I had become really pissed about the brake squeal issue on my car. It is a 2005 with 3,500 miles on it and the brakes have squealed since day 1 of owning the car. Having brought it back to the dealer several and them just telling me they can't recreate the concern I was at my wits end. I really di not want to take off the braking system to coat it with an anti squeal agent so I searched for an easier solution.

I bought a $2.59 can of autozone disc brake cleaner spray on sunday and I basically saturated the entire brake system using about half the can, I then let them air dry for a few hours. I have been squeal free for about 200 miles.

 

If the squeal returned say after 1,000 miles then I would be happy. I would cost less than $3 every thousand miles or so to clean the system and remove the squeal.

 

I had an early 05 (built 8/04) so I was covered under the TSB. Dealer replaced my brakes and I haven't had a squeal since. Check your VIN to see if it's within range of the TSB.

 

Poor guy...I feel your pain. I too am getting squeel, I'm just nearing the 10K mark. Mine have only started a couple weeks ago.

The squel is due to the composition of the pads, which are likely semi-metallic (i'm assuming from the noise and the dust on my wheels). The reason why they can't produce the issue is because they will naturally squeel when 1) dirty and 2) cold. By the time you get to the delearship you've got them warmed up so you won't get the same effect. These are common side-effects of some other higher-end pads, as well, being the noise and dust.

If you want quiter stops, go with ceraminc pads.

 

I had my car back into the Dealer today again for the Brake Squeek. I just got a call from the service manager. He told me that there is yet another brake pad redesign available and they have placed an order for the new parts. Hope this fixes it.

 

Got the TSB done, squeal came back after about 5000 miles. It seems to happen after hard driving/braking, whether it's burning hot or raining buckets. Tried the Brakleen stuff, it works for about 50 miles and then if anything it made it worse and makes the squeals happen even faster. Pretty sad if you ask me, to have such a good looking car only to get blank stares from squeal free minivans and jalopi yugo drivers when you squeal up to a stop light. With all these little problems that crop up with the 8, I've actually started telling my friends straight up that my car was put together in a pretty half @ssed fashion and that it's falling apart left and right.

 

This is another new set of pads that I'm talking about (third try I think) . The TSB just came out a few days ago.
Is this the same TSB you had done Vertigo?

 

a way to fix it for sure...

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

i have the old style 04 brakes... not the new improved ones.... 43k miles no noise.... lots of dust, but no noise...

beers

 

It's the 2nd type of pads that Mazda put out...I would hope the 3rd iteration fixes the problem.

 

don't drive a sports car if you can't stand a little brake squeal

 

If this was the norm for all sport cars then I would deal with it but this is not the case. I have driven corvettes, m3s, wrxs, s2k, and none of them have squealed on a consistent basis like my 8. Also they just released a tsb on the brake squeal issue a day ago so even mazda who produces this "sports car" does not believe that the brake squeal is acceptable.

 

my bet is you didn't drive them on a regular basis because M3 brakes especially are prone to squealing and large amounts of dust like every other performance oriented German car.

The only thing that Mazda learned was it was a mistake to make the RX8 have brake pads that helped it be the best stopping japanese car ever... instead they should have just put less aggressive pads on to keep its sports car owners happy



go out to your car, drive around the block 1 or 2 times with the brakes dragging lightly and your pads will scuff up enough to prevent squealing until the next time you glaze them over from your driving habbits.

 

I have tried that already with no results. I am a salesman at a dealership and I have driven the previously stated vehicles as short term demos(3-4 months). I did not notice the brake squeal on any of them. I love the stopping performance but I don't like pulling to a stop sounding like I need a brake job. Thanks for the advice though.