Brake Pads for 156

[Cloud2609]

Hi all,

My Brake Pads squeal like hell and from my understanding, it has something to do with the material of the pads being more metallic.. Does anybody know what kind of brake pads I should get so that it doesn't squeal that much? I have a 03 156 JTS

[wankski]

it depends mate... unless you put in race/fast road specific pads, i doubt the squealing is due to compound.

Far more likely:

1) installer failed to use copaslip or similar on backing of pads - in some operating regimes the pad vibrates at a high frequency in the caliper causing the high pitched squeal.

2) your pads through use may have caused the rotors and pads to glaze over... hard short stopping may help...


best bet is to inspect.... how is your pad doing? how is the rotor? (min thickness 20.2mm)... if pads are worn or heavily glazed, I would just replace them. Go for oem or EBC brand oem pads, both of which are quite reasonably priced, and you may wish to get them from UK or other sources... from memory, you're looking at about 30-40 quid for the front pair...

The new pads, and especially the EBC have an initial scrub layer to get rid of any glazing of the rotor.

If you are mechanically apt, the fronts are easily DIYable, the rears are too if you have an appropriate thread-in tool.

Obviously use enough copaslip on the pads backing to prevent associated noise, while being careful not to contaminate the working surface of the pads.

Cheers

joe

[Cloud2609]

Thanks for the reply Joe,

I've had the brakes checked (By a mechanic and an Alfa specialist) and they've confirmed that it is the material of the pads that is causing the squealing.. It only squeals after 5 to 10 minutes of the drive which means when the brakes are warm and only starts at the last few feet before stopping.

The pads are TRW pads and my mechanic said they're used for road racing because they can withstand higher temperatures.. Initially I didn't want to change them because they're still almost brand new when I got the car because the owner changed them before.. Didn't make any sense value wise  But the squealing got to me  so I'm thinking of changing them now.

Thanks for the reply again Joe. Much appreciated

[shiny_car]

As above, squeal can partly be due to a lack of appropriate lubrication, and/or dirty. When fitting new pads, it's worth thoroughly cleaning the caliper. Then, as suggested, use copper grease on the back and the top/bottom edges where they slide within the caliper (and any other edges where they mate with the caliper).

For good pads that are better than OEM, I suggest Ferodo DS Performance. If you want a good 'fast street/track' pad then try Ferodo DS2500 (follow bedding-in procedure). On my GT, I have DS2500 on the front and DS Performance on the rear (which is a good combo for a FWD car). My 155 has Tarox Strada pads, which are also an improvement on OEM, and of similar spec to DS Performance; happy with these too. None squeal.

EBC Greenstuff is rather...err, meh. Not a good value pad (except very low dust); had these on my old 156. EBC Redstuff is meant to be decent, but more a track pad.

[colcol]

Re  Noisy brake pads, Your pads may have glazed over, and have not got enough friction to bite in and the pads are vibrating, try taking the pads out and deglazing them on a rough piece of concrete or bituman, i have seen this done many times at racetracks and it seems to work, just rotate them over in a figure 8 motion and keep checking them until you have removed the shiny face of the pad and it is now dull, cleanup the caliper and put a sliver of copperslip grease where the pads slide on the caliper, and you can also get proper silicon grease for this purpose at Repco, the pads in my 156 JTS were genuine and they were quite, and the replacements from the Spare Place in Adelaide which were Magnetti Marreli are also quite, but what worked for me, but may not work on yours, Colin.