On my QP, there is only a brake pad sensor on the front drivers side pad. Although the pads should wear evenly, it is possible that one or one set has worn faster than the others. Last time I took my car into the dealership they told me that my rear pads needed replacing and I though that I was being misled since I had just checked the passenger side rear and there was still 30% wear left. When I got home I checked the drivers side and sure enough one pad was down to about 10%.

A little bit of squeal is not unusual but it is probably best to check if the pads haven't been changed for a while.

 

brake squeal is (unfortunately) normal for this car. Do a visual check on brake pad material & my guess is that you're OK. I swapped out the factory pads for a set from Formula Dynamics and the squeal only occurs once in a blue moon. It's also a very easy DIY project and provides great 'bonding' time with her.

 

Can it be due to brake dust?

 

I brought this issue up @ the San Diego Mas shop. They looked @ them with the 16k check out - all looks good. I was told that is normal in stop & go traffic and the car likes the brakes to "be hot".

 

The factory sensors are notorious for not properly identifying brake pad wear. We suggest using the old fashion method of checking them. We've heard from many customers who have gone metal to metal with no indication from the factory sensors with factory pads.

The Maserati pads are known to squeal and yes... they do perform much better when hot.

 

In the best case the wear sensor won't activate until the pad is really worn anyways since it sits really low. Even then, there is 1 sensor and 8 pads on the car. If there is any uneven wear it is very possible that you would completely wear out a pad before the sensor was activated.

 

man, don't even get me started on the brake squeak. brake squeak drives me crazy - my GranTurismo started squeaking after one month into ownership. it usually squeaks only about 50% of the time... especially when it's really dry outside. i took it to the dealer and the service center and they basically said, "too bad". they said to break it in a bit more. it's been almost a year now and the squeak is the same, if not worse. it's about time i go back and give them sh*t until they replace it. my lexus GS430 also had a slight sqeaking problem and the service center replaced my brake rotors and pads for free.

 

brake squeal noise

2006 quatroporte - this brake noise problem drives me nuts. asked the san diego dealer service center about it at 10K m. and was told it was normal. can't believe it, but there must be some solution to this problem.

 

if the brake were always used lightly all the time since new, they tend to squeal. if you do a few 40-0 panic brakes, that usually get rid of the squeals.

 

for good or just for that ride?

 

I thought brake squeal came from the pads vibrating?

 

I think it's like running your nails across the glass...

but running your finger across does not make that squealing noise. So by modifying the friction between the 2 materials, you can make them quiet... that's my theory...

 

if your driving is with light braking mostly, which caused the squeal at first, then it will eventually come back. YMMV on how long it will last after the hard braking exercises. My experience is that if you follow a full brake pad brake in exercises till brakes are hot, basically a few repeating heavy brake from 35->0, 40->0, 60->, till brakes are hot hot, then let them cool down (don't use parking brake til they are cool) That usually make it last for long time. This was especially true when I had semi metalics on the street.

 

This is the right solution, assuming your pads are ok. In my case my GT started with this annoying noise few weeks after I got her. My service rep told me that it was caused by light driving condition creating some sort of a "glaze" on the pad surface. He could clean that up for me but would come back... or I could do more aggressive driving as the car was built for that. He suggested some 60 --> 20 sessions (never to a complete stop), in a safe environment. I did so and the problem went away.

 

Two common causes of squeal, back of pads against the piston or front of pads against the rotors.

Most pads have backing plates that limit squeal caused by movement against the pistons (or you can add copper paste yourself). The more common cause in my experience is due to an uneven rotor surface.

The Maser pads and their replacements tend to be very hard (ceramic or kevlar) and they can take a while to bed in against the rotor (especially the rear rotors).

You can accelerate the bed in process on new or newly turned rotors using the process described above, but if you just replaced pads without turning tthe rotors it is going to take a while for them to mate against the old surface.

Again my experience has been that the squeal is more pronounced at low speeds and low braking pressure as there is less force against the pads and they will vibrate more. If you are getting squeal at all speeds and as soon as you apply pressure then you may have a more serious problem with something actually rubbing against the rotor service.

 

To turn or not to turn

...but if you just replaced pads without turning tthe rotors it is going to take a while for them to mate against the old surface...

I have some new pads from Formula Dynamics for my QP but car is in winter storage and haven't replaced OEM pads yet. It looks like a pretty easy DIY even for a newbie like me. At least if all you have to do is swap pads.

But when I do, do I need to turn the rotors? How do I know if I need to? If I don't, besides taking a longer time to mate, is there any risk to rotors? I presume if they need to be turned that must be done by an "expert" in a shop?

 

Replacing the pads is a very simple job on the QP. Replacing the rotors isn't technically that much more difficult.

You will get a number of different opinions on whether to replace rotors or not. On my other cars I usually do the rotors at the same time since they are very inexpensive. I have not been able to find any aftermarket rotors for the QP so spending $2K to replace them every 15K pad change isn't my first choice. My general rule of thumb then is not to replace the rotors as long as there is no significant scoring, heat or hard spots, or excessive run-out. You need to clean the rotors properly before replacing the pads.

