Brakes squeal

[Mark 5.9 coalburner]

I replaced the left rear brakes on my 2005 Dodge 2500 about 2 years ago with Mopar pads and a rotor. Ever since then it has squealed on low speed stops. I have since changed the pads and rotor twice with another Mopar set and then a Napa set to see if that would help. It didn’t. I’ve looked it over probably about 10 times to see if it was something else touching and nothing was obvious to me. Any ideas?

 

[Topzide]

I think that you'll find it's the pad composition that's causing the squeal. Any pad with metal in it will do this. You could try an organic type pad but you will "lose" stopping power! If it's been pretty dry in your area, it'll happen more. Have you lubed up your slide pins when you were in there? Caliper could be slow to back off when you've released the brakes. I put that on my annual maintenance list to do. Pretty easy to do when rotating tires also. Just one of those things with a heavier truck!

 

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

No ideas, but I have the same problem. I did put some brake antisqueal on the back of the pad which helped for awhile, but it probably needs to be reapplied.

 

[Ozymandias]

What Topizide said.

 

[Mark 5.9 coalburner]

I understand that it could be the material used in the pads, but I changed both rear pads and rotors at the same time. The right side is quiet and the left side squeals no matter what I do. Kinda weird. Is there anything mechanical that could be causing it.

 

[brucejohnson]

I understand that it could be the material used in the pads, but I changed both rear pads and rotors at the same time. The right side is quiet and the left side squeals no matter what I do. Kinda weird. Is there anything mechanical that could be causing it.

Sounds like the pad has glazed for some reason. Were the rotors cleansed with a brake cleaner prior to installation? Another possibility, are the left rear pads releasing after application? That is usually done by the piston seals when the pressure is released, causing a small but required clearance for the pads to release their "pressure" contact of the rotor. If the seal is not doing its job of releasing the pressure as designed, heat wil build up on the rotor/pad contact area creating the hardened glaze and potential cold squeal. It may also cause one of the pads to wear a little faster, so check to see if the inner and outer are wearing about the same. Check the rotor surfaces to see if one is shinier, or bluer (heat affected) than the other. Either change or rebuild the caliper if it is not releasing/pulling the piston/pads back sufficiently.
Raise the back wheels off the ground and rotate each tire to see if you can detect dragging of the brakes on either side. Apply then release the brakes and see if the clearances appear identical or of one is a little tighter.

 

[Ozymandias]

Have you serviced the sliding pins when changing the pads?

 

[Topzide]

If you're just throwing pads on without a hardware kit which should include new slide pin boots, this may the biggest issue! The slide pins get gummed up do to heat cycles. Boots will get worn and develop holes allowing moisture to get in. As I mentioned, once a year as PM, I pull pins, inspect boots (keep spare set on hand), clean pins and lube with an anti-seize. Copper type being the best choice. Nickel if that's what you have on your shelf. I've had several calipers that needed to be replaced do to stuck slide pins! PM is your friend!

 

[Blakers]

I put new NAPA pads on the back of my truck and they squeeled from day one until they wore out. I get the Bosch pads on Amazon and I am very happy with them. No squeel and they work great, and are priced great.

 

[Regcabguy]

Powerstop's here front and back. Zero noise at all.
We'll see how they wear.

 

[Topzide]

I've had Powerstop's on mine for a bit over 10K and they've been quiet! Stops seem a bit tighter (more reaction when pressing brake pedal). Running EB will lengthen life but only time and conditions will tell but like them!