02/12/12 - Fitting Anti Squeal Pads

LittleJimny has recently started suffering from squealing brake pads. Its not the straight line, noisy squeal under braking, its a quieter squeal and only occurs when going around corners.

The fact that it only occurs when going around corners suggests something is moving when cornering, cause the pads to rub on the disk. Perhaps there is a bearing showing some slight wear. If there is then it is only slight as it recently passed an MOT and still feels tight. However I do get slight wobble in the steering.

The Jimny has anti-squeal shims fitted as standard, but these are only fitted to the outer pad and tend to corrode. I tried the other "tried and tested" route of using Copper Grease on the pads but these seems to work for about a week until enough has been washed away by the rain and the squeal returns.

I found these stick on Anti-Squeal pads from EBC on the Internet and thought they were worth a try.

First loosen the wheel nuts BEFORE lifting the car on the

jack! This means you can get the leverage required to release the wheel nuts without the wheel turning.

Whilst the wheel is jacked up and the nuts are still tight its worth a wobble of the wheel to check the state of the bearings.

Grip the wheel top and bottom and rock to test the Kingpin Bearings

Grip the wheel at the sides and rock to check the wheel bearings

I also span the wheels, you can see the wheel rotates and then quite suddenly stops, it always stops at the same position, suggesting a slight warp in the disk (it does this on both sides). However when on the MOT brake testing machine the other week the tester could not see any effect of this so it is very minor. This is clearly the basic cause of the squeal I am hearing as the squeal changes with the rotation of the wheel. But hopefully the anti squeal pads will buy me some time before replacing the discs.

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Once the wheel is off then you can undo the brake caliper. Use a 12mm socket or spanner to release the front caliper bolt completely

Use the same socket/spanner to slightly release the rear caliper bolt. There is no need to undo it far.

The caliper will then swing up on its mount.

Prise out the brake pads.

Clean the pads (i used a de-greaser) and mark up the anti squeal pads ready for cutting

Cut out the anti squeal pad and stick it to the back of the brake pad.

The pads will now be slightly thicker than before so push the piston back in a bit, I use a G-Clamp to do this.

Now re-assemble everything in reverse order.

Start the engine and BEFORE pulling away, pump the brakes until the pedal becomes firm (otherwise if you drive away too qucikly you will have no brakes on the first press!)

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