I've got an annoying squeak on my front brake. I've put in new pads and used several different types of grease behind the pad, but it made no difference. The brake works OK, just squeaks.

I've searched to forum for suggestions, but surprisingly no one seems to had problems with front brake squeak. The next thing is to buy a front disk, but I don't want to do that if there is some simple remedy!!

Any ideas why it might squeak?

what bike are we talking about here?

Could be contaminated with brake fluid or wd40 etc. try get them really hot then get them into a stream or use a fairy liquid bottle to quench them quickly. This can work. Or take pads out and clean them with brake cleaner. failing that try new pads. Doubt its the disc but prove me wrong.

After cleaning pads etc, I use pbr anti-squeal disc pad adhesive - essentially a contact glue. Apply thinly on back of pad and ideally on the rim of the piston (more difficult), allow to touch dry until tacky, put them in, put the wheel and disc in and apply brake for a few seconds to allow bonding and all solved (well it was for me). Good thing is that now the pads are lightly glued to the piston (but please not too much glue as you do not want it squeezed around the piston edges). Makes wheel/disc removal and re-insertion easy and also not affected by water or horrors of horrors high-pressure washing as brake grease can be. Just my thoughts and personal experience. BUT, do what anotherfive suggests first.

i used copper slip on the back of the pad, the only thing is i can't give my bike a good try as i'm stuck in the back garden for a few weeks but it does seem to of done the trick, the bike is a 2000 sherco 250.

Edited December 23, 201312 yr by toetoe

I would sand down the disc with 60 or 80 grain sandpaper, maybe that'll do the trick (before I would glue the seals to the pistons ;-)

Putting a slight chamfer on the leading edge of the pads has been known to sort out a squeak, but it depends on the cause.

That is probably not a lot of help!

I wouldn't put a chamfer on the pads, this only increases dirt built up on the pads, i.o.w. a sharp leading edge "cleans" the disc when braking.

The only thing I would do is, make sure the wheel bearings are o.k., clean everything (also the mounting points of the disc if it's a floating disc),

put some high temp grease ( Copa slip, never seez or similar, no ordinary high temp grease!) on the back of the pads and sand down the disc.

I had this problem with my last bike. Tried several solutions but the only thing that worked for me was to take off the pads and cut a cross from corner to corner each way with a hack saw. Not All the way through pads but just enough to mark the pads well. Did not notice any reduction in brake power or feel.

Good luck. It sure can be annoying.

you could do all of the great suggestions above or you could ignore it its just noise

It's the pad material that is causing the noise, ever since they removed asbestos from pad material we have had this problem. (cars & bike). cleaning can actually make the problem worse in some cases.

My Beta suffered this problem as well as many of my customers cars and the best way is to slightly chamfer the edges,scuff up the pad using fine emery cloth along with the disc.

As above!

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give some of them a try between Christmas and the New Year and let you know if they are any better.

Some reason I can't reply using the iPad app??