A few months ago (about 9 or so) I replaced my stock brakes with the Rotex Gold brake pads. From day one, they have squeaked when I’ve stepped on the brakes. It never really bothered me that much and I eventually stopped noticing it. But now I’m starting to wondering, if they squeak all the time, how am I supposed to know when I need to replace them? In the past I’ve used the squeaking as an indicator that my brakes needed to be replaced. So now, how am I supposed to know when I need to change them?

 

My stock pads squealed and I took them to the dealer. The squealing was being caused by a particularly dense part of the pad which is normal but rare. Once the dense bit has worn away, the squealing stopped. There was no degradation in performance during the squealing.

Have you contacted the manufacturer of the pads for advice?

 

The Crossfire has a brake pad wear sensor that will illuminate a light on the dashboard when the pads need to be replaced. As far as the squeak goes, here is what the service manual says:

Brake squeak or squeal may be due to linings that are wet or contaminated with brake fluid, grease or oil. Glazed linings and rotors can also contribute to squeak, Dirt or foreign material embedded in the brake lining will also cause brake squeal.

A very loud squeak or squeal is frequently a sign of severely worn brake lining. If the lining has worn through the brake shoes in spots, metal-to-metal contact occurs. If the condition is allowed to continue, rotors may become so scored that replacement is necessary.

 

There's a difference between brake squeal from glazed pads and the grinding from over worn pads.

BOBS is correct, if your pads are worn beyond safe use, your sensor will notify you on the dash board. If you replaced the pads without doing the proper procedure of breaking them in, you could have glazed them, which would cause a constant squeak when applied... Kinda sounds like a BUS...

You can fix the squeal by removing the pads and taking some heavy grit sand paper to them and scuff them up quite a bit, then use a very fine grit grinding stone "CAREFULLY" on the surface of your rotors and pads. The stone I use is the same as you would use to hone a knife...

I use Carbon / Kevlar racing pads on my car and they glaze over quite easily and cause some BAD squeaking after a few hard days on the track... This fixes the problem...

Good luck...