Squeeky discs / pads :-(

[sbtUK]

I put new front discs and pads on my Fabia a couple of weeks back. Lockheed vented dics and Halfords (I know... I'm sorry... I couldn't afford anything else after I got the discs) pads.

Having deciding I was going to give them a good 200 miles or so of light braking to bed them in (rather than the 100 miles that the instructions suggest) I thought everything was bound to be fine.

I'd done about 50 miles or so and they were feeling nice and responsive etc. Then some t*** pulled out infront of me while I was doing 50 (And in a 60 limit too... I was so proud) and I had to slam them on. I stopped about three feet infront of him. Swore, cursed, shook my fist, forgot I had a horn for some reason, and he just looked at me and went round me in his sparkly clean 4x4 that didn't look like it had even seen a gravel car park.

I pulled over a bit futher down the road. I could feel the heat coming off my discs, and there was even a little smoke. I let them cool down a bit and then drove home.

That was about 100 miles of light braking ago, and since then my lovely new discs have been squeeking when I use them. They've felt quite a lot less responsive and don't seem to have nearly as much stopping power as they did before.

I took my wheels off today to take a look, and everything looks ok. The pads aren't chipped or cracked or anything, the wear on the discs is all uniform, and there's no foreign objects lodged in there anywhere.

Is it likely that the squeeking will stop after a while? I can hear it over my (admittedly rather loud) music and it's pretty annoying. I've got to keep an eye on things much further ahead than usual so I know I can stop in time too.

I was considering replacing the pads with some better ones once I've got a new job. Would that be a worth while expense? Or is there not much between them?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[HDi fun]

The Halfords pads will meet minimum standards - all parts have to do so now. That's not to say that better ones aren't better though.

You'll probably find that the squealing will go away soon if you can gradually build up your brake force over a few dozen miles.

Plain light braking doesn't really settle them in properly - it tends to glaze the pads.

What you're looking to do is achieve an even layer of pad material transfer onto the disc faces and this can only be achieved if you build up brake pressures and temperatures gradually during the bed in process.

[waynne]

I found that roughing up the surface of the disk with a wire brush or wire wool will help to prevent glazing and improves braking. Cleaning off the brake dust will also help, some new pads come with a fast bed in coating which creates a lot of dust.

[pgarner]

ike its been said roughing up the surface of the disc and pads helps alot

also putting copperslip ( goes under a couple of names copper grease is another one ) on the BACK of the pads helps reduce the squealing