SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEAK!
 

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I've been on here but this is about to drive me crazy. I've just replaced pads and rotors on my '01 A6 (HP-2 in front). I used ATE rotors and Mintex red pads front and back ... the rear ones are fine, but the fronts make this horrible squealing noise. I mean really bad, not just an irritating squeak but a gut-churning screech, to the point where I've gotten out of the car a few times to make sure the pads are still on the calipers. OK usually it's just an annoying squeak but sometimes it's really (really) bad.

The car stops fine, it's just painfully loud. After a week of this, I pulled the pads off, scraped off the anti-squeal goo that I put on there, bought a new bottle and tried again ... after another week, still the same. Maybe worse this time; definitely no better.

??? The rears are absolutely silent, and the front calipers are a bit different than brakes I've worked with in the past (mainly on my old 90, which I replaced the pads/rotors on at least a few times) so I'm wondering if I did something wrong. I STFA and looked at a bunch of thinks linked to on Stoney's links but haven't come up with anything helpful yet. A few people saying "it will go away eventually" (nobody follows up to say if it does); a lot of "use anti-squeal compound" suggestions and "lubricate the guide pins." The calipers move back and forth easily, and the boots are all in good condition so I don't really want to get in to them too much.

Anyone come across this before? I'm embarrased to drive the car these days ...

Thanks ...