Brake Issues with squealing?!

[05ram4x4]

I recently replaced my front brake, because they were making a HORRIBLE grinding sound. I replaced the pads and rotors. They started squealing right away, but I figured, maybe it's just because they are brand new. But no, they have only gotten worse. I'm not sure why! It's getting back to the point they were before I did them. Could it be bad calipers? Or hoses? And how would I narrow it down? I'm usually pretty good figuring out stuff on my own, but I'm stumped.

By the way, the pads I removed looked like they had a lot of meat left, but I'm not sure how much they are SUPPOSED to have left when they are gone. They had about a 1/4" of pad left on them. New pads were twice that.

I have a feeling one half of one of my calipers is sticking. How could I figure that out?

Thanks!

 

[ohiogrown]

Did you properly clean the rotors, clean and lube the caliper slides, and fit the pads so that they move freely in the brackets? All of the above can cause brake drag and thus squealing. Also, not properly bedding them in after replacement will cause them to glaze and squeal.

 

[ohiogrown]

And to address your last question, at my shop if we suspect a brake drag we drive it under some moderate to heavy braking then pull it right in and shoot the rotors with an infrared thermometer and look for temperature differentials. Typically less than 20 degrees difference is acceptable. Beyond that something is wrong. You either have a drag OR correspondingly if one is way colder it could be doing nothing which forces the other side to carry the entire load. Typical temps range from 150-200 degrees

 

[05ram4x4]

Everything was cleaned and greased. the pads seemed to slide easily once they were in. And, what do you mean by bedding them in?

What do you suggest I do?

 

[05ram4x4]

Well...?

 

[05ram4x4]

I also want to add that there is a lot of brake dust coming form the front brakes now. Never was any before.

 

[05ram4x4]

Any help?

 

[MagSport]

Take it to a brake shop and have them look at it. Sounds like a stuck caliper.

 

[05ram4x4]

Alright, I guess I will have to do that.

 

[hemihustlin]

Cheap pads will dust alot and squeal occasionally (lookin at you napa trustop ) but if the noise is terrible and constant its probably not that.
Bedding mean breaking them in properly.

 

[05ram4x4]

Well, how do you bed in a pad properly?? They don't squeal at all if the truck has been sitting. As if the rotors warm up then they start to squeal.

 

[hemihustlin]

Almost every manufacturer and OEM have their own special brake in procedure but i took the liberty of copypastaing a good general one for you, courtesy of EBC

How to bed in your new brakes for street/urban driving

How to bed in your new brakes for street/urban driving

BEDDING IN NEW EBC PADS AND DISCS

Use brakes with minimal pressure for first 100 miles from urban speeds of 30-50 mph only. Brakes will feel very sharp and responsive but this is ONLY the brake in coating working which gives an abnormally high friction level feeling.
Drive a further 250 miles using slightly increased brake pressure and load UNLESS in an emergency in which case apply brake as hard as required.
Clean wheels off as there will be residue from the brake-in coating after bed in.
Look for a full width contact across the pad depth( rotor braking band) from the outer edge of the disc to the inner and if not achieved allow a further 100-200 miles steady driving. You will see a blue-ish band evidencing contact across the rotor face. Until this band goes from the outer to the inner edges of the brake disc/rotor the pads have NOT yet fully seated. When installing new rotors, reduced width banding is quite possible due to various tolerances and slight misalignments in the vehicle chassis and is NOT a warranty defect or a reason to remove and inspect brakes. Many European cars have SINGLE PISTON CALIPERS and these tend to “Flair” open and cause the contact band described above only to be seen at the outer edge of the disc/rotor and work its way inwards taking up to 1000 miles to do so.
After full width contact band is attained make a further 10 stops from 60 mph to 10 mph in succession with a deliberate attempt to get the brakes hot. Some smells may occur even slight smoke during this final heat up stage of the pads in early life. Then coast the vehicle for a mile to allow discs to cool. Do not pull up and park vehicle with brake excessively hot. You must try to get the discs down to below 60-80 degrees C temperature before parking the vehicle.
When parked let brakes cool to a final cool-to-touch point. Before touching discs splash a few tiny drops of water onto the disc to asses its temperature to avoid burning fingers. If the water spots cause a “hiss” you have parked up too soon and should go out and drive slowly allowing the brakes to cool further.
NEW DISCS TAKE LONGER TO BED IN

