okgo

I have a 2012 grand sport convertible the brakes seem to be squeaking does anybody know how to solve this problem

RocketDawg

There's a large number of threads here on the subject. When searching, you may have to spell "squeak" several different ways though. The most common misspelling seems to be "squeak", but I saw something like "squweak" a couple days ago.

I think most have wound up replacing their pads, but some have had success just cleaning the brakes and lubricating certain parts.

96GS#007

mikeCsix

Not much to go on here, it would be a little easier if we knew how you drove the car. The GS shares the high performance braking system with the Z06. They need to be applied or not applied, not slightly drug along to a stop. You didn't saw if you have factory pads, ceramic pads or track oriented pads or if you are the second owner and have no idea what pads you have. If they are factory pads, you can burnish them a bit by doing a series of stops from 40mph to about 5, about 5 should do it. Don't lock the tires, don't engage abs, just be aggressive.

My factory pads never squeaked. My ceramic squeak a little when cold and going slow. Doesn't bother me in the least. My track pads squeak, squeal and make dogs howl. I can burnish them on thebstreet, the process is a bit more involved, but it doesn't last. When I get to the track, it takes a couple of laps to warm them up and they'll settle down but if I get trapped behind a slow car they'll start squealing again.

FLGSLS3

Factory pads are notorious for squeaking and I changed all four to Hawk HPS pads and that ended that problem. Hawk makes them two ways, multi pads or single, I stayed with the padlets as they cool better. My GS stops way better than now. The factory pads also wear down the rotors much faster too!

Don-Vette

My 10' GS factory pads started squeaking at 22,000 miles. I just replaced them with OE semi metallic paddlets from Advance auto. No more sqeaks.

FortMorganAl

All corvettes come with performance brake pads. Performance brake pads are going squeak, squeek, squweak, squeal, skweal, make noise, if you don't use them. You can change to a less effective ceramic pad also reducing the dust or you can bed the brakes properly once and again whenever they make a sound. http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/tech/....jsp?techid=85

I bedded my Z51 brakes 7 years ago and they haven't squeaked since.

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

Change pads to Carbotech 1521 compound if your not tracking the car.

Carbotech™ Bobcat 1521™ The Carbotech Bobcat 1521™ is our high performance street compound that is our most successful compound. The Bobcat compound is known for its awesome release and modulation, along with unmatched rotor friendliness. Like our AX™ & XP™ line of compounds, Bobcat 1521™ is a Ceramic based friction material offering minimal rotor damage and non-corrosive dust. Bobcat 1521™ offers outstanding performance, even when cold, low dusting and low noise with an excellent initial bite. This compound’s virtually perfect linear torque production provides incredible braking force without ABS intervention. Bobcat 1521™ operating range starts out at ambient and goes up to 900°F. Bobcat 1521™ is suitable for ALL street cars, perfect for your tow vehicle, police cruiser. The Bobcat 1521™ compound has been found to last two-three times longer than OE pads you can purchase at a dealership or national retailer. That’s one of the beauties of Carbotech Ceramic brake compounds. Bobcat 1521™ is NOT recommended for any track use.

RocketDawg

Spell correction got me. I had "squeek" and it fixed it without me noticing.

quickcat

This is normal... I'm tired of explaining why. Install auto zone pads, that will solve it.

Please search the forum for grand sport brakes.

Matt

okgo

It's interesting to hear everybody's opinion thank you all I appreciate it

jaki30

Just replaced the padlets on my 7500 mile 2012 GS. Put on Autozone ceramics, couldn't stand the dust anymore.
While changing the padlets, I noticed that the pins I removed were covered with a light coating of lube from the factory and obviously showed the wear spot where the pads contact the pins.
I cleaned the pins with Simple Green automotive, re-lubed and reinstalled.
It dawned on me that I use simple green to try to keep the barrels clean. I am sure I have over sprayed onto the calipers. If that occurs, what is there to prevent SG or any wheel cleaner from dissolving the lube on the pins?
Could that result in a lot of the squeaky brake complaints? Just a thought.

mikeCsix

When I remove the pins, I clean them with mineral spirits and make sure the sleeve can rotate easily. I then lube the outer sleeve with high temp brake grease and re-install.

ORODz

I think it's going to happen here and there. I read the owners manual and it does say that the brakes may make noise at times. We have very high performing brakes on our cars.

https://www.chevrolet.com/content/da...ner_Manual.pdf

See 1-22 (Brake Noise)

Don-Vette

I didn't touch the pins. Just put the paddlets in. No sqeaks.

96GS#007

Alright.....curiosity got the best of me so I just ordered some of these AZ pads. The nice thing is that AZ is giving 20% off for Memorial Day through May 29th. Total delivered including CA sales tax is ~$95.

I use Carbotech one piece XP10s & 8s (F/R) for the track.....I'll be at Willow Springs this weekend. I'll toss these AZ pads on sometime next week once they arrive to see what they do during my daily commute. If I don't like them, off they come and back to OEM pads I go. I'll admit, I'm not expecting much and in fact I suspect there will be a noticeable change for the worse in pedal feel and general stopping distance. Nonetheless....we'll see what happens.

quickcat

I think that goop you see is locktite. You should check into that. There should be no lube on the pins that retain the padlets.

Squeaking brakes on Grand Sports and Z06s is NORMAL. The noise is an unintended effect of the pad material. The best value fix is to install autozone gold padlets. No glues or lubes are needed nor should they be used.

Matt

jaki30

I believe the pins are lubed. It looks like they were dipped into whatever since the flat end of the pins closest to the rotor also have the substance on them. I don't think the engineers were planning on metal to metal contact w/o some type of friction modifier. Otherwise, the pads would wear flat spots into the pins. It it wasn't a lube, the pad dust should just wipe off with a clean rag and not require something like brake clean or SG automotive to bring them back to a clean state.

GCRoberts

I feel your pain!!!! I have a 2012 Grand Sport Convertible as well. I've started my share of brake squeal threads on here. There has also been some speculation that the 2012 GS is worse for brake squeal than pretty much any other year/model of Vette. I know a some people with different year/models would poke fun at my complaints. I really don't think they understood how horrible it sounds on the 2012 GS. NOTE: There will always be some people with the exact same car that never noticed any squealing.

I tried EVERYTHING! I drove my local dealers crazy with my brake complaints. Silly me, expecting a car under warranty to not sound like a dump truck when it slows down. The dealer service centers replaced pads, rotors, front and back. In the end, the best I could get from them was an offer to replace my pads with 3rd party ceramic pads....but I had to pay for the pads myself. I guess I waited to long to accept that solution, so they reneged that offer.

After hearing a lot of good things about AutoZone Gold pads, I decided to buy them for front and back. I replaced them myself about 8 weeks ago, and so far they have been awesome. I don't feel like I've given up much (if any) in braking power, they are silent, and my chrome wheels are never covered in black dust anymore! The ONLY things I've noticed is I get a little squealing when I back up if my car has been sitting (especially if it's wet outside). But that goes right away after I pull forward again. I suspect you could get similar results with more expensive pads, but I give TWO BIG THUMBS UP to AutoZone Gold pads.

GCRoberts

He has a 2012 Grand Sport! If he can solve the problem by bedding the brakes, I'll eat my Corvette Racing Hat! :-) I tried to bed my brakes multiple times with no success.

For any other year/model, you're probably right.

In one of my older threads, one of the brake vendors stated that an very large percentage of the brake pads he took back in return for Corvettes, were 2012 Grand Sports. He thought there was something unique about the variances in that year.