Front brake squealing, 09' Camry

[53' Stude]

Good evening. Late last fall i put advance auto silver pads and rotors on front of the camry i have. Lately been having some squealing from left front. Friends shop looked at it for no charge. Said there was a lot of "gunk" on both ends of where pads sit. Thru the lil' area thru caliper you can see pad material he said looked like some stuff there too. Thinking of just biting bullet and getting top of the line pads (ceramic) and rotors. What say the BITOG faithful?

My friend cleaned out the caliper and said after test drive he didnt hear any squealing . On way home i heard it, a LOT

 

[NormanBuntz]

Best average priced solution: name brand pads, name brand rotors. www.carid.com has some really low prices lately on brake parts. Wagner Thermoquiet, Bosch Quietcast and ACDelco Professional to name a few.

 

[maxdustington]

If you can fix it yourself, I would disassemble, clean and re-lubricate. Also, you could try this. I saw Trav recommend it in a different thread.

If the pad and rotor still look ok try to fix it first, your labour is free and the materials are of negligible cost.

 

[Leo99]

I put Wagner ThermoQuiet pads and name brand rotors on my Rav4. Squealed like crazy after a few months. Replaced with no name pads and no name rotors. Quiet as can be, now.

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: car51
advance auto silver pads

There's your problem right there.

 

[53' Stude]

I decided on a set of Powerstop OE rotors and pads. I'll see about returning the junk aap pads and rotors or just give em' to my scrap friend

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: maxdustington
If you can fix it yourself, I would disassemble, clean and re-lubricate. Also, you could try this. I saw Trav recommend it in a different thread.

If the pad and rotor still look ok try to fix it first, your labour is free and the materials are of negligible cost.


Correct. Clean, lube the pins and use CRC Disc Brake Quiet on the back of the pads, reassemble and its done, no more noise 100%.
If it stops okay with these pads regardless of who made them there is no need to toss them.

 

[53' Stude]

Trav: thats what my friend did today. Not questioning you; he did this and i still have noise

 

[bubbatime]

Akebono ProAct pads are what you want. If the brakes are not pulsating, I would have just did a pad slap.

Advance Auto Platinum pads have been very quiet for me as well. They have noise cancelling shims built into the back of the pads. OEM quality or better, in my opinion.

 

[53' Stude]

Originally Posted By: maxdustington
If you can fix it yourself, I would disassemble, clean and re-lubricate. Also, you could try this. I saw Trav recommend it in a different thread.

If the pad and rotor still look ok try to fix it first, your labour is free and the materials are of negligible cost.


My friend did this today as i watched him. Still noisy afterwards also

 

[SatinSilver]

Maybe it needs the oem shim and fitment kit installed. I'd keep the current pads and rotors.

http://carspecmn.com/toyota-complete-maintenance-care-brakes-vs-toyota-factory-brake-replacement/

 

[53' Stude]

Good idea, ill see if our toyota dealer at work has OEM pads or what you linked

 

[SatinSilver]

The "Toyota factory replacement shim kit" should help reduce the noise.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
The "Toyota factory replacement shim kit" should help reduce the noise.


I don't understand how to use shim kits.

 

[SatinSilver]

My understanding is they are placed around the pads then placed into the caliper. The_Critic has recommended them in the past and knows his stuff about Toyota brakes. He gave me the part number for the kit on the Matrix. He called them bracket hardware clips but Toyota calls them a fitment kit. For the Matrix the part number is 04947-02060. Prob the same for the Corolla of that generation. Different part number for the Camry would be my guess. The brake shims look equally important and are a different and separate part number.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Originally Posted By: Leo99
I put Wagner ThermoQuiet pads and name brand rotors on my Rav4. Squealed like crazy after a few months. Replaced with no name pads and no name rotors. Quiet as can be, now.


Curious. What brand pads and rotors worked for you?

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: car51
Originally Posted By: maxdustington
If you can fix it yourself, I would disassemble, clean and re-lubricate. Also, you could try this. I saw Trav recommend it in a different thread.

If the pad and rotor still look ok try to fix it first, your labour is free and the materials are of negligible cost.


My friend did this today as i watched him. Still noisy afterwards also


I don't know but I suspect application error, did he let it dry for a short time?
The stuff is a vibration absorbing membrane not like RTV or grease. I have been using it since 1975 and never had a noisy brake that I used it on.

I don't use it on everything just those that don't use shims or problem pads.

FWIW I have seen people trying to cure front brake noise only to find out it was the rears making the noise,

 

[JustinH]

When you buy a decent set of pads it comes with the shims attached to it.

Even the ebay set I bought had OE style shims.

 

[53' Stude]

Trav: I'll try the crc stuff soon and report back. Hopefully it stops the squeal

 

[supton]

I tried putting Sta-Lube brake grease onto shims once. Only once. On my Camry I found it made brake noise, and it was only after the stuff washed off that it went back to being quiet. Wrong grease I guess. I know my Tundra had greased shims and didn't squeal; but by now all that grease is long gone and it still doesn't squeal.

I do use only OEM brake hardware though. Not sure how much of a difference that makes.