Focus Mk3 Brakes Squeal

[Ryan_Tango]

I am pretty much whits end with my brakes now, they're fine when they are cold but as soon as they warm up (After about 5 mins)

they squeal crazy loud to the point I can't hear my music and the animals at Chester Zoo run into hiding.

It's the front discs (Seems to be both sides) and it has been happening since I picked the car up 3 months ago and since I've done 3.5k miles, I have copper greased them and cleaned completely from dust. Pads seem to have a lot left on them too.

What would be the best solution to my problem be?

[Stoney871]

Have you tried sanding a slight bevel on both leading and following edges on the pads?

http://www.ehow.com/how_7570814_stop-brake-squeal.html

[Ryan_Tango]

I'll have to give that a go, will have to wait a few weeks to do it though jack has broken just ordered a new one, if that doesn't work I guess it might be best to get new pads, currently have Mintex pads might try another brand.

Thank you.

[madmole]

Contaminated pads can do it as well, daft as this may seem but pour coca cola over them

[Ryan_Tango]

Contaminated pads can do it as well, daft as this may seem but pour coca cola over them

I'll have to give that a go! Sounds a bit weird and might get some funny looks but at the moment I will try anything, got 700 miles to do this week too and with my brakes driving up the wall

I don't think I'll survive.

[madmole]

happens a lot on Mountain bike disk pads, coke a quick fix as is baking the pads in the oven. Also champhering the edges can help

The squeel is due to a vibration, can be the pads moving in the calipers or the pad surface skipping on the disk surface. The coke acid dissolves some oils etc and the sugar crystals act as a mild scrum to deglaze the surface of the pad

Did you copper grease the backs of the pads where they slide on the calipers and touch the pistons? the copper grease acts as a damper

Last thing to try would be a few really heavy brakes form speed or drag the brakes a bit to get them really hot to remove the contaminant and wear the glazed surface

[Ryan_Tango]

When I get chance to take the brakes apart again I'm going to try the chamfering method, if that works to no avail I'll try buying a new pads.

If pads don't work I'll even replace discs, I would likely go to the extreme of buying whole new braking system, but hopefully I won't have to.

Thanks for your help guys!

[Jeremyc]

I had mintex on my old car no problems with squealing as long as the discs were properly cleaned before you used the brake as you can transfer containments to the pads. A few long continuous brakes can fix if its thats your problem. That and a a healthy dose of brake cleaner and copper grease should do the trick

[dave1987]

From what I can see on my focus the front brake pads are already tapered at both ends?

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

[Ryan_Tango]

I got round to chamfering the pads cleaning the rotors and pads to no avail, I went to my local garage he took it for a drive and was baffled why they squeal when they heat up, so he took the wheels off and inspected the whole brake system free of charge and told me to go Euro Car Parts and get new pads and discs and he will fit them free of charge O_o! Turns out the discs have a really big lip around the edges which I didn't know was a problem, something to do with the pads possibly vibrating off the lip or the heat not being able to dissipate correctly.

[kingsblue]

If you're going to euro car parts I'd buy the pagid disc & pads, not their cheap ones.