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How to fix brake squeal, no really!

emichel6888

emichel6888

Go Kart Champion
Location
TX
Since switching to Ferodo 2500 break pads I experienced a LOT of low speed brake squeal. I love the pad performance, it is good street light track use pad but the brake squeal was killing it for me. I tried everything, cleaning and lubricating the brakes, those sticky products they tell you to apply to the pad backing, none of that stuff works. At least not with an aggressive street/track pad.

I was somewhat desperate to fix this issue and came across this brake squeal treatment product that you actually apply to the pad and rotor friction surface with a spray can! The reviews were somewhat mixed and to say that I was highly skeptical would be an understatement, as it went against everything I knew about brake maintenance. However, like I said I was desperate and had plans to upgrade my pads and rotors soon and it was at my local auto part store for $8 so I figured what the hell, give it a shot.

You have to remove the rotors and apply it to both inner and outer rotor surface, and it goes on and looks like silver spray paint. Well I did it, put it all back together and I’ll be dammed, it completely eliminated my brake squeal! You have to do a few low speed stops to burn it off the pad surface, but after that it does not affect brake performance at all.

I have been holding off talking about this for fear that the squeal would just come back after a few hundred miles. I had it on the stock caliper/rotor with DS2500 pads for about 3-4 weeks and around 1500 miles and never heard even a hint of brake squeal, not once.

Then I upgraded to the Macan/Brembo calipers with ECS slotted rotors and decided to go with the Ferodo DS2500 pads again, and of course I applied this product to the new rotors, and just like the stock setup not even a hint of brake squeal at all. So now, it has been about four months and about 5000 miles with some hard braking and even a few track sessions, and still no squeals at all. Will it last the life of the pad/rotor? I don’t know but so far I am thrilled with this product!

Even if it does require a reapplication at some point, I am okay with that. I keep thinking at some point… but so far not a hint of squeal. I have been meaning to post about this and recently saw a few folks talking about brake squeal with this particular pad so… Anyway, if you have been suffering from brake squeal try this:
20200824_124248.jpg

I used Gunk because that is what they had at my local auto part store, but CRC also makes a similar product and from what I can tell they are the same. You can also find both online:

https://www.amazon.com/CRC-05080-Sq...000M8H5M6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.com/Gunk-M725-Squeal-Medic-Treatment/dp/B000ABIDBC/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyo36BRAXEiwA24CwGTn9pKG99Ut0iV4YHZQOntgwJrP8RhApoEWWvdDSEnEALiRP59o1ghoCqNoQAvD_BwE&hvadid=267895229712&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9027222&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16668101561508438122&hvtargid=kwd-456831355325&hydadcr=6401_9585563&keywords=gunk+brake+squeal+treatment&qid=1598293204&sr=8-1&tag=googhydr-20&th=1

Product description

Gunk Squeal Medic Brake Squeal & Squeak Cure stops brake squeals and squeaks before they start. It is applicable for all disc, drum, and ABS brake systems. No drying time required and is waterproof. Helps prevent oxidation of drums and rotors as well as rust and seizure of lug nuts and threads. Use on new or existing systems. It is safety tested by an independent laboratory to ensure safe braking after use.

Metallic formula fills grooves in friction surfaces for smoother braking

Spray on rotors and drums on every brake job.

Prevents brake noise

For use on disc, drum and ABS systems

It says it fills in groves in the friction surface but from what I can see not on the overall friction surface because that is quickly burned and scraped off. What it does is fill in variations on the edges where the pad and rotor meet, which makes sense when you consider the most likely source of vibration when you lightly apply the brakes. Here are some examples of both rotors I have used this on where you can see what I am talking about:
Rotor.jpg

2020-08-24 22_51_20-Photos.png

This stuff is literally like silver spray paint, so you will want to cover or tape off anywhere you don’t want that to get on. You do not have to let it dry but this stuff takes a very long time to dry at room temperature. I sprayed the ECS rotors and let them sit for two days, and even then if you touch them hard you will still get some on your hands. It seems like it takes the high heat of brake friction to really cure this stuff, so if you are just spraying and immediately reassembling the brakes you need to treat it like wet paint.

The instructions say to spray the rotors but I saw a video where they also sprayed the pads as well. The first time I just did the rotors and it worked fine, the second time I did both. I don’t think spraying the pads is necessary or even does much, but it did not hurt anything either.

