So I have an 07 and about 18.5k miles on the clock now. the pads look good but I am hearing some serious squeak when at slow speeds. I cleaned the pads and the bracket tonight and I will be buying some grease to lube the bracket and the pin the pads ride in. Is it time to buy new brake pads?
Hard to see the thickness of friction material from that angle, but they don't look worn out. A quick cleaning with some sandpaper, emory cloth, random abrasive materiel you have laying around should re-true the pads and allow you to re-bed them into the rotors. Attach the abrasive to a flat bench or a block of wood, something flat so the pads come out flat again. Usually getting a fresh surface on the pads and getting some of the crap outta the top layer will reduce squeaking. Scuffing up the rotors with the same abrasive will do wonders too. This however will be temporary, squeaking will occour. I allways say squeaky brakes are happy brakes. Loud brakes tend to stop reeeeeeeal good IMO. You are going on the right path allready though, make sure everything is lubed correctly as dry un-lubed and sticking brake components are not normal and downright dangerous if it gets bad enough.
I've heard of track day guys and racers scrubbing the rotors with electrical contact cleaner and a scotch brite pad to remove embedded pad material. I've also heard its good to do this when swapping pads, especially if your changing compounds. I did this to my 99 about 3000 miles ago when I swapped from some unknown brand back to the oem pads. No complaints so far.
My brakes squeal like a pig when coming to a slow stop in traffic. i found that while making a stop if i pulled the brakes lightly for a second to just make contact with the rotors, then release for a second, then re-applied them to make the stop--that there would be no squealing. Not sure if it is a pre-warming move or debris removal that makes it work, but they squeal if i don't do this, and won't squeal if i do. Seems to works on both cars and bikes. Some may call this tapping or dragging the brakes to set the front. Lots of energy is dissipated during braking and material may get sublimated from a solid to a gas vapor--gas bubbles trapped between the rotor and pad may be the squeal generator...?
