I can't get my front brakes to stop squeaking. I replaced the pads with ceramic to cut down on the brake dust. They also squeal. I put brake quiet on the pads., that didn't work. I cleaned all brake parts with brake cleaner and then applied high temp caliper grease to all hardware and back off pads and calipers. I even sanded the pads to make sure there wasn't any glazing. Still squeaks. What can I do?
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Rotors, did you replace?

 

Are the leading and trailing edges of the pads beveled or straight cut?

 

No,I have not replaced the rotors. They seem to be in good shape and I don't get any kind of wobble or shake. The pads are beveled.

 

It sounds like you haven't had the rotors turned either and I'm not suggesting you do so. There is a show on public TV called Motorweek. Many years ago on that show Pat Goss suggested you should always wash the brake rotors or drums with a soap and water solution. It is unbelievable how many metal filings you get when you wash the brake drums with a soap and water solution after having them turned.

You might try washing the surface of your rotors with a soap and water solution. But now any particles of metal may already be on the braking surface of the pads, I'm not sure how you may remove them. Just something I would try.

 

Try factory pads.

As a professional tech for 40+ years, disc brakes will make noises. Brakes need friction to work and friction causes noise. If the noise is not at the human hearing zone, then we do not complain about it. If it is, then we complain louder than the brakes. My take is that the friction is caused by the brake pad and the backing plate against the caliper. You can't change the caliper but you can change the friction material.

Most brake pads you get at the parts box stores are just plain junk. Most aftermarket part manufactures understand that people buy the cheapest part so that is what they sell. Since Ford has a bigger issue [customer satisfaction] they tend to make better parts. Parts that are tested much more than 'Do they fit?'.

The rotors may be junk, but I doubt if that is causing the noise. Yes, without rotors you will not have friction and we know that friction causes noises, but to date, rotors have never fixed a noise complain [unless they had chatter marks from machining].

I worked with one Mercedes German Engineer and he once commented on why Americans are so concerned about brake dust. He wondered why Americans were more concerned about dust than having the best braking system in the world. He's right. I would rather stop.

Another issue that we are having is with the environmental issues that we live with. Asbestos was removed from brake pads, so has a lot of other materials. I believe copper is another braking material that is now banned. Eventually, they will ban all the braking materials and we will all be stopping like the Flintstones.

 

Then I agree with 1Butcher. The noise is because of the pad materials. Try different pads.

 

Thank you for your advice and wisdom. I understand there is friction but this squeak makes me not enjoy driving my truck. I'm 46 years old and wanted this truck since I was a sophomore in high school. I finally get it and I hate driving it. It's something fixable, I just gotta figure out how.

 

Just remember, if you keep this truck, you will have more problems that you will need to resolve. Don't buy cheap parts. I get the internet offers great deals but search locally because the business' in your area need your money to hire your neighbors. Internet deals are great but the return/warranty process is terrible. Walking up to the parts counter that you built a relationship with, is much easier. Lifetime warranty parts at the house branded big box parts stores are terrible. You will soon learn that you don't care about the lifetime warranty, you just want a part that lasts longer than a few months.

OEM and Factory parts are probably the best out there. The next step is name brand parts [Bosch, Delco, etc]. Then there are is just junk [Cardone, Duralast, etc].

 

Mine sound like metal to metal. Never experienced this before. earned the hard way way back in 1982 when I had a set get metal to metal....never did that again, the Hawk pads I replaced could have been driven for several miles more....

 

I replaced them with Hawk Performance pads and they stopped squeaking.
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