Ugh, this is driving me nuts.

I have a 2006 Pontiac Pursuit GT with 14,000km.

The brakes squeal. Always. However, they squeal much worse in cold weather...

Brought to dealer, they said its due to my light braking and nothing is actually wrong. In order to get the squealing to stop, I have to periodically brake very hard and the squealing will quit.

This is supposedly due to 'large metallic brakes for the size of the car'.

So I have been doing this, braking harder, stomping, etc. This is not solving the problem. A good hard stop may cease the squealing for a few minutes, but it'll be back in no time...

I have noticed a car wash usually stops the squealing for about a day...

Thoughts? I had my 6 month inspection done at the same time, and the brake pads were fine...10mm front 8mm back. They didn't see anything wrong with the brakes physically.

 

You could allways try putting antiseize on the ends of the pads where they contact the caliper cradle.

 

It's brake dust. Just get some good ceramic pads that don't spray dust all over the place like all stock crappy GM pads do. Mine have started to squeek with the cold weather, but I'm not cleaning the car as often either. Pay the money for new pads and no more squeeky squeeky.

 

Does anyone recommend some good pads?

I'm utterly paranoid about my warranty...

I have brought the car in 3 times now for the brakes, with appointment #4 later this week. I will not stop harassing them until they do something.

 

maybe if you keep harassing them they will give you the gmpp rotors and pads like they did for the other member on here. who was that by the way?? someone complained about their brakes and the dealership gave them new ones.

 

They should have scrubbed the glazing off the pads and rotors with some 80 grit emery or skinned the rotors on the lathe.
You probably notice the car not breaking as good as before when applying them harder than you normally do.
The Glazing is cause by constant light breaking.

 

Well, what else is a supposed to do in the winter???

 

I've had the same problem with brakes on other cars before. ALways happens on drum brakes. just need to pull the caliper off or the drum and give em a good cleaning.

 

Same problem here man. I'm just going to live with it until I can afford some new rotors and pads.

 

OK, so they've ordered me some new rear pads. Hopefully this will help.

I am not optimistic; if this doesn't fix it I likely will not find out until next winter. I will have 40k KM on it by then (I drive 40k/yr) and obviously they'll attribute it to something not warranty related.

 

Replaced the rear brake pads.

Noticed a lot of scuff and scratches on the rear rotors; no action taken.

Squealing still present.

Sigh. This totally ruins my interest in the car. I'm shopping for an Acura now. I cannot live with the idea I paid $23k CAD for a car with unfixable squealing brakes.

 

No one with any other ideas?

 

Phoned and bitched at corporate today...we'll see what results will come of that.