Pulsating brake squeaking... warped rotor or dragging brakes?
 

A couple months ago I replaced my OEM brake pads with a set of Cobalt Friction GT Sports. The pads squeal a bit coming to a stop, which I expected from these particular pads. However, as of late I have started to notice a pulsating squeak as if the pads are dragging on the rotors (or possibly warped rotors?) at low speed. The squeaking is easily noticeable when driving by houses or something that the sound can reflect back to the car. Does anyone have any insight as to how likely this might be a warped rotor vs. dragging pads? I do not notice any sort of shimmy or shuddering when under normal or heavy braking conditions.

This was my first time ever replacing pads, and I did not use brake grease, but rather CRC Brake Quiet (red goo stuff) on the backs of the pads. I've noticed now though that I shouldn't use that stuff as it is meant for non-shim applications. I have picked up a bottle of grease and I intend to re-examine the pads and calipers this week to see what exactly is going on. I plan on applying brake grease liberally, especially around the sides of the pads in contact with the calipers. Is there anything else I should look out for or clean especially the next time?

I think you may have bought the wrong set of pads for the street.

Your getting pad build up on the rotors.

I didn't see any GT series on the Net. only XRs are available.

The GTs are now discontinued, I believe. I got these pads as a compromise between street and track/autocross use. Would the pad buildup be from not using the brakes hard enough? I imagine a couple good hard stomps might help alleviate that?

You know the black foot ferret is trying to make a come back.

I use the CRC Brake Quiet (red goo stuff) and don't have a problem.

If your going to add greese, while your down there lightly sand both sides of the disk.

Then bed them in.