Just did a front brake job on my 2004.5 S40. I've done brakes on my cars for years and so am confident I'm doing things correctly but it's driving me crazy that in a slow stop they are squealing. Used plenty of anti-squeal compound. The one thing I didn't do was have the rotors ground but they were smooth. Is this just a matter of driving it for a few days to allow the pads to bed themselves with the rotors or what?

 

I've had some pads squeal way more than others for the entire life of the pad. I've come to the conclusion that it has to do with the specific compound the pads are made from, but I'm not sure if that's really what it is or not.

I've contented myself to imagine that they're ceramics and squealing is to be expected.

 

The noise comes from two things, what the pads are made of and how they are installed. Did you put a lot of brake lube on the pad backing?

 

I've found that using emery cloth by hand with a circular motion on the rotor to give it a non-directional finish can eliminate some pad movement until they seat.