screeching brakes on 2001 550 maranello

If the caliper's pistons have a film of rust or corrosion (even a very, very small amount) they will squeek. It is a vibration / harmonic kind of thing.

I've used anti-squeek goo (Autozone) that is the consistency of toothpaste and gotten rid of the squeek every time. It's in a bottle that looks like a small rubber cement dispenser (duck bill spout) and is either a wimpy blue or halloween orange color. Its sold with the mystery oils and misc. cleaners at the stores in my area.

Remove pads, remove rust from the caliper pistons with scotchbrite pad or ~200 grit paper, apply goo to the back surface of the pads (noting any drying instructions for the goo), and reassemble.

Discard earplugs after 1st test ride ;>)

 

I have had a couple of 550's in with this problem and corrected it by changing to Porterfield brake pads. Daniel at Ricambi has them. Save the stock ones for track use.

 

Squealing brakes are caused by a high frequency vibration/resonance that sets up between the caliper and the pad - they have nothing to do with the contact between the pad & the rotor (unless there's a stone in there!).

Basically its caused by pads not quite fitting calipers properly. There are some cars which are much more prone to this than others which would suggest that the tolerance problem often resides in the caliper as much as it does in the pad.

Options are to try changing the pads - the back plates of pads from the same manufacturers will have minor tolerance differences in them & that may solve it.

As has been mentioned above, the first step is to try & get your existing pads to fit better. As above, clean everything up on both calipers & pads where metal meets metal. File off any rough spots & degrease. Then look at where you get metal-metal contact & apply some anti-squeal grease in those places. You don't need much - but you do need enough to help the pad stop moving around.

This solution may not last more than a few months at a time - it depends on the mileage you do & how bad the problem is. OTOH I (finally) managed to stop my 328 brakes squealing earlier this year after the mechanic had had 3 attempts at the job & they are still good 9 months later.

HTH

rgds

Iain

 

I was told by FoSF that screeching is caused by Ferrari pads are made of a very hard compound, switching to softer pads will solve problem but have less performance. Mine was very annoying too, brand new car, common problem. Has quiteted down substantially at about 9k miles.

 

My '99 550 had the same problem with the stock pads. I also changed to Porterfields and they work like a charm - no noise. - Tim

 

Same here on my 550 .... changed from stock pads to Porterfields ...... and I used anti-squeal compound on the backs of the new pads. Not a peep since.

 

Every 355 I test drove, including the one I eventually bought had squeeling brakes. I switched to Porterfield R4S street pads, and this not only got rid of the noise, but reduced brake dust by at least 50%, and the pedal feel and initial "bite" is much improved over the stock pads.

Recommended!