1999 s70 brake pads

wolf · Post by **wolf** » 11 Oct 2006, 16:40

Josh,
Most likely the squeeking is from the