squeal - front wheels

[Charlie Guthrie]

I've been away for a while, but stopped in to read a bit and saw this
WD-40 concept. Ohoooo, bad idea. Putting any petroleum based lubricant
or even brake fluid on a brake pad sounds like a bad idea. The porous
nature of the pad soaks up the lube and it oozes out with elevated
temperature. Also, it does tend to glaze. Pretty much lubricating brakes
seems wrong. Now, if I really wanted to try something like making the
brakes slippery, I'd do it with a water based lube like dish washing
soap or even a degreaser like Simple Green. At least that stuff should
wash off with water.
Before I tried that, however, I would try chamfering the leading edges
of the brake pads. I have cured the squeal on many vehicles with a 30 -
45 degree chamfer about 1/16" to 1/8" wide. This keeps the front edge
from doing a stick-slip high frequency chatter. The reason that this
squeal may be less pronounced at low temperatures is that the
coefficient of friction of the pads is lower (more slippery) at low
temperatures.
Good luck,
Charlie G