C3 SQUEALING BRAKES

[Tommy Boy McCabe]

Howdy all!,
My '69 L-46 Roadster's brakes annoyingly squeal during "leisurely" driving. When I come to a quick stop from "moderate" speeds, the brakes are silent. The calipers & rotors have less than 4000 miles on them. Someone told me my brakes were becoming "glazed". I figured I'd run this by the Corvette gurus and post a message for your take on the matter. So does it sound like glazing? How do I de-glaze my brakes? How much should it cost to have this done at a brake specialty shop? Thanx again for your time and help!

Tommy

[Joe L.]

Re: C3 SQUEALING BRAKES

Tommy------

Yes, glazing can cause brake squeal such as you are experiencing. To de-glaze, you have to service the faces of the rotors and the brake pads.

To deglaze the rotors, purchase a 3M rotor surfacing kit. Many better auto stores will have these and they are not too expensive (about $25). Using these pads found in the kit and an a portable electric drill, surface the rotors as descriobed in the instructions that come with the kit. It is quite easy. However, the big problem is that you ned to do BOTH sides of the rotors. So, the rotors have to be removed from the car to do it. For the fronts, this is not really a big deal. It's also an opportunity to clean and repack the front wheel bearings. For the rears, it's a LOT more difficult IF the rotors are still riveted to the spindle (keep this in mind you guys that want to have your rear rotors riveted to the spindles). If they are not, it's easy.

For the pads, my advice would be to just replace them. It's not worth "dinking around" trying to deglaze the pads when you don't even know if the pad compound might be a big part of your problem, anyway. I recommend using ONLY high quality ORGANIC pads for street operation.