K8 SS ceramic brake pads squeaking?

[Transmetal]

So back in November when I was doing the oil feed pipe recall I had the dealership throw in a set of K8SS ceramic pads. The stock rotors seemed fine so I didn't have them resurfaced at all. Had stock pads before that. The braking was amazing from the the jump with these new pads no issues whatsoever.

Now since it's been winter, braking is still excellent but I've noticed the pads squeaking now and again. Really first noticed it after we had some rain/snow and the car sat undriven for a couple days. It was really loud just backing the car into my driveway (I have a bit longer driveway on a slight incline so I always reverse into it because it's easier to see when pulling out).

Anyways......I'm wondering do ceramic pads react different in the winter? I daily drive the car. I have always run ceramic pads on the Lightning but that doesn't see winter. The stock pads never squeaked they just kinda sucked. These pads were basically fine until winter started. Now I do live in MN, so our winter is not like most peoples winters, supposed to be -35 wind-chill in a couple days. Maybe some of y'all Canadians can chime in?

 

[NS_Stinger]

I can confirm as an east coast Canadian that it's not abnormal for ceramic pads to squeak until the rotor surface has been sweeped. It's honestly nothing to be concerned about unless you're hearing it all the time under braking.

 

[Volfy]

If the squeaking is only (or primarily) when reversing, then it's most likely due the a bevel worn into your brake pads in the forward direction. This is not unusual. On larger multi-piston calipers, the pistons are sized asymmetrically to keep the pad pressure (and WEAR) as evenly as possible, but a directional bevel worn into the pads is often unavoidable.

Resurfacing rotors with new pads does help to some extend, as this square up the mating surfaces as best as possible. However, over time, directional wear can - and does - still happen. It doesn't always make squeaking noises, but worse cases can.

Ceramic pads are more susceptible to this, primarily because their high temp range is more limited. When portions of the pad compound gets too hot, wear accelerates. Yet another reason for selecting the right pad compound for the usage case. No different than tires getting uneven wear, even if alignment appears perfect.

 

[Transmetal]

I can confirm as an east coast Canadian that it's not abnormal for ceramic pads to squeak until the rotor surface has been sweeped. It's honestly nothing to be concerned about unless you're hearing it all the time under braking.

I don't hear it all the time when braking, only when driving really slow braking to reverse into my driveway, pulling up to the mailbox etc. Was just odd to me that I didn't do that from the start.

 

[BIG-D]

I had similar noise with 8 piston fronts and 6 piston rear calipers on a Ford i raced...

They squeeled when going forward so I swapped rotors left to right with directional grooves and then it squeeled when in reverse !!

 

[Thomby]

I had similar noise with 8 piston fronts and 6 piston rear calipers on a Ford i raced...
They squeeled when going forward so I swapped rotors left to right with directional grooves and then it squeeled when in reverse !!

That's interesting, I wouldn't have expected direction-specific rotor wear/deposits to be an issue. I wonder if a hard re-bedding in each direction (not bedding in reverse, but flipping the rotors between the two beddings) would reduce or eliminate it. And maybe flipping the pads side to side for good measure.

 

[Volfy]

I had similar noise with 8 piston fronts and 6 piston rear calipers on a Ford i raced...

They squeeled when going forward so I swapped rotors left to right with directional grooves and then it squeeled when in reverse !!

That's interesting. Did you move both L&R rotor and pads as matched set? Typically, you wouldn't want to swap just the rotors, or just the pads, because (as a pair) they they wear against each other to form an even contact across the entire contact surface with use, notwithstanding the previously mentioned directional beveling.

 

[BIG-D]

All i did was swap the rotor direction

As with most things down here in Australia i could not get an answer from XYZ about it as apparently their street pads have never squeeked!

Got sick of the black and rusty rotor's pretty quick too so i disassembled them all, sent the hats away to get ceramic coated /swapped out the mounting bolts and painted the rotors.

Took me over 4hr's to find these pics so phuck it, enjoy...

Sorry for going off topic