Brake squeal and PFC carbon Metallic pads - any help?
Brake squeal and PFC carbon Metallic pads - any help?
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Julian Thompson

Original Poster:

2,620 posts

254 months

Monday 22nd April 2019
quotequote all
New set of Brembo discs on my 986s and a new set of PFC Carbon Metallic pads. The strapline is “no dust no squeal no fade” or something.

Anyway. I’ve run them in nice - I’ve tried cleaning everything - they are horrifically noisy and the squeal is unbearable all the time.

Any ideas?

The Wookie

14,154 posts

244 months

Monday 22nd April 2019
quotequote all
Put the OEM pads back in. If PFC guarantee no squeal without any knowledge of the application or the disc design then they’re insane.

If you follow the bedding procedure they should have given you they might quieten down for a while but it will come back

ETA - here you go

https://www.gb-ent.com/pages/performance-friction-...

Edited by The Wookie on Monday 22 April 20:05

Julian Thompson

Original Poster:

2,620 posts

254 months

Monday 22nd April 2019
quotequote all
Cheers for that - pretty close to my standard bedding in process but to no avail. Maybe I could take them out and scrub them?

The oem pads are shot, would need to buy new.

nickfrog

22,880 posts

233 months

Monday 22nd April 2019
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That's really disapointing as PFC make great products. I assume they are the Z rated entry level pads Julian? I have used them successfully and bedding in was easy so perhaps the discs had a bit of oil or grease on them? I would try and emery cloth both the discs and pads to start from scratch just in case there was irregular deposit of pads.

GreenV8S

30,902 posts

300 months

Monday 22nd April 2019
quotequote all
I have no experience with those pads, but things that have helped with brake squeal on other cars have been chamfering the edges of the pads, adding anti-squeal shims between the pads and pistons, or removing anti-squeal shims if present. Sometimes a good clean of the caliper helps - sometimes it makes it worse. It seems to be a matter of just changing things that affect the natural frequency until the resonance goes away.

Julian Thompson

Original Poster:

2,620 posts

254 months

Monday 22nd April 2019
quotequote all
Many thanks gents. The pads and discs were meticulously clean upon install and the calipers were physically removed from the car and cleaned up.

I’m not sure what pads I have, Nick, but I’ll check the invoice and revert that information. Would it make a difference? (presuming you’re thinking about compound)

Can definitely chamfer the pads if you think that’ll help? Bit of a faff but up for it if it has a good chance - how much chamfer? 4mm leading edge?

GreenV8S

30,902 posts

300 months

Tuesday 23rd April 2019
quotequote all
No guaranty it will fix the problem, but a 45 degree bevel a few mm deep on the leading and trailing edges would be enough, if it's going to make any difference.

The Wookie

14,154 posts

244 months

Tuesday 23rd April 2019
quotequote all
Chances are the 986 is prone to squeal and the OEM setup has been carefully tuned to prevent it.

As GreenV8S says things like chamfering and squeal shim tuning can improve it (although rarely actually completely cure it by itself in my experience), sometimes adding high temperature dampening grease (Eg daikalub NOT copper slip) to things like abutment faces or pad retention pins but it’s a trial and error process depending on the car.

In my experience of solving brake noise issues really the only way to fix it properly without a change of pad compound is a proper analysis and either tweaking things like the disc design or adding mass dampers to the pads, bracket or caliper.

Edited by The Wookie on Tuesday 23 April 07:08

Julian Thompson

Original Poster:

2,620 posts

254 months

Saturday 11th May 2019
quotequote all
Very sorry for the very late reply.

I’m going to try chamfering and report back. Thanks for the efforts to help me.

Julian Thompson

Original Poster:

2,620 posts

254 months

Saturday 1st June 2019
quotequote all
Reporting back.

I disassembled everything, cleaned it all and hit the friction surfaces with a touch of emery cloth.

The squeal came back within 5 miles.

It’s horrific.

So I dug out my invoice - seems that I have “08” pads - which seems to mean that they are actually not road pads!

Which explains that I can’t get anywhere near enough heat into them on the road to shut them up.

Not sure whether to keep them or move them on.

james_gt3rs

4,816 posts

207 months

Monday 3rd June 2019
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You could probably sell the PFC pads to the track day people, and buy silent OEM pads with that.

nickfrog

22,880 posts

233 months

Tuesday 4th June 2019
quotequote all
Julian Thompson said:
Reporting back.

I disassembled everything, cleaned it all and hit the friction surfaces with a touch of emery cloth.

The squeal came back within 5 miles.

It’s horrific.

So I dug out my invoice - seems that I have “08” pads - which seems to mean that they are actually not road pads!

Which explains that I can’t get anywhere near enough heat into them on the road to shut them up.

Not sure whether to keep them or move them on.
Not surprised as the Z rated pad, which I thought you had, is very silent, and much cheaper. 08 is a brilliant compound but not for the road, you'll get decent money for it on ebay.