The first time I used this stuff I just did the fronts, and then found the backs were still squealing, so you really need to do all four.

If you look for information on this stuff there isn’t a lot out there which really surprises me because this is the only brake squeal product that has ever really worked for me. Honestly I don’t know why more folks aren’t talking about it, or why the reviews are somewhat mixed. Possibly some folks have other brake squeal causes, or were too lazy to remove the rotors and apply to both sides and just sprayed the outside, who knows?

It seems this stuff has been around for years, why is it not more well known or popular I have no idea, because this stuff is frigin awesome.
 
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R

R Golf

Go Kart Champion
Location
Lenox, MA
Nice write up. Great that this worked for you. Hope it helps others as well.

Just to make sure, are you bedding in the pads according to Ferodo's recomendations first? I use the same pads for DD and track days, but get zero squeal. I do bed them in after every pad change. On mine the pads are literally smoking when I finish bedding which is normal. I only mention this because you don't talk about bedding in your pads.
 
emichel6888

emichel6888

Go Kart Champion
Location
TX
R Golf said:
Nice write up. Great that this worked for you. Hope it helps others as well.

Just to make sure, are you bedding in the pads according to Ferodo's recomendations first? I use the same pads for DD and track days, but get zero squeal. I do bed them in after every pad change. On mine the pads are literally smoking when I finish bedding which is normal. I only mention this because you don't talk about bedding in your pads.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, do you see the pic of that ECS rotor above, all that pad material on the disk doesn't happen by accident. My understanding about bedding is that it doesn't last, part of it is about quickly mating the pad/rotor surfaces, but that will happen with just normal driving, which is why no one is required to bed brakes like that on new vehicles. I and others that have this issue also track our cars, and nothing beds brakes like a track session so I don't think it is an issue with proper bedding.

The reason you want to get them super heated is to build up some pad deposits on the rotor disk surface (as seen in the pic above). However, if you drive on the street and do not routinely heat up the brakes a lot, those deposits will eventually be scrapped away by relatively cold pads, which is why most lightly driven street car disks look shiny and clean. I have read were some performance brake companies recommend bedding brakes on a periodic basis, but is that something most street car folks are going to do?

Are you on stock brakes or something aftermarket?

Brake squeal seems to be greatly affected by the type of pad and the rotor material and how they interact. It seems like with many things a majority of folks will experience a particular issue, but there always seem to be some that claim not to have it. Honestly I do not know what to make of it, I am sure there is a rational explanation, but without an in depth investigation we may never fully understand it. Perhaps if you are using a different rotor? But if you are on a stock rotor, zero squeal just seems hard to believe with these pads.
Do you do a lot of street or track driving? How many sets of these pads have you used?
 
daconchslop

daconchslop

Autocross Champion
Location
SC
Car(s)
ACS SE/Tech
I’m DS2500 and have low speed squealing on light braking. I will be trying this out. Thanks for the write up.
 
R

R Golf

Go Kart Champion
Location
Lenox, MA
emichel6888 said:
......... The reason you want to get them super heated is to build up some pad deposits on the rotor disk surface (as seen in the pic above). However, if you drive on the street and do not routinely heat up the brakes a lot, those deposits will eventually be scrapped away by relatively cold pads, which is why most lightly driven street car disks look shiny and clean. I have read were some performance brake companies recommend bedding brakes on a periodic basis, but is that something most street car folks are going to do?

Are you on stock brakes or something aftermarket?

Brake squeal seems to be greatly affected by the type of pad and the rotor material and how they interact. It seems like with many things a majority of folks will experience a particular issue, but there always seem to be some that claim not to have it. Honestly I do not know what to make of it, I am sure there is a rational explanation, but without an in depth investigation we may never fully understand it. Perhaps if you are using a different rotor? But if you are on a stock rotor, zero squeal just seems hard to believe with these pads.
Do you do a lot of street or track driving? How many sets of these pads have you used?
Click to expand...

I thought you would bed them, but just double checking. I doubt people who only street drive bed their brakes more than the first time, but I don't know.

I only bed mine when I change pads. I guess it's individual slight differnces causing some to squeel and others not. I've been through about 6-8 sets of Ferodos. Stock rotors. Normally 10 track days per season (this season is Covid shortened to 6 or so), and the car has almost 50K DD miles. Zero squeal. I've had other pads that just drove me nuts.

If this stuff works for you and others that's great.
 
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