Fully bedding new pads to decent condition worn discs/rotors may take only 200-300 miles but when new discs are fitted at the same time bed in times to achieve outer to inner edge contact ( full width blue-grey contact band as mentioned under point 4 above ) can be as long as 800-1000 miles due to extra components needed to be aligned to the vehicle. To Short cut this you can ( and EBC recommend should) have EVEN NEW DISCS Pro Cut Lathe aligned to your vehicle. This process removes only microns of new disc material and shortens bed in time by 75% of the time it COULD take giving you better brakes faster and avoiding hot spotting and pad glazing.
BADLY WORN DISCS/ROTORS CAN TAKE AN AGE TO BED IN

Discs/Rotors with more than 0.5 mm ( 0.020 inches) of lip at the outer edge or hollow in the centre of the braking area can take up to 2000 miles to bed in and will for sure cause Noise, brake fade,vibration and pad burning. Bad rotors can RUIN your pads. 95% of brake fade and noise complaints come from poor disc/rotor condition where the pads touch only at the outer and inner edges and have no chance to deliver an effective brake.

Again new Discs/rotors is the solution or a Pro Cut on car Brake lathe re alignment.

If its squealing ALL the time when hot and everything else checks out okay (no defective calipers, correct assembly and lube, et cetra) i would say change the pads. Maybe you got the wrong ones (bargin pads in the expensive pads box) or they could be defective altogether.

What kind are they by the way?

 

[05ram4x4]

They are Wearever pads from advance auto parts.

And after reading that, I think I might just need new pads. Ill try to find a better set this time. I have contact across both rotors, as those instructions mention.

 

[hemihustlin]

Never heard of them but doesnt mean anything, dont have any advance autos here.

If you end up changing the pads you should lighty scuff up the discs before the new pads. They sell an attachment for drills that looks alien if you dont know what its for lol, i think its called flex a hone. Thats what we use after turning discs to get that swirly, non-directional finish. You can go at it with scotch brite i guess, nothing much rougher than that

Good luck.

 

[05ram4x4]

Well I THOUGHT I found the issue. Looked at my rear disk brakes and found the driver side inner pad was just about gone. I think the guide pins weren't greased enough.

Anyway, I fixed all that with new pads both sides and a new rotor. Brakes are a thousand times better, as far as braking performance.

But, they still squeal. I put the grease on the back of the pads too when I did the rear. I don't know if I put enough though. Should I do the same to the front and put a little more?

 

[05ram4x4]

So....my brakes are really starting to get to me. If I have been driving for a while, or braking hard a lot, they still squeal. Too much. I've replaced every rotor, and pad. I greased everything, and put some on the back of every pad. I'm at a loss. It really sounds like metal on metal, but there is NOTHING obvious making the sound.

 

[hemihustlin]

Did you change brand of pads? When you installed new discs did you throughly clean the grease film that is applied so they don't rust in transport? Is the drivers rear caliper stuck?
I know we've been over all this but there is only so much that can cause squeal.

 

[05ram4x4]

You mean replace the pads since I last posted? no. I'm afraid of buying another set that will do the same thing. Any suggestions for pads? I cleaned everything when I installed them originally, and again when I went through it all. I'm not sure about the caliper. Why do you question the rear driver side?

 

[hemihustlin]

Because you said you found the rear drivers inside pad almost gone. If the caliper is sticking applying constant force the pad will heat up and squeal.
Normally it's recommended to replace calipers in pairs but you could try just that one. See what happens.

 

[05ram4x4]

Oh good point. I'll have to take a look at it. What is the best way to see if it is?