Thread: Brake pad anti-squeal goo

Originally Posted by POD

I need to replace the rear brake pads in the 130. It's an absolute shocker for squealing, especially following exposure to dusty conditions or water crossings. My trade knowledge being several decades out of date, I'm wondering if there's a particular goo that people have found effective. Google reveals a few options, including the red stuff that CRC make that appeared in about 1981. It worked sometimes back then. Wondering if there's anything really effective.

Good question.

I have had incessant issues, I used the red goo and it made barely any difference.

I ended up fitting anti squeal shims, which have made a fair bit of difference but still not perfect.

I pinched this diagram from defender2.net, but it's actually from the LR workshop manual originally.

As the shims seem to be extremely hard to find, here is the part number:

DA5299.

Cheers

I already have the shims in place and if I recall correctly, a genuine set of pads from LR includes a set of shims. I don't think they're a particularly effective anti-squeal measure. The rear brakes on the 130 and my previous Range Rovers are the worst brakes I have ever known for squealing. Things we used to try back when I was in the trade- and I'm talking 40 years ago- was chamfering the pads all around by about 3mm, this would of course wear off and need re-doing at every service but at least it didn't reduce the pad area by 50% like the way they chamfer the new pads now. Shims made an appearance part way through my mechanic career- some car makers must have thought they worked- and then the red goo became the go-to. Then the layer of soft material bonded to the back of the pad. My rear brakes have all of these except the goo. I'm picking up new pads and rotors this afternoon, think I'll get some goo too.

You can also buy stick on pads to help.

TBH they just look like 3M VHB.

Whether that's worth a try...

Turns out the RDA pads I bought had a little sachet of 'brake pad grease' in the box, with instructions to put it on all the metal-on-metal areas. I'll be interested to see the result. Heading up into the hills for a couple of days so they'll definitely get wet, probably a bit dusty too, so will be a reasonable test.

That doesn't really answer your question, but every aftermarket brake pad I had on my Defender rear brakes ended up squealing pretty much straight away. I have not had these problems since I kept using genuine Landrover brake pads.

Well the damn things squeal like a stuck pig, after a bit of high country driving this week. Even before hitting the first river crossing. I think I'll try a few different things, one by one as time permits, and see if one particular thing makes a difference.