brake pads that don't suck
 

can anyone recommend a set of relatiely cheep pads (and/or shoes since i have drums in the back) that don't suck. i just put on a full set of rayobestos pads from pepboys cuz they were the only gig in town that had pads and shoes for my car. The problem is they squeal like i'm murdering someone.

Did you put on the anti-squeal compound?

Put the pads in boiling water and wipe them off. See if that works.

I clean my disc rotors on my mountainbike w/ alcohol and then put the pads in a pot of boiling water and then wipe them off to clean them...hehe.

yeah i used the anti squeal stuff at all points that the shoe holder contacts the backing. I took apart the drums yesterday and sanded the pads down and then sanded down the inside of the drums until i couldn't get anymore break dust out of them. When i put them back on it was beautiful for about 5 miles now it's slowly returning to the gut wrenching squeal.

try getting your rotors and drums turned. they could be glazed more than hand sanding will remove.

Get a roll of aluminum exhaust tape and put it on the backs of all the pads. Works every freaking time.

can i do this with the shoes? Just put the tape at the three points the shoes contact the backing?

No I don't think the tape would work on shoes. Its unusual for drums to squeal though, something must be wrong. Check for something that may be loose. Be sure the shoes are seating properly, and the adjuster is correctly set. The drums should barely fit over the shoes when you put them on. Do some hard brakeing in reverse right after you put them back together too.

this is what's so strange. The drums clear well and when spun they don't make any grinding noises. The adjuster seems fine and nothing is loose that i can see. I can still threshold break and lock up the brakes. And it seems they only squeal just before a stop; prolly < 5mph. Anything over that and they seem fine.

When i get back home in a few weeks i'll have my dad check it out since he's an ex-mechanic maybe he can spot something i can't.

I also have a 99 1.6 Lx and my rear brakes sqeal right befor a stop also. Like from 5mph to stop. .............Duncan

On drum brakes, there should be some drag on them when they are adjusted properly. You may need to go back and make that adjustment.

On some drums (like on some mazdas and fords), you need to adjust the rear by using the parking brake multiple times for the adjusters to spin out.

as far as i can tell the adjusters opened up as they are supposed to. With the drums off i set the adjusters to their retracted setting and pulled the ebrake all the way up to test that the adjuster would "butterfly" open all the way. It did. Then I did the same test by pumping the breaks. I reset them again and put the drums on.

Would pulling the e-brake while braking (or when stopped) help do you think?

well it looks like there is no end in sight for the squeal. Maybe I set the adjuster wrong. Whats the process to set it to the correct point?

Hmm, if they seemed to have adjusted correctly, you may just have whiny rear pads, which can happen.

If they have adjusted correctly, it shouldn't spin once you let go (most of the times), but check that with the local service shop.

I ordered a pair of EBC Greenstuff pads for my front rotors from TireRack....but they are on backorder and I don't know when I'm going to be getting my brakes put on!!