 

Scoring and cleaning

... My general rule of thumb then is not to replace the rotors as long as there is no significant scoring, heat or hard spots, or excessive run-out. You need to clean the rotors properly before replacing the pads.

Thanks. What is best way to clean the rotors? Is it obvious if there is significant scoring, heat or hard spots, or excessive run-out (Not sure what the latter refers to.)

 

This is a link to a google book which provides a good overview of disc brake systems.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=yUv...&hl=en&ei=yCmvSf_3FZKasAPb8dyHAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP5,M1

 

6 months later and I've had it with the brake squeal in the 2006 Maserati Quattroporte. 5 months ago I completely changed the pads to the Formula Dynamics pads posted here but there was no improvement. It doesn't matter whether they are hot or not as some have posted here. It is a load squeal that is noticeable almost a block away. Recently went into the dealer office to ask about the problem and was told all 2006's squeal like this and there is nothing that can be done.

What a POS (expletive deleted) car!!!!

 

Mine will squeal when they are cold with very little pressure applied. If you step harder it stops completely or if they get warm. Sounds pretty ugly on a classy car but I hear in Ferrari's and Lambo's too. Get a little heat in them and they are fine. I just saw where a guy got his money back on a Lambo (Lemon Law) for brake squeal they could not fix.

 

Look into these.

 

Mine always squeal when backing up, going forward is very rare. I have FD pads on front and OEM on rear.

 

Brake squeal is fairly common on these cars, especially, if you use them lightly for prolonged periods. Apparently, the OEM pads are of a harder compound and for "performance" driving ....i took that to be drive fast, break hard.

At any rate, the solution is to move to a softer aftermarket pad or have your dealer/garage shave the pads for you when they start to squeal.

I am due for a "shave" for about 2 months now

Yes, really freak'n annoying but that's what happens when you buy a performance car and end up just tooling around town :ashamed:

 

It's fairly normal for these brakes to squeal a bit during slow stopping. Mine always did. The upside is that the stock pads produce very little dust and last a really long time, typically 25K-30K miles. Aftermarket pads would improve braking and eliminate the squeal, but at the expense of reduced life and more dust on your wheels...

 

BTW, we now offer a Performance Pad and a Quieter Pad Compound that is much less likely to squeal.

As noted by many, the Maserati is notorious for squealing and the dealer can't do much about it. It also doesn't seem to happen with every Maserati which leads us to believe that it's a caliper alignment issue.

We've been selling the Quiet Pad as an option for several months now and so far so good!

In general to avoid squeal, you can do the following:

* Resurface the rotor or replace with new
* Clean the caliper inside and out with brake clean.
* Lubricate the Pad backs and slide Pins with a anti-squeal Brake Lube compound
* Follow the proper Bed-In / Break-In Instructions


Best Regards,
-- Jeff

 

Brake squeal problem solved in 06 Quattro.......Yeah!!!!!!!!

Replaced rotors and pads.

Dream come true. Somebody pinch me. It must have been the rotors this whole time. Knock on wood.........................

 

Please Tell Me What Pads Rotars You Used!

I have 2006 GT Sport-- a squealing machine, I have decided to replace rotars and pads with FD equipment...is this what you used, please advise. thanks, dh

 

Ruddy Squeal!

Came across this forum after sheer frustration with my 06 QP squealing like hell! Cant beleive that there are so many posts on this, I thought I was the only plonker with a great car that sounds like shite! If anyone finds the Holy Grail please reply! :thumbsup:

 

Brake Squeal

I was also having a bad squeal on the front driver side. I checked the pads and they were fine but I did find THIS!!! (See attachment) One of the caliper pins was half way out. That's one of the things I don't like about these type of brakes. There are no safety clips or pins holding the caliper pins in.

 

We've also found that resurfacing the factory rotors doesn't always work. We believe it has something to do with the metal composition of the factory rotors. This is also the case with Ferrari rotors and most (if not all) of the factory dealers will not resurface the rotors because they can't guarantee a quiet car, unless the rotors are replaced.

Also, you need to measure the rotors before resurfacing them to see if there really is life in the rotors. A few owners have asked us for advice to get rid of the squeal and when we had them measure the rotors... they were at or under the minimum spec. You would think that the brake shop would check this, but it seems that they don't always.

If you do resurface the rotors, it seems that turning them on the brake lathe at the slowest possible speed is your best chance for success.

During assembly of the rotor / caliper / pads be sure to clean and properly install all of the hardware and use a good anti-squeal compound on the brake pad backing. Our Pads also have an additional bit of material that helps absorb vibration and reduce noise.

You also want to be sure not to get anything on the brake rotors themselves (i.e. grease, cleaners, etc) unless it is a good quality brake clean product.

Finally, you need to properly brake in pads / rotors. We provide instructions with our pads that detail what seems to work best for our compounds.

We do offer nice rotors for the Maserati that will save you compared to the factory parts. When combined with our Quiet, Low Dust Brake Pads that typically solves the squeal issue.

Best Regards