacky within a few minutes. Make sure everything is clean, apply (don't be shy) wait for it to tack up and install. The pad essentially sticks to the pistons. I even screwed around and sprayed ds3000's with nothing else but this spray and no squeal....none.

 

[Macca]

Sweet as, thanks for the hints guys, so far changing to rotors around has really quietened down but it does still squeal so I'll give some of things you guys have suggested a try when I get the time

 

[Tophler]

Awesome response guys, I've just installed the brembos on my legnum, squeal like a stuck pig, absolutely deafening. i had a girl walk past with fingers in her ears cause it was so loud. Getting brembo shims this coming week and hopefully (going off the above comments) they shut the hell up. Went with RDA slotted and dimpled, ebc yellowstuff and hel brake lines. should be an awesome combination.

 

[Tophler]

The other issue i had after installing the brembos, i must have forgotten to tighten the banjo bolts.... lost all my fluid and with that my braking.... very scary

 

[uzz320]

Mine are still noise free and all I did was use bendix ceramic brake grease between the pad and shim (OEM Brembo shims only) and then on the entire back of the shim and remaining exposed pad backing plate. I also put grease on the sides and top of the pad backing plate where it contacts the caliper and pins, and greased the pins themselves and every contact area of the springs. I have RDA slotted rotors (old style with no dimples - at minimum thickness with a noticable lip on the outer edge) with new Ferodo Excel front pads and almost worn out OEM Subaru Liberty GT Spec B STI rear pads. I am about to change the rear pads to the same as the front pads, just waiting on them to arrive in the mail - I got them on special for $36 for each end of the car (1 for front 1 for rear) and they are surprisingly good, better than the Subaru OEM pads - which I assume are Brembo branded - much less dust also. I think that some pad/rotor combinations are more prone to noise, but certainly the OEM shims and a bit of grease seems to do the trick in a lot of cases and is a cheap thing to try.