DB11 Squeaking brakes

[funboxster]

I've only had my DB 11 a couple of weeks, but at low speed in traffic, the brakes squeak. They're fine when slowing the car down from speed. Is this just a DB11 trait, or do other models suffer this?
Interestingly, I mentioned this to the sales manager at my dealer this morning, and he's experienced it on their cars. He said AM are looking at a fix?

[bogie]

All the usual bedding in brake pad stuff applies, no different to any other high performance car ...its just a brake pad compound thing

The pads should have anti squeal backing plates, if not some people spread high temp anti squeal compound on rear.

Some dealers may chamfer edges of pads (if not already like that)

Otherwise try bedding them in properly yourself ....with light use about town, and no real heavy track use they sometimes glaze over a bit leading to squealing. Often just bedding them in properly gets rid of it

http://www.brakes-pads-discs.co.uk/pagid/bedding-i...

[anonymous-user]

funboxster said:

I've only had my DB 11 a couple of weeks, but at low speed in traffic, the brakes squeak. They're fine when slowing the car down from speed. Is this just a DB11 trait, or do other models suffer this?
Interestingly, I mentioned this to the sales manager at my dealer this morning, and he's experienced it on their cars. He said AM are looking at a fix?

I've not known of overly squeaky brakes on the DB11, certainly the old Vantage on steels would squeak a fair bit at low speed. The only brake related foible I experienced in the DB11 was a slightly long brake pedal. The first bit of travel is a bit dead, from there it becomes more progressive. It's something the factory worked on and has improved on the later cars, but due to the way new brake systems operate, it has more of a digital feel to that of the older cars (if they could replicate the pedal feel of the old Vantage, that'd be nigh on perfect.

Other than the squeaky, are you enjoying it thus far? I was fortunate enough to borrow a demo V12 over the weekend, wonderful bit of kit

[funboxster]

NFC 85 Vette said:

I've not known of overly squeaky brakes on the DB11, certainly the old Vantage on steels would squeak a fair bit at low speed. The only brake related foible I experienced in the DB11 was a slightly long brake pedal. The first bit of travel is a bit dead, from there it becomes more progressive. It's something the factory worked on and has improved on the later cars, but due to the way new brake systems operate, it has more of a digital feel to that of the older cars (if they could replicate the pedal feel of the old Vantage, that'd be nigh on perfect.

Other than the squeaky, are you enjoying it thus far? I was fortunate enough to borrow a demo V12 over the weekend, wonderful bit of kit

I agree about the initial dead feel to the pedal, but then the anchors do their job. It was unnerving on the test drive, but I'm used to it already.

After 11 days of ownership, I love it! That V12 rumble is addictive, and when I get on the loud pedal, even in the dry, I feel the back tyres trying to break traction, with all that torque! It's happy in traffic, and will take off when required. I'm having initial trouble getting comfortable in the seat though, and getting some back pain, but I'll keep trying different seat combinations and I'm sure I'll get a good position.

[kalak]

Hi Funboxster,

I too occasionally have quite loudly squeaking brakes on my DB11. I've been advised to do a few applications of firm to heavy braking from speed every so often which does seem to clear the problem up for a while.

[Westlondondriver]

My DB11 definitely squeeked when new but now I have done about 2000 miles it is less noticeable. They don’t have the feel of my old DB9 but a lot more effective at actually stopping the car !

[funboxster]

kalak said:

Hi Funboxster,

I too occasionally have quite loudly squeaking brakes on my DB11. I've been advised to do a few applications of firm to heavy braking from speed every so often which does seem to clear the problem up for a while.

Hi Kalak
Thanks for that. The dealer has suggested that as well, so will try standing on the anchors. The brakes are good and fill me with confidence.

[Soda 71]

Does any DB11 owners out there have any recent experience with brake shudder? (not squealing) at 18,000 miles I had to have all 4 rotors replaced under warranty due to this issue and at the same time they changed the pads to the new compound ones THEN again all four rotors and pads sets changed at 24,000 miles and not at 26,000 miles the judder has come back AGAIN !! the car has not been tracked or hit or modified it can not be that metal rotors are actually warped under excess heat i suspect its pad deposit any ideas as the dealer is scratching their heads and the factory silent so far...

[8Tech]

It could be that the correct bedding-in procedure was not followed. It may also be worth checking the hub run-out with the discs removed to isolate them. Also ensure the discs are mounted to a perfectly clean and flat hub.

Brake judder can also be attributed to caliper bind and insecure mounting of the suspension due to worn bushes/balljoints where the whole suspension leg sets up a harmonic with the wheel rotational speed. Notably around 50-70mph in my experience.

