360 Modena Drivers Please Help - Brake Squeaking Problems

1. What kind of pads are you using?

2. Did you properly "bed" them in?

3. Did you use anti-squeal compound?

 

Something absolutely not right. I have replaced pads 5 times and rotors once on my 360 and never have had any brake squeal ever even during track usage.

I would demand they fix it.

 

Its my understanding that stock pads do not squeak so easily.

I have a racing pads on my 360 and they do squeak a bit especially when stopping slowly. I think its the price you pay for less fade when driving the car hard. e.g. on tracks.

For my case, the pads do not squeak so badly when warmed up.

You could ask the people who installed the pads to clean the brakes which may rectify the problem. Mine did for 500 miles or so.

 

Usual culprit is a slightly mis-shaped or badly fitting pad. Brake squeal has nothing to do with the contact between the pad & the rotor, the noise is a resonance that sets up between the metal back of the pad & the caliper. All anti-squeal compound does is try & cushion this out.

It can be caused by not bedding the brakes in right (do a search of google for bedding in procedures - involves warming the brakes up a bit & then making 5-10 hard stops from 60-70mph down to 10mph & then accelerating up for the next one....)

Some brakes that squeal are worse when hot & some when cold - it just depends on how things move around as things warm up & expand.

You could try the bedding in process first but after that its a new set of pads with the suspicion being that one (at least) is a rogue where the backing plate is minutely out of tolerance in terms of size or shape so that, basically, its rattling around in the caliper. The amounts are tiny & practically impossible to see or measure.

If different pads don't cure it then you have to start to look at your calipers but I'd try two or three different brands of pads before I went there.

HTH

Iain

 

there is probably damp in the pads, this happened on my 355, the pads need replacing with another set

 

Bedding procedure: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27234&highlight=bedding but it might actually be too late for this to work if the pads have a few hundred miles on them.

Anti-Squeal compound does work.. it is goo like aerosol substance that cushions the area between the piston & backing plate. Squeal has nothing to do with pad-to-rotor contact.

If these are OEM Brembo pads from the dealer, I know you paid a fortune for them (close to 1G). Kindly ask the shop to fix it. They want your future business.

-Daniel

 

You need to clean thoroughly the areas of the calipers the pads contact. Scraping the accumulated brake dust and dirt off with a screwdriver does the job. Then spray some brake cleaner on, and you should see the shine of the metal. Wipe dry with a rag.

Next apply copper grease (or whatever Ferrari recommends as a pad lubricant) to the areas of the pads that contact the calipers. Be careful not to get the grease on the pad material itself.

Works like a charm!

If this still doesn't work, then it's possible you may have damage to one or more components of the brakes and should follow the advice given by others above.

 

As noted extensively, the squeak is a high frequency vibration that occurs at the junction of the back side of the pad and the caliper's piston. The best luck that I've had (on a 69 Corvette club racer) is the use of adhesive backed anti-squeak sheets. These heat resistant sheets look like black "contact paper" and are trimmed to match the pads shape and then applied to the back (metal side) of the pad. Clean and debur everything 1st, or you'll be doing it again (lol). This worked 100% and has the advantage that the material does not squeeze out over time - a problem that I have encountered when using copper grease or the "Auto Zone" anti-squeak goo. While the pads are off, I would also recommend a quick de-glazing of the front side of all pads. Place ~120 grit sandpaper onto a dead flat surface (a piece of glass is my choice) and carefully, yet firmly, rub the pad using a "figure 8" pattern. This pattern will eliminate any uneven material removal due to your hands applying an uneven load - a trick I learned in the preparation of fiber optic connectors.

 

Where do you get the anti-squeak sheets?

 

Well, I learn something every day. I never knew this about brake squeal.

When I had brake squeal on my 550, another f-car owner recommended this anti-squeal stuff/spray:

http://www.gunk.com/item_asp/M725_6.asp

I had assumed it went on the rotors somehow, but from what you said, it goes behind the pads?

- signed, brake ignorant (Tim)

 

Tim -

Yes, definitely on the back side of the pads.

How are you liking the 550?

Gary

 

Whenever I pull up to a stoplight in my '97 550 and she starts squeeling like a '62 Ford Fairlane, everybody looks! And that makes me feel just grand, knowing I've saved THREE GRAND on a stupid set of Tubi or $15,000 on a set of Kreissing ... and everybody-- EVERY BODY-- is looking at my "new Mustang"!

And isn't THAT what it's all about?

But on a SLIGHTLY more serious note (C-sharp)
I've heard of "brake camforing", putting a slight bevel on the edge of the brake calipers to somehow keep them from resonating.
I dunno, being a "Hick from Wyoming who doesn't know anything about his car and is an embarrasment to the FerrariChat community" (thanks Malibu, same to you) I'd say that brake squeel is a moot point! After all, who's STOPPING in a Ferrari?

 

Hey Sunny, was it you today that I was following (in my Cooper S convertible) on Clark into Ferrari Maserati of Vancouver at around 5 pm? If so, the squeaking was indeed very loud when you pulled into the dealership lot. I guess it was this thread that you handed to the technician guy before leaving. I do hope you get it fixed because brake squeaking is indeed an annoyance!

Very nice 360 by the way!