Steve 96C4S

So I had front brake discs, brake pad sensors and brake pad shims replaced a month ago. Have finally driven the car this past week after it sat in the garage for a few weeks due to salt on the roads, and they squeal so loud the car is totally undriveable. Unfortunately, my other car is out of commission now due to a cracked wheel I'm waiting to have repaired from a massive pothole, so I have to drive the 993 all week this week and part of next.

I brought the 993 back to the shop that did the brakes and they spent quite a bit of time working on the brakes (hours) and I got it back that same day and it didn't squeal that much for the first day - just a bit. Now it's 2 days later and they're so bad, people stop and stare wherever I am coming to a stop an staring at me in disgust. The feeling is mutual. I am disgusted by this super loud squealing noise too. It's ear splittingly loud.

I believe my indie said that Porsche switched to a new brake compound recently and it's a problem on a lot of the cars with the Turbo brakes. He said to drive it fast and left brake while I'm accelerating to try to grind them down a bit (not sure of the actual terminology).

I tried this for a few days now and nothing has changed. He said to bring it back next week and he'll work on them some more and keep it overnight and drive it home and try to do that same left foot braking on his way home for a good stretch of road.

I'm going crazy hearing this squealing. Have any/all of you dealt with the same thing lately with turbo brakes that are new? I have owned the car for 11 years and have never had this problem when getting new brakes before. He said it's because they changed the compound.

He ordered me and some others a less dusty brake pad (I think it's a ceramic pad) but it's on back order for a few months now. He'll swap it out for what I have now when they come in.

I'll have to rent a car for a day while I leave it there since they don't offer loaners. Of course I'm bummed about this but it is what it is. He's the best indie in my area so I have faith in him and his shop. But... any suggestions how to get rid of brake squeal minus everything I and he have done so far?

Thanks,

Steve

NYC993

Should just do your own brakes...I haven't done them on 993 yet, but understand it's a piece of cake.

Mine squeal here and there under light braking. I read it's normal. Have you done some hard braking? Perhaps it's due to cold weather?

Falcondrivr

If the discs and pads are not Porsche branded, and didn't come in a Porsche box, you will get squeal. Did he use any "oem supplier" parts? If so, then there's your problem.

goofballdeluxe

Yes you need to bed the brakes by getting up to a higher rate of speed and then hitting the brakes, so as to heat transfer some of the pad material onto the rotor. It's important when you hit the brakes not to come to a complete stop, just go from, say, 60mph down to, say, 20mph and do this several times. A good idea to do this in a less populated area so as to not cause a a wreck

Thing is, I just had my brakes on my C4S done recently and had the same problem, even after I bed the brakes in properly.

Finally, like you, I couldn't handle the squeal. Left the car with my mechanic who drove it and said it was ridiculous. He wound up thinking they sent him racing brake pads by accident, which often squeal, so he ordered another new OEM set and I haven't had a squeal since. Maybe you're having the same experience and they put racing pads on by mistake.

Good luck with getting it solved. It's a noisy pain

Steve 96C4S

Falcondrivr: Yes, all OEM parts.

NYC993: And no, I can't do my own brakes. I don't do anything to my car except drive it and clean it. Not interested in doing anything else. But thanks...

P-daddy

Steve- did he replace the anti-squeal "spiders" attached to the back of the pads? Not sure I'm comfortable with idea of him driving and keep my car overnight to dx brake squealing. BTW, does the Benz have a spare you can use instead of renting?

Steve 96C4S

I'll have to ask him about these spiders. And I'm not wild about the car being overnight either.

The Benz does have the spare on it but it's a very little one, can't be driven over 50 mbps and the tire place (Radial) told me to park the car and not drive it till they get the tire redone.

Goofball deluxe: Yes, I've tons of really hard braking and it's done nothing to fix this. TONS of it.

Kika

OEM brakes should not squeal at all. I just replaced my pads and rotors and my brakes are dead quiet.

With my old pads and rotors I would get a little squeal, a good cleaning usually helped. I used a foaming cleaner and rinsed thoroughly.

Steve 96C4S

Interesting to know... and glad to hear that yours don't squeal. I believe he said the Turbo OEM brake pads on the C4S were a new composition and they have been squealing badly on other cars he's had through there. Maybe your C2 has different pads and they aren't the ones affected?

Carrera51

Steve:
OEM pads could be Pagid, Textar and one or two others. Shouldn't be squealing like that. Go out and drive it today. It's sunny today in G-burg today.

I've got 993TT brakes on my 964 and the street pads don't squeal badly.

Falcondrivr

There's a difference between "OEM" and Porsche factory original branded parts. Most indies use world pac or some other parts service. The pads and rotors they get from these suppliers are "OEM" and will squeal. Once again, check with him to see if the parts came in boxes with the red Porsche logo, in the Porsche font, printed repeatedly all over the box. If so, then I will really surprised.

Steve 96C4S

This is good information. Thanks. I'll ask him first thing on Monday when they open about what the box said on it. I have driven all morning, super fast on the beltway and then braked hard. Hasn't done a thing. Still squealing like a pig. Indie said that they brakes are so powerful that the only thing that will help fix this is the left braking while driving to grind them down. It's not working either.

pp000830

I come out of the brake business -Bendix, and have learned from the engineers that all disc brakes make a lot of noise, its just that they are designed to make noise outside of the audio spectrum as a function of the brake components design and assembly. Knowing this here is my experience. On my 1986 911 using the softest organic pad I could find seem to always make for quiet brakes. Semi-met or hard racing pads tended to be noisy. The first time I had the pads changed with aftermarket pads on my 993 the brakes squealed so loudly I had them changed again using the Porsche OE pads, things quieted down a bit. Recently I replaced these pads with the OE suppliers standard aftermarket pad and I experienced some squealing that over the life of the pad got worse. Recently my rotors measured at the wear minimum thickness spec. Once I replaced the rotors with ATL standard drilled direct replacements, the noise has dramatically subsided. In all cases I used the OE spider clips. My take away from this is that if you pads are harder than the factory pads or you rotors are through a good bit of their life the brakes fall outside of what the engineers originally designed and tested for tendency to squeal. Just some thoughts. Fresh soft pads, rotors near new spec. thickness, use the spiders and you should be good-to-go.

Tom T.

FWIW I use Textar pads along with the anti-squeal dampers. They only squeak when cold. Once warmed up they are usually quiet.

Steve 96C4S

Wow, I appreciate this info and will pass on to my mechanic for sure!!!