Didier9

My wife's '21 C8 has been making a good bit of squealing noise with the brakes lately, particularly when backing up the driveway and at low speed. The service advisor said she needs to brake harder, but while she likes pressing the pedal on the right just fine, she also takes it as a point of pride for not putting herself in a position where she has to brake hard, so it does not come naturally for her. Anyhow, the service department did the "fix" with the copper grease (I assume) and it was OK for a couple of weeks and it has come back.

So I took her car this weekend, and even though it was raining, I was able to give it a good half dozen emergency braking 60-30 as advised by the brake squeal TSB on the empty highway and while I am not sure what it did for the squealing since we have not driven the car since, I was surprised how much the brake pedal felt improved afterward. It feels like much less effort is needed (not that much effort is ever needed to stop in a C8, it's hard to explain how much better it felt) and it's much easier to modulate. I was not even thinking about that but I could not help but notice when I was back in our neighborhood and driving slowly with the stop signs and 20mph speed limit. I would like to hear if anyone else has noticed anything like that.

PS: I only have 13,000 miles on mine versus >30,000 on hers and I probably use the brakes more and while I do not have the brake squeal issue (yet?) I had not noticed a major difference in brake feel between the two cars until now. Maybe I should try that too...

EvanD

My 2020 Z51 does it to, mostly I notice it backing out of the garage. I do a couple harder stops and it goes away for a while. I read it's the Z-51 brake pads.

Didier9

Ours are not Z51. How many miles do you have?

EvanD

9500 or so.

Ed Cordes

Yup! My -21 also does this, especially when backing up out of the garage, if it has been sitting for a few days. I solve it by driving about 20 MPH then doing a hard brake. This cleans the rotors and pads and eliminates the squeal.

Ron_Attleboro_MA

Brake Squealing can be so annoying. I like PowerStop brake pads, Z23 series in particular(best for aggressive street use). Z26 series is more for Track.
I never track. I hear ceramic CarbonTech pads are the best for Track use and a favorite by many.
Huge comments will follow..... Do your own research and change the pads to ceramic.
Best wishes and good luck.

AzDave47

Generally what causes brake squeal, is that with light use, the rotors get a glaze on them. Finding a safe place to do 5 hard 60-20 stops without having the ABS activate and then driving for 10 minutes without much brake application will get the brake pad material embedded properly in the brake rotor and will eliminate squeal and improve brake performance. Doing it in the rain really won't do a good job. Depending on driving style, this process may need to be repeated once every few months.

Also, it is a good idea to drive the car for a few miles and use normal braking after washing the car and getting water on the rotors. That will dry out the brake rotors and pads and reduce the likelihood of rust.

Red C8 of Jax

My non-Z51 does the same thing when backing out of the driveway. It does not squeal every time, maybe 2-3 times a month.

EASonBASS

'21 non-Z. Squeaks just about every AM when cold, regardless of the previous day's hard braking. This is after TSB service.

plmmd

Squeals when backing up when not used a couple days A few hard stops make it go away but it always returns