jamiejim

After reading all this, I'm not conviced it is my pads causing the squeals. The pads I have were installed by the previous owner, so I have no idea what brand they are. They work fantastic for street use, produce very little dust, and squeak at low speeds such as braking in a parking lot. I have been leery about using any "anti squeal" compound or spray, but may give that a try before I replace the pads.

nize

i'll bet that if you install shims between the back of the pads and the calipers, you will eliminate the squeal.

if you can't get ahold of shims, you can also try applying aluminum tape (the kind that they use to patch up fiberglass boats) to the back of the pads and they should work as well.

89magic98

The other problem with these cars is that the pads last way too long. Allow me to explain.

With the single-piston floating caliper design, making sure the caliper pieces are moving with respect to each other is critical. If you wait for the pads to go on these cars, you probably have other problems (corrosion, etc.) that replacing the pads does not solve. The shims will last for the entire interval between pad changes. I guess I will find out if just using the brake caliper grease will.

Adam Richman

I am not sure I buy that there is anything bad about pads lasting too long but if so, its something easily cured by a.) running a thinner pad (if you want to - some pad manufacturers do have different thicknesses for certain fitments) or b.) running a pad that wears more quickly. Looking at these calipers, I am not sure what corrosion you are suggesting will happen but then again, I have swapped pads and rotors (have a rotor set for each type of pad) on this car sometimes as regularly as 2 dozen times in a year so it might not apply. I wonder if you are talking about taper (which on my car shows more on race pads than on street pads) - on something like that, I think you are better off rebuilding the caliper (or getting a reman'd one) vs. simply replacing pads (perhaps this is what you are referring to??).

nize

and if they last too long, why not just replace them when they're only half worn?

lleroyb

Parts stores carry a spray on goo for the back of your pads to prevent squeeling. It is in a blue can made by Permatex (sp). I worked great on my wife's Volvo but I have not tried it on the 944s, no need to so far.

Lou

jamiejim

Do I use the shims/grease on both the front and read pads/calipers? Anything different about the front vs back I need to know about?

89magic98

I'm just saying that unlike oil changes or antifreeze changes, where people think to do them on a regular interval (such as time or mileage), brakes are often neglected until the pads wear out. But regular inspection of the calipers, pads may catch other problems.

I don't know if the caliper grease I put on the back of the pads will last the life of the pads, I have to make a note to check them next year and relubricate other corrosion-prone components as necessary.

Chris_924s

I LOVE saying this.. Padgid S- The S stands for squeal.

Long lasting and decent performance in all weather- but they DO squeal...

nize

jim;
you should use shims on both front and rear, but if only the fronts are squealing (usually only the fronts squeal) then you can probably get away without putting them on the rear.

and from my experience, the grease doesn't seem to work as well on squeals, though it seems to work great for everyone else. maybe i just didn't apply enough grease, but i'm also leery of putting grease or any other slippery substance near the brakes for obvious reasons.

chris;
'long-lasting' is usually synonymous with 'high rotor wear'. considering brakes are hella cheaper than rotors, i'd prefer pads that are gentler on the rotors even if they don't last as long. given the choice, i'd rather save my rotors more than my brakes.

Adam Richman

Good pads are more expensive than rotors. If you run a slotted or drilled rotor then yes, spare the rotors for the pads but otherwise, you're going to want to swap rotors more often (not bloody likely anyway) as OE replacements for this car can be had for 52 bucks (at least the last set I bought) and I was told I spent too much.

In both the race car and the street car, I would much prefer to throw away rotors more often for cost reasons - I just haven't found a pad that can outlast a rotor in either case yet (and I have used some meanies ).

nize

okay let us in on this secret. where did you find $52 rotors? i'll need some soon as well.

Adam Richman

Haha, I think we paid something like $23 or $27 bucks for a set for the CRX

That was either the price from Carbotech (Aug-2003) or Essex (2001), I don't remember now. I am not sure if the changes in steel prices have an effect on iron prices but if so, I'd expect they'd be a bit higher (maybe $70??). You can always get a Bendix, Raybestos, NAPA rotor as well. IIRC, the store boughts were always cheaper than the Brembo by a fair margin. You might want to shop it around - I think the guys that were saying I paid too much were getting rotors off of Ebay at the time. You might want to check that out. Also, you might want to give Andie Lin a call at Cobalt Friction (http://www.cobaltfriction.com) and see what he can do on rotors - I know he had rotors at a good price a 2 years ago this time because we were talking about them.


here's a set for an early 944 8v - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...sPageName=WDVW

But call Matt (Carbotech), Andie (Cobalt) and see if someone here has a relationship with Essex - if those don't work out, you should still have 8 or so hours on that