Squeaky WHOA! series 2

[boogiedude]

Has anyone had any problems with the WHOA series 2 kits squeaking? I got the series 2 with polymatrix q pads and from day one they have been extremely noisy. I've tried every off the shelf product at napa and checkers to try and quiet them(pink good in a bottle "disc brake quiet", spray on type things, grease, etc.) and none of them have been a permanent fix. The longest I've gone with quiet brakes is about 3 days(using molykote grease), after which the squeaking will start again after the pads and discs are nice and hot(my daily commute is up and then back down a mountain with lights at the bottom each way. 60-0 stops going downhill) and slowly get more and more frequent until I pull the brakes apart and reapply the grease.

The brakes are fantastic and I love them but it drives me nuts having to tear them down every weekend to stop the embarrassment of squealing brakes.

Any ideas? products to try?

[kmead]

Have you considered a different pad? Depending on the pad compostion they can be very noise. The noise is made by the disc and the pad interaction.

[boogiedude]

That has crossed my mind, but I don't understand why it would take days to develop the noise after cleaning and greasing if it was a problem with the friction surface

[So Cal Mark]

squeaks are caused at the point the pads touch the bracket. It's high-pitch vibration. Is there some type of hardware that keeps tension on the pads?

[Razooli]

Has anyone had any problems with the WHOA series 2 kits squeaking?.....
Any ideas? products to try?

Oh, yeah ... big time!
I had the same problem after I installed the WHOA kit. Mine came with BP-10 pads and the brakes squealed so loudly I was embarrassed to drive the car. Jon Logan at Midwest sent me the Q-matrix pads right after they came out and they were just marginally better. I too have a collection of various products that were supposed to stop the noise and none of them worked at all. I was ready to take the kit off and go back to stock.

In frustration, I called Wilwood support ... the tech asked me if I had installed the pads with the shims.
"What shims?" said I. He then wrote up an order for Wilwood part #300-8259, a 4-pack of shims for Wilwood Dynalite calipers.



"They're not for Powerlite calipers so you're going to have to cut them down, but they have an adhesive on them so they'll stick to the pads."
"Where are these in the catalog?" I asked.
"They're not in the catalog." was the answer. AAARGH!

Two hours after I got them in the mail, my Spider was noise-free. The hardest part was cleaning all the crap off the back of the pads that I had applied to stop the squeal. Just make sure the pad back is squeaky clean and cut the shims a bit narrow so they don't touch the tension springs where the side of the pad hits the caliper ... they'll debond and start making noise again (ask me how I know this... ) You just need to cover the part of the pad that touches the caliper pistons. You also may have to shave the pad surface a bit for them to fit back in. If so, you'll have to go thru the bedding process again.

Summit Racing and Jegs carry them too for about $14 ... (Wilwood sent them 2-day air and charged more to ship them 90 miles than the shims cost.)
Not everyone I know with WHOA brakes has a noise problem, but enough do and the noise is crazy-making. For the $$$ these kits cost, WHOA should come up with some shims that fit the Powerlite pads and include them in every kit they sell!
(@ Mark ... yes, there are some steel tension springs in the calipers but they don't work worth a hoot! But since we're only using the Wilwood calipers for racing and not for street use, per their disclaimer, a little noise shouldn't bother us, right? )

[So Cal Mark]

right, the open exhaust on your racecar should drown out the squealing

[boogiedude]

Has anyone had any problems with the WHOA series 2 kits squeaking?.....
Any ideas? products to try?

Oh, yeah ... big time!
I had the same problem after I installed the WHOA kit. Mine came with BP-10 pads and the brakes squealed so loudly I was embarrassed to drive the car. Jon Logan at Midwest sent me the Q-matrix pads right after they came out and they were just marginally better. I too have a collection of various products that were supposed to stop the noise and none of them worked at all. I was ready to take the kit off and go back to stock.

In frustration, I called Wilwood support ... the tech asked me if I had installed the pads with the shims.
"What shims?" said I. He then wrote up an order for Wilwood part #300-8259, a 4-pack of shims for Wilwood Dynalite calipers.



"They're not for Powerlite calipers so you're going to have to cut them down, but they have an adhesive on them so they'll stick to the pads."
"Where are these in the catalog?" I asked.
"They're not in the catalog." was the answer. AAARGH!

Two hours after I got them in the mail, my Spider was noise-free. The hardest part was cleaning all the crap off the back of the pads that I had applied to stop the squeal. Just make sure the pad back is squeaky clean and cut the shims a bit narrow so they don't touch the tension springs where the side of the pad hits the caliper ... they'll debond and start making noise again (ask me how I know this... ) You just need to cover the part of the pad that touches the caliper pistons. You also may have to shave the pad surface a bit for them to fit back in. If so, you'll have to go thru the bedding process again.

Summit Racing and Jegs carry them too for about $14 ... (Wilwood sent them 2-day air and charged more to ship them 90 miles than the shims cost.)
Not everyone I know with WHOA brakes has a noise problem, but enough do and the noise is crazy-making. For the $$$ these kits cost, WHOA should come up with some shims that fit the Powerlite pads and include them in every kit they sell!
(@ Mark ... yes, there are some steel tension springs in the calipers but they don't work worth a hoot! But since we're only using the Wilwood calipers for racing and not for street use, per their disclaimer, a little noise shouldn't bother us, right? )

Thank you thank you thank you!!

I had come across similar type products in magazines but I had no idea if it would work for this problem. Its hard to tell in the pictures on my phone, but out of curiosity, what are the shims made of?

[Razooli]

I had come across similar type products in magazines but I had no idea if it would work for this problem. Its hard to tell in the pictures on my phone, but out of curiosity, what are the shims made of?

The shim material is made by a company called Wolverine Advanced Materials ... go to http://www.wambrake.com/...
they pack a lot of technology into .032 in.
"Unlike laminated materials, our insulator materials are chemically and mechanically bonded through a unique manufacturing process. The cross-linked structure provides for greater bond integrity and as a result, a much more durable, long-wearing insulator material."
Whatever they do, it works.
I also found shim material at some motorcycle sites ... rectangles you cut to fit ... but I didn't know what material they were made of.
I went with the Wilwood shims ... it's a kludge, but it works. And stick with the Polymatrix''Q''-Compound pads. They are way superior for street use .... good braking cold and low dust. The "semi-race" BP-10s that came with my kit were noisy, lots of dust and needed to be heated up before they were efficient.

[manoa matt]

60-0 stops??? The speed limit is 45 on that road. Didn't learn the lesson from the last time going 63 in a 35??

[boogiedude]

Flow of traffic at the bottom is 60 in the slow lane. Learned the lesson well.

[boogiedude]

Got my shims in last night from summit racing. $13+Shipping. So far so good,the squeaking seems to be all but eliminated.

[Razooli]

Great!!! Glad to hear it worked for you.