Dear All,

Greetings from Chicagoland.

I am wondering if someone has tried what I did to make squeaky brakes shut up. I have replaced brake pads & rotors on all 4 wheels back in August, with all OEM parts (Brembo rotors & Textar pads, plus Volvo hardware). I used plenty of "Brake Quiet" grease everywhere EXCEPT the friction surfaces. After about a week, the brakes began to squeak. I thought it was initial break-in sort of deal, but the squeak persisted. I then took them apart, spray-cleaned all parts with brake cleaner and put them back together. They were quiet for another few days, and the squeak kicked in again.

In the end, I decided to give it a try on cv-joint grease. The reason for this is that molybdenum-based grease is usually designed for high-pressure/vibration application, and as you all know, brake components are under high-pressure/vibration. I coated everywhere with it, EXCEPT the friction surfaces. It's been about a month since the noise decided to keep its mouth shut. I am just wondering if this could harm anything in the brake system, otherwise moly-based grease seems to be better than generic "Brake Quiet" compound.

2nd part. I wonder if someone has managed to revitalize ABS on his/her 850. Mine works as long as the ABS check light is out, but once it turns on (and it does too often, 9.8 times out of 10) the ABS goes inoperative. I wonder which component generally fails. According to research, it's usually the wheel speed sensor or control module, both are unethically overpriced. If it's just loose connections, which connection usually fails? ABS on 850 is so unreliable that the light may come back on after spending hundreds of dollars on just parts to fix it.

If you have permanently fixed your ABS, I strongly suggest that you apply for the Nobel Prize, get your 1 million dollars and buy us wheel speed sensors & control modules, etc...

Cheers,


JPN

 

Silicon grease usually works great on the pads.

Most likely the ABS module is bad.
You can get it rebuilt for $100.00 or less.

 

Hello Mr. Tech,

Greetings from Chicagoland.

Thank you for your reply. Next time I'll try silicone-based grease. So far, the cv-joint grease seems to be holding up very well too. Drivers in Japan seem to use moly-based grease, I think they have brake quiet compound that has moly in it.

I'll also try to rebuild the ABS module, but I don't know where I can get it rebuilt. Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.

Best regards,


JPN

 

The rebuilt ABS units are sold on ebay. I saw one on there last night and it was under $100. - AB

 

A little o/t, but are your guy's brakes not very sensitive? Like in my dads 02 corolla, hitting the brakes brings the car to almost a dead stop, but in my volvo it takes longer.

You gotta press real hard for it to ahve the same brake pressure.

 

Make sure you grease the calipers/piston where it makes contact with the pads as well.

ABS module, you can try www.Volvospeed.com, someone there might be able to direct you more or www.volvoparts.com or www.fcpgroton.com

Ebay is alright, but not sure what kind of guarantee you'll get.

 

Greetings from windy Chicagoland.

Mr. B1mmer,

Thanks for the reference, but I never used e-bay and don't feel comfortable using it just yet, but thank you for the suggestion.


Mr. RedTurbo850,
My 850's pedal sinks about 3 inches until it kicks in. I recently flushed & bled the hydraulic fluid with Power Bleeder (motiveproducts.com), made sure that there was no bubble. I concluded that it is a tired master cylinder, and a rebuilt/new master cylinder is unethically overpriced. For a car like 850 turbo, the brakes should work better.


Mr. 96DTM850,

Thank you for your suggestion. Yes, I coated everywhere with Brake Quiet, including the metal tangs that fit into the bore of the piston and where the piston surface meets the backing plate of the pads. I also coated the "lands" on the caliper where the tabs on the pads sit on, and I saturated the backing plates of the pads. I also coated the slider pins with synthetic grease. It turned out that it was the rear brakes that were squeaking. So I took the pads off, cleaned everything with brake cleaner and coated them with cv-joint grease, and peace fell upon Earth.

I'll try the links you've provided, to see if someone has an ABS module at less than $100.

Thank you all,


JPN

 

i did all my brakes on saturday evening 4 rotors + 8 pads, i noticed last night that there was a bit of squealing going on, I used and allways have used anti sieze(not on rubber parts) on the brakes whae i have done them in the past(on other cars) so if this squeaking keeps up I may tera them apart again and try that CV joint grease
thanks for the tip!

I cleaned them up a bit and got it all at a good price as well, front and rear rotors and front ceramic pads and rear organic pads all for $231.00 I think I done well, well add $10 for the gold caliper paint hahaha!! Oh BTW that was an EBAY deal for the brakes!!

before



after

 

Oh and that was $231 Canadian as well!, brakes on ebay work when you can pick them up from the seller, wouldn't want to pay the mail man to bring em!

 

Ebay is ok and sometimes you can get some good deals. You just gotta make sure the feedback on the guy is very good. And don't send him anything by Western Union to Nigeria. LOL. The 3% paypal fee is kind of annoying also.

And is it your conclusion that the brakes are just really bad and that's the way they are? My dad went to New Orleans recently and had a brand new Taurus rental car, and he said the brakes were just as bad so I'm not sure if that's just the way the brakes are or do I gotta change something (pads, etc).

 

Ever since i was young all my moms volvos have had brake squeal even after putting new ones on. now mine r squealing even though they r a few months old. i cant wait to get the brake kit from volvospeed.

oh and nice rotor warpage Mikeysq

 

Hello Mr. RedTurbo,

Greetings from unusually warm Chicagoland.

I assumed that the master cylinder may be weak, but I once had an Accord and it was pretty much the same (initial pedal sink). Honda dealer told me it was normal for that year's Accord. For now it does not pose a threat on safety, but if it gets worse I'll get a new/rebuilt master cylinder. I don't believe pads would cause sinking pedal, unless it's really worn out (less than 3mm, but then you would start to hear the wear indicators).

As for the squeal, you can either try a silicone-based grease (advice from Mr. Tech) or, like I did, cv-joint grease or any molybdenum-based grease. Make sure not to get it on the friction surfaces. Wipe off with brake cleaner or alcohol if it gets on the friction surfaces.

Best regards,

PS: Hello Mr. MikeySq, nice cross-drilled rotors. I couldn't afford them so I went with the plain Brembo's.


JPN

 

how much did you pay for the brembos then? cheaper than what I got the the cross drilled ones for? $231CAD for 4 rotors and F+R pads, cheaper than that woyld be almost free!! haha

 

Two thumbs up on the brakes!!![8D]

 

Greetings from Chicagoland.

Brake fluid is an item that is neglected way too often. Anyway, I used ATE (German, an OEM for brake-related components such as the hoses, caliper, etc...) DOT-4 Blue Racing fluid. It was quite nice to look at the fluid color changing from amber to greenish blue, then to cobalt blue. This ensures that the system has been completely flushed. When I did the right front brakes, some chewy-looking gunk came out, the fluid was probably the original (aged 12 years, not bad for a Scotch whisky but too bad for brake fluid).


Mr. MikeySq,

I don't think I paid any less than you did on the rotors, as I bought them from generic on-line store before I found FCP Groton. What annoys me about most on-line stores is that they don't give you enough information, such as parts illustrations or part numbers, like FCP Groton does. Anyway, someday when I save enough to buy a new car, I'll buy cross-drilled rotors, ceramic pads and stainless-braided hoses.

Cheers,


JPN

 

aah why do that... new cars are way over priced and they're no fun..... everything usually works on them![8D]