I have taken apart a couple of brake calipers and found duct tape stuck
to the back of the pads. While this method of removing the squeel from
the brakes seems a little crude, it appears to work. Both cars I have
seen in this condition appeared to be fine, with no adverse affects from
the tape.
As Jody put it, the tape does in fact 'bake' onto the pads - you
probably won't be able to remove the stuff! As the likely reason that
you have the brake pads out is that you are replacing them, this should
pose no problem.
If, however, you intend on reusing the pads, the tape tends to buckle up
and squish out from under the caliper and piston. Chances are that if
you put the brake pads back in the car, the recess in the tape will not
exactly line up with the component surfaces and the pad will sit on a
slight angle! As the tape had previuosly gone hard, it will not reshape
over time, causing your pad to wear down on one side first, quickly
touching the rotor and eventually doing serious damage to it.
I would therefore suggest that there is nothing wrong with using duct
tape to remove brake squeel as long as you throw out the pads next time
they are out of the car. The pads should be replaced almost every time
you do brake work anyway - at the cost of only $15 for a pair of pads,
you can 'buy' yourself a lot more time before needing to do more work on
the brakes. Also, take your time and do everything properly until your
brake system is perfect (ie turn/replace the rotors, flush all brake
fluid from the caliper with ne fluid, etc.) or you will regret it about
2000 Kms later when your pads prematurely die (I speak with plenty of
experience in this matter of doing quick fixes).
I have also seen high temp silicon 'goop' (gasket maker) used to the
same affect of removing the squeel. It seems to work equally well, but
leaves remnents stuck to your calipers that must be cleaned off next
time you replace the pads.
Just another wholey biased opinion from:
Greg.
(gall@gamma.uleth.ca)
'79 TR7 drophead coupe, auto
'76 TR7 5.7L V8 fixedhead coupe.
(both almost on the road again!!)
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