[Chris141058]

So I had to replace the pads on my V6 GTV. I ordered some Delphi pads which I then fitted. On my second or third journey I noticed a nasty rubbing sound which was caused by the shim on one of the pads sliding forward and rubbing on the disc.
I contacted Autosessive who kindly send me replacement pads. These were slightly different in that the shim went around the two holes for the pins so could not slip forward. Problem solved - or so I thought.
Since fitting the replacement pads I have had horrible, loud squealing brakes - but only when applying the brakes at slow speed, most often when coming to a stop. I am fairly sure the squealing is coming from the front brakes as I can gently apply the hand brake when moving slowly without any squealing.
I always put a layer of copper grease on the back of the pads so when the squealing stated I carried out some investigations resulting in the purchase of Mintex Ceratec which supposed to be better than copper grease and is specifically designed for this purpose. However, I still have squealing brakes!
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Chris

 

[PJ3074]

Hi Chris

Take a look at this http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-gta/911337-330-brakes-anti-squeal-pad-shims.html

Paul

 

[Defonsecca]

I had exactly the same problem - squealing at normal braking but none when braking hard. Darned annoying ....and embarrassing. But asked Dan at Autolusso Penrith to sort it out last month during it's big service there. He basically stripped & cleaned the calipers & brakes ...and so far not a squeal to be heard... RESULT...!! So def talk to Dan to see exactly what he did.

However he did say if it does return in a few weeks I just need to jet-wash the brakes, discs etc with a power washer to get rid of the brake dust & it should be OK.

Had same issue on my last GTV V6 after buying aftermarket pads. Personally I reckon it's down to what pads you buy.

 

[johnnystealth]

Ah the epic squealing brakes problem. I have had this ever since I upgraded to 330mm Gta brakes. These squealed from brand new; I have had Tarox grooved discs, oem pads, black diamond pads, oem discs, oem pads, other disc pad combos and they all do it. Like you have said under 'normal' braking, not hard, once warmed up. You can service the brakes, clean, strip, copper ease, remove pad glazing, it goes for a bit but within 100 miles or so of normal use it comes back again. Always. My specialist (a good one) cannot get rid of it. I was convinced I had 'bad' callipers and last week, swapped them for another pair of 330mm brake callipers. Did this fix it? Of course not, after 50 miles it's back, and another 100 miles as bad as ever. At my wits end now... I even called Alfaholics and said I would drive there 250 miles and have them fit their brakes, with any disc/pad combo they chose, if they could guarantee no squealing, but they declined

 

[spankdanny]

You could try rubber or Teflon shims or glue the pads to the pistons . There are products that say they can do this. Not tried them myself.

 

[johnnystealth]

Oh yeah, I also forgot to mention that I tried Mitsubishi Evo anti squeal shims, which fit perfectly after a recommend on here, but they don't work either

 

[spankdanny]

Is the car used often? You can get quite a layer of rust on the discs that gets impregnated into the pad material.

 

[johnnystealth]

It's not that. If I use daily it's no better. In fact it's worse the more frequently the car is used. My specialist is 50 miles away and the squeak always returns after the brakes have been 'done' by the time I get home. If I use the next day it will be up to full squeal very quickly, basically as soon as the brakes have been heated up.

 

[johnnystealth]

Here is an open invite / challenge to any garage who thinks they can fix my squealing brakes: fit any discs / callipers / pads you choose, name your price, all I ask is a guarantee of no squealing

 

[Jay_mh78]

Can I jump on the bandwagon & ask the same? Had new pads & discs fitted on my Cup & exactly the same problem. Really loud & I'm sure people just think I haven't been looking after the brakes. Pain in the proverbial.

 

[spankdanny]

05016 -- Disc Brake Quiet, 4 Fl Oz

Might be worth a go.

 

[johnnystealth]

I've started a poll to see how widespread this problem really is; please vote if you have the 330 mm brakes:
http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/poll-room/977626-gta-330mm-squealing-brakes.html

 

[GrahamL]

The brake squeal problem also is common on the 20v turbo Fiat coupes with the same Brembo calipers.

Usually the cause is a combination of things. Sometimes the pad guides lift due to corrosion beneath them meaning that the pads need filed down slightly to fit and then the pads can vibrate as they don't fit perfectly between the guides. Only solution to that is to rebuild the caliper. But even with brand new calipers mine would still squeal at times.

I tried these shims, which made maybe a 20-30% improvement :

FIAT : Hard Brakes - Titanium Brake Backing Plates, Brake Shims, Brake Heat Shields

also tried this spray for the rear of the pads:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190637670851

again making a 20-30% improvement, but not curing it completely.

Best solution for me was to use the original Fiat/Alfa pads, rather than the various Tarox, Mintex, Pagid I'd been using previously.

The original Fiat/Alfa pads are chamfered in a different way to every other pad, in that they're sloping vertically and horizontally rather than just vertically, specifically to cut down on squeal. I've seen various pads claiming to be OEM for the coupe but unless they come in the official Fiat/Alfa box they haven't had the double chamfer feature.

Even with the original pads it's not 100% squeal free as it sometime still does it when the discs/pads are really hot when braking at low speed, but it's 95% better and certainly tolerable, whereas with the previous Pagid pads I may as well have just wired up the horn to the brake pedal.

 

[johnnystealth]

Nice one Graham that's the best post I've yet seen on brake squeal. I didn't know about the double chamfer; although I have twice had new 'oem' pads with different discs including oem, maybe I should check that they really are oem... (Fitted by specialist so I didn't see the box)

Edit: does the fiat coupe have the 330 brakes or the 305?

 

[GrahamL]

The coupe uses 305mm discs.

Here's a pic of the original fiat/alfa pads:

You can see that the top and bottom edges are chamfered differently and there's an arrow printed on the back of the pad to indicate which way around they should be fitted (arrow for direction of disc rotation IIRC), so there's one pair of pads for the left caliper and one pair of pads for the right caliper. I've never seen that on any 3rd party pad for the coupe and it's done specifically to stop squeal.

If you have new calipers with no corrosion distorting the pad guides and original fiat/alfa pads and maybe even use the shims or the squeal reducing spray I reckon that's as good as it'll get.