Self fix brake squeal - fail!

[tonyarmitstead]

Got everything together ready to fix my tremendously loud brake squeal on my 07 V8V and guess what! - my trolley jack wont fit under the car - the car is just too low!

Thwarted, big style :-( and I have to drive to Loughborough tomorrow. If anyone in the area hears a combination of V8 raw followed by a loud squeal - that will be me.

I tried all the advice on hard braking sequences and it does fix the squeal for short while but it always comes back.

Does anyone do low profile trolley jacks?

Tony.

[ShayneJ]

Cheap n dirty but how about driving the car up onto some bits of wood to raise
the side you want to get the jack under?

until you source a low entry jack that is.

[laracer]

tonyarmitstead said:

Got everything together ready to fix my tremendously loud brake squeal on my 07 V8V and guess what! - my trolley jack wont fit under the car - the car is just too low!

Thwarted, big style :-( and I have to drive to Loughborough tomorrow. If anyone in the area hears a combination of V8 raw followed by a loud squeal - that will be me.

I tried all the advice on hard braking sequences and it does fix the squeal for short while but it always comes back.

Does anyone do low profile trolley jacks?

Tony.

Had exactly the same problem when changing wheels - I bought a jack similar to this one from the same guy I think, although this version looks a lot more blingy -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-25-Ton-Low-Profile-Mul-fun...

You need to get one that is not only low but also has a low frame to get under the deep sill width to the jacking point - works great and my V8V is about 25mm lower than standard.

Edited by laracer on Tuesday 3rd May 07:59

[macpaul]

Hi Tony,

I have exactly the same problem and have bought myself three things.

1. An 1/2 inch drive 18v Ryobi Cordless Impact Wrench. So much faster than manpower.

2. A 22mm socket.

3. A 2.5 ton Sealey Yankee trolley jack, model 2500 LE (for Low Entry, I think)

I have de-squealed the brakes for a while by cleaning and copper greasing everything, then the problem comes back so round I go again and these investments have been worth it for me.

Apologies if you're an expert but one thing to bear in mind is that the wear indicator sensors are held in place on the pads by little spring clips which are easy to lose if you're not careful.

I can do this job with my eyes shut by now, so let me know if you have any problems.

Best,

Simon.

[tonyarmitstead]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I need to invest in a new jack - looks like I might be doing this several times in the future as well.

If it gets too much of a pain, I might invest in the plastic shim set which is supposed to cure the problem. There is an AM workshop procedure which describes the fitting of these shims. Anyone had this done?

Cheers, Tony.

[bogie]

Pagids (what are OE) are squeaky on other car/disc combos too. Its quite common on Lotus'

The fix is the same; fit anti squeal backing pads/shims (should be standard fit now) , chamfer edge of pad (not always needed) and copper grease back of pad (always) then bed in procedure as per Pagid website (always)

from time to time, if youdont use the car often (or you just cruise about motorways, no hard braking) they seem to glaze over and need bedding in again, otherwise the squeaks come back

its just particular pad/disc combinations that do it so it seems ...not just Pagids though

Machinemart do a low entry jack for not a lot of money, and as per above, get the socket and cordless impact wrench - very handy if you swap wheels often

Edited by bogie on Tuesday 3rd May 08:37

[macpaul]

I think the fitting the shims is just a matter of applying the self adhesive pieces to the backs of the pads.

Often the squealing problem is also to do with the slight binding of the handbrake pads on the rear wheels. Braking causes the suspension to flex slightly and the pads make contact apparently.

These pads come off too for cleaning/greasing but are more fiddly as the space is tighter and the calipers need to be removed from the inboard side of the wheel.

[tuscaneer]

had the shims fitted a couple of years ago but didn't note a massive improvement.i found that when jetwashing the wheels a huge amount of dust comes out from the inside of the disc and back of the caliper.once you have done this you stay squeak free until you are due your next wash.i have noticed(now that i have changed into something else)that the v8v seems to produce an incredible amount of brake dust from very little use when compared to other cars

[Richales]

It's a PITA but I use the wife's screw jack for her mini to raise the Aston up 2-3 inches just to get the trolley jack in! I don't have cause to do it very often so not worth buying a new jack for me.

Regarding brake squeal - I had this a while back and it really bugged me. I had the dealer strip apart the brakes, re-skim the discs and reassemble as part of a service. Cost me the additional princely some of £140 but did seem to resolve. This was 4000 miles ago and sad to say that it's starting to slightly come back though.

[mikey k]

macpaul said:

I think the fitting the shims is just a matter of applying the self adhesive pieces to the backs of the pads.

Often the squealing problem is also to do with the slight binding of the handbrake pads on the rear wheels. Braking causes the suspension to flex slightly and the pads make contact apparently.

These pads come off too for cleaning/greasing but are more fiddly as the space is tighter and the calipers need to be removed from the inboard side of the wheel.

Exactly
Ironically I did mine yesterday
I got mine on a trolley jack by using some caravan/motorhome levelling ramps first.
The pads are Pagid RS4's with a Brembo anti-squeal shim.
There is a plastic pad on the back of the pads, on to this goes the metal shim with cutouts in, on top of that is a plastic adhesive film.
On mine this has been punched and moved by the pistons in the calipers, this had trapped water in the crown of the pistons causing several of the caliper pistons on different corners to start corroding
That will be taken up with Aston
In the meantime I did actually copper grease between the pad and the shim.
The other thing that slightly surprised me is the pad locking pins.
You simply knock them out from front to rear and there is a little sleeve on the head that locks them in. Mine were badly corroded and took some afford to get out. They are stainless so I sanded the damage off and copper greased them as well.
On the wheels, some cars use hub centric rings to locate the wheel on the hub before the nuts go on. Aston don't, this can cause them to stick as the hub is cast iron and the wheel is alloy. The small gap and the lip on the wheel centre retains water and cause the hub to rust bonding on to the hub. after cleaning them up I used a thin film of copper grease to stop it binding again.

A few points to note;
The rear jacking points are about 1/4 size of the fronts.
I ended up using an ice hockey puck to spread the load and also removed one bolt from the rear under tray to get more area.
Once on the jacks it is almost impossible to get axle stands under for three reasons.
1) There is no central jacking point at the rear
2) The front central point is hidden by the undertray and confusingly the manual warns it should not be jacked up with this removed.
3) With the jack in place there isn't enough space to get an axle stand in.

I'm going to have a think about this!
There may be a way to do it with a bottle jack a large metal plate and slip the axle in along side

[mikey k]

Forgot to mention the handbrake calipers!
I didn't touch them but noted there was more wear on the inside of both.
I know these are a PITA to do and they are very sensitive to correct adjustment.
I think I'll do these over the winter once I've got a solution for axle stands or get Rick to do them.

[tonyarmitstead]

Have ordered a "Liftmaster Aluminium LED Low Profile Racing Trolley Jack 1.5 Ton" from Amazon.

Hopefully it will arrive before weekend when I can have another attempt!

Thanks for all the advice/info, will let you know how I go on.

Cheers, Tony

[mikey k]

I was wondering what the LED bit was, so I checked
"6 stunning bright LED lights to help your visibility in any circumstances"
Be interesting to see how you get on!

[tonyarmitstead]

Its all about the bling!