Re: Please tell me about my god awful brakes!!

Posted by Eric Boyle On 2009/7/15 16:30:29

When I was turning drums and rotors at the local mom and pop auto parts store I used to work at, we "scuffed" up the drums and rotors with a ScotchBrite pad before we shipped them out, this was supposedly to cure the squealing problem. No one ever complained about squealing so I assume it worked.


Also, something I do on every brake job I do where new pads/shoes are installed is to "break them in". To do this, find a long deserted stretch of road where no one's around, get it to about 60 or so, then get on the brakes hard, but not hard enough to lose control. Do this several times until you smell the brakes and see them smoking. What this does is get all the junk off the shoes like manufacturing oils, etc. It also get the brake shoes/pads to seat on the drum/rotor correctly. This will NOT hurt the shoes/pads or the drums/rotors. I do this on EVERY brake job I've ever done and have never had any squealing or squeaking. You DO need a long stretch of empty road to do this, preferably with no cops around. Use common sense when doing this, and be safe when braking hard, you don't want to wreck the car!