brake squeal!

after a rebuilt caliper, a new master cyl, and a steel braided line, my front brake squeals like crazy! i was thinking about roughing the rotor up with some steelwool or sandpaper. any ideas?

thanks
david

put you make and model in your profile so it shows up on the bottom of each post...it'll help others to know what you got..location helps too in case folks are near you ....take your brake pads and sand them with 80n grit untill all shiny glaze is gone ...and it is new material,,,not a waste of pads to do this..iot is a small amount .....it is best to have the pads out and in your hand and preessure them down on the 80 grit ...like shredding cheese...good luck...90% sure on this one ...final answer....also makes a huge brake improvment ...good luck craig

The auto parts stores sell a disc brake quiet that's applied to the back side of the pads.My understanding of the noise problem is that the disc brake rotor acts like a violin string and the brake pad or puck is the string of the bow producing the sound when rubbed.

Sanding might be a temporary fix until the pad(s) wear down again.

This has been discussed here quite often. I'll reinterate my previous finds. Aftermarket pads do *not* work. I don't care if they are Ferodo, Vesra, EBC or any of the other various garbage. I went through this years ago on a KZ650, not wanting to pay $50 or whatever for factory pads I tried one of these brands and imediately got shreeking squeel, so tried the sanding the pads. This worked fantastic (for 1 day), so I try the brake goop anti-squeel. This did absolutely zero, so try lightly sanding the rotors. This worked great (for 1 day). So I throw these suns of a beech junk in the trash and get the Vesra. These actually worked without squeel, but wore out in >twice the rate of Kawasaki pads, but I figure price was <half so still worth it so buy another set. These squeel to beat hell. No help so throw them in the trash. Try another brand, squeel like 140DB siren. That's the end of my brake saga. I don't have patience #1 nor the time to play games with junk, so from then on out I use only Kawasaki pads and have zero problem every time. Look on ebay for factory pads sometimes for a good price.

Awesome. I will sand the pads down an see how it goes. I have aftermarket pads so maybe I'll order oem pads if these keep the squeal.
Cheers!
David

What works is the kind that have the "spring load" flat metal shim type device on the backside to keep some pressure on the pad as the caliper pressure is applied. The noise comes from the pad vibrating against the rotor face which radiates sound. It does this in the range of pressure that is light, once you are braking hard the pad can't wiggle any more.

The OEM pads for mine have the shims attached, the aftermarket do not.... and they squeal like a banshee.

Wait just a doggone minute here! Isn't brake squeal a good thing? After all, I've heard it said that "loud pipes save lives", so shouldn't loud brakes do the same?

Forgive me; it's the booze talking.

RonKZ650 is correct; genuine Ma Kaw brakes are by far the quietest. I've had some luck using Permatex anti-squeal in combination with champhering the edges of aftermarket (EBC) pads, but if you can find originals on eBay or elsewhere they are worth buying. Ed

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