Very common in some specific BMW models but the theory would be exactly the same. (Same calipers too!).

[Soda 71]

Thanks tech 8 , you raise some valid points I had not thought of and i will certainly bring these up in my meeting with the dealer ...however after I got the car back last time after they replaced 4 rotors and pads it was as smooth as ...the issue came back again after only 1500 miles so if it was the hubs or run out wouldn't it be that that the judder would still be there even after the rotors and pads had been replaced? same comment for the suspension theory?

The car does not pull to the side under braking at all so i eliminated caliper binding based on that.

I note the bedding in comment this came to mind i am not sure how many miles the dealer bedded them in for I am going to bring this up too.

To recap.
I bought the car from the AM dealer with 8,000 miles on it one year old , by the time it got to 18,000 it had brake judder, they replaced all the rotors and pads now twice and its only 2,000 miles since the last change of rotors and pads that the judder came back..to be fair i use the car a lot and i dont poodle in it sometimes as much as one can on public roads but why would this happen in the first place after 18,000 miles or so?

[thriftwood]

It may not be relevant but I used to get this with my old Supra Turbo. In that case I think it was a combination of the composition of the rotors combined with a fast heavy car and my driving .
The main? problem was me sitting on the brakes after heavy braking. The pads staying in contact with the very hot disks caused a hot spot which prevented them cooling evenly. I hadn't had the problem on any other car so I suspect the rotor composition/size may have also contributed. I'm always very careful now to let any car I drive creep gently after heavy braking.

[8Tech]

Soda 71 said:

Thanks tech 8 , you raise some valid points I had not thought of and i will certainly bring these up in my meeting with the dealer ...however after I got the car back last time after they replaced 4 rotors and pads it was as smooth as ...the issue came back again after only 1500 miles so if it was the hubs or run out wouldn't it be that that the judder would still be there even after the rotors and pads had been replaced? same comment for the suspension theory?

The car does not pull to the side under braking at all so i eliminated caliper binding based on that.

I note the bedding in comment this came to mind i am not sure how many miles the dealer bedded them in for I am going to bring this up too.

Yes to the first question, although if the hub is rusting and left unprotected. rust can push the disc mounting away from the hub face causing judder, very, very common back in the day on the Ford Scorpio.

You cannot eliminate caliper bind that easily. If one or two pistons are binding on just one side of the caliper, just like all the Brembos do on BMW's, the caliper acts just on the other face of the disc, bending it during braking which will distort the disc.It will still brake in a straight line and usually even pass an MOT brake efficiency test.

The dealer will not have bedded-in the brakes, they would have been fitted and parked-up. They would leave it to you to carry out the appropriate bedding procedure.

Cheers,

Gerry.

[MrGPD]

Soda 71 said:

Does any DB11 owners out there have any recent experience with brake shudder? (not squealing) at 18,000 miles I had to have all 4 rotors replaced under warranty due to this issue and at the same time they changed the pads to the new compound ones THEN again all four rotors and pads sets changed at 24,000 miles and not at 26,000 miles the judder has come back AGAIN !! the car has not been tracked or hit or modified it can not be that metal rotors are actually warped under excess heat i suspect its pad deposit any ideas as the dealer is scratching their heads and the factory silent so far...

I bought a CPO DB11 Volante with 5k miles and after 1500/2000 miles of driving I am getting exactly the same issue. I had a major service done in March (bought car last August) and reported the shuddering then. Dealers response was to balance all wheels and replace 2 x rears (which made zero difference). Took car back in a week ago, saying problem never fixed (and reached out to AM North America Customer Service).

Dealer's tech accompanied me on test drive to see/feel the shuddering (which they confirmed, and told me in car that is was 99.9% brake discs and pads issue)

Car is still at dealer as their warranty claim for rotors/pads was allegedly rejected. I am incensed by this as customer service response was that I should take Volante back to dealer and *have them swop out tires and wheels with another DB11 to see if this made a difference*

My dealer said they would have to charge for several hours of diagnostic labor etc - this is 100% unacceptable

I had previously owned a 2019 Vantage which was an ownership disaster from day 1, and thought after 3 years I would buy the DB11 as a CPO with peace of mind. Wow was I mistaken. I thought any work that was due or observed within 3000 miles of purchase was to have been covered by CPO, and wasn't expecting a debacle over what should or should not be covered (by the way over $6k for replacing rotors/pad is the quote (after paying $6k for the major service 1500 miles after purchase)

A complete lack of interest in customer retention/service ...not much else I can add