what would you do??

[chisau]

Here is my story. My car's breaks start squeaking when i apply medium pressure. So i send it to the shops to find out why my brakes squeaks.


I found out that the brakes the comes with my car uses very hard material for the break pad. and it's natural for this type of breaks to squeak. It's just what the manufacture use because they last longer. So the breaks pads are fine and have plenty of use in them.

However, if i want to get rid of the squeak, i need to change to a different type of softer pads. and that will cost me $370 to change and the new pads will not last long as the old pads.

So my choice is to either pay $370 to downgrade to a softer break pads or keep my current pads and suffer the squeaking. i'm between a rock and a hard place.

which would you choose?

[Protoman]

Hi Chisau, just a few questions beforehand. The cars full mark origin (Like Toyota Corolla LE), year and if you drive on brake discs or calipers. 95% of the time, squeaking brakes are caused by what brake pads have called "Screamers". Screamers are a piece of metal incase within the brake pad, that when it's worn out, the disc makes contact with the pad and thus makes a squeaking sound to let the driver know it's time to change your pads. That's the most common reason. The whole thing about hard and soft pads are really not a big issue unless you do any kind of high rpm to brake driving (like a race car if you will)

Also, where did you bring you car? To Joe Smoe down the block? to Canadian Tire? or to your dealership. Normally, if you have a problem with your car that is internal and you don't have a clue how to go about fixing it; a dealership is your safest bet. Dealerships ain't their to rip you off and neither is the mechanic working on your car, that's something "Joe Smoe" would do to you. Now Canadian Tire, while a good place to get a cheap tire swap, or oil change, is not the best if you have a specific problem with your car. You got a Toyota? Got a Toyota problem? Bring it to Toyota. (Same applies to anything). That's my 2 cents. (By the by, I am a part time mechanic at Nissan =P)

[BadJeff]

Hey Chisau, assuming your pads have minimum 40% of their original thickness remaining I wouldn't worry about the wear bars making any noise. (Usually most dealers would be quite clear on this cause' brakework is considered "gravy" in the auto biz.)My personal experience with brakes tells me if there's plenty of meat on the pad but they still squeel, remove the pads and give the surface of the friction material a good sanding to even up the surface and remove some of the glazing. Inspect the disc's closely for pitting or groving along the contact surface. Assuming they're not totally pooched, reaasemble with proper lube on the sliding points and they should be A1. Skip the "anti-squeel" compounds-they never work for long. Oh yeah, don't be nice to your brakes either, if you have a tendancy to be too soft on them all the time they'll definately glaze up and be noisy a lot quicker. Good hard braking (when safe) every now and then is good for them.
And Protoman is right, dealerships are your friend. Nobody knows your vehicle better.

[chisau]

Originally Posted by Protoman

Hi Chisau, just a few questions beforehand. The cars full mark origin (Like Toyota Corolla LE), year and if you drive on brake discs or calipers. 95% of the time, squeaking brakes are caused by what brake pads have called "Screamers". Screamers are a piece of metal incase within the brake pad, that when it's worn out, the disc makes contact with the pad and thus makes a squeaking sound to let the driver know it's time to change your pads. That's the most common reason. The whole thing about hard and soft pads are really not a big issue unless you do any kind of high rpm to brake driving (like a race car if you will)

Also, where did you bring you car? To Joe Smoe down the block? to Canadian Tire? or to your dealership. Normally, if you have a problem with your car that is internal and you don't have a clue how to go about fixing it; a dealership is your safest bet. Dealerships ain't their to rip you off and neither is the mechanic working on your car, that's something "Joe Smoe" would do to you. Now Canadian Tire, while a good place to get a cheap tire swap, or oil change, is not the best if you have a specific problem with your car. You got a Toyota? Got a Toyota problem? Bring it to Toyota. (Same applies to anything). That's my 2 cents. (By the by, I am a part time mechanic at Nissan =P)

It's not the screamer, i checked it out. everyone that check it out says that.

I took it to canadian tire, the dealership where i bought the car, and the mazda dealership (i have an RX8).

They all told me the same thing. It's just hard breaks.

So suffer the squeak or pay up to fix breaks that's NOT broken?

[Robimus]

You could get a lot of Transformers for $370. Guess thats my vote.

[Dave-astator]

You could do the work on your brakes your self and it would cost about $30 for the brake pads....and that's it.
It only takes about an hour to change brake pads....I would assume they are disc brakes. Even if they were drum brakes, maybe an hour and 15 minutes.

I've never taken my car to anybody to change brakes...but then again I'm cheap....but had ALOT of Transformers. hahaha

[Protoman]

If you have a jack, an impact gun, a key set (maybe ratchet) then your good to do it on your own.

[Phy]

Why would you need an impact gun?

Chisau, I'd look at it this way: If you get a $370 set of softer brake pads, you're going to have to get another pair that much sooner, which means more work and more money spent. If getting rid of the squeak is worth the cost, then go for it.

[CrackerBoy]

it could just be a hard spot in the pad and will wear in time and the noise will go away.