I got some dampers for my S4 front brakes which were driving me crazy. Dampers were the wrong size. As long as I had the pads out, I thought I would try beveling the edges with a file. WOW - No more squeal! Don't remember where I saw this tip - Jim Bailey I think.

 

Sounds like a useful tip - but which edges?

 

UKKid:
It's the outer edge of the rotors. You'll see a small area about 2mm in width which will be raised, and typically rusted as well. Just shave it down a bit with a file.

Myself all I had to do was remove the rust, didn't even have to take the wheel off. I put the flat tip of the file between my wheel spokes and just pulled it along that outer edge a few times. Rolled the car back a foot and did the part that was under the calipers. Took about 10 min to do both front rotors that way. I didn't bother doing the rears.

Hope that helps.

 

I'm talking about beveling the leading edges of the pads. I guess a temporary fix. I will install the damping disks when I get the right sizes. I haven't removed the ring around the rotors yet.

 

Interesting that some pads come made like that, even for low tech applications. I remember seeing them made like that for my chevy truck. I cant remember if it was the leading or trailing edge though.........

I did my brakes last winter, and had a great year with them. no noise, and they felt and worked exceptionally well.

 

Leading edge? Since the rotor rotates in the direction of travel, the brake pad sees the rotor approaching from the rear of the car.

On each of my front calipers, there are four pistons, two 36mm and two 44mm. The larger pistons are at the front of the car, or trailing edge.

 

I understand the direction of rotation. My point was that I don't recall which edge of the shoe came configured with the bevel. I do however recollect seeing the trailing edge of the shoe (on the front brakes of my A6), "chipped" off from normal braking activity. For clarity I mean "trailing edge" as borland has described it.

 

By trailing edge I mean both edges since the car can go forward or reverse and the brakes squeal in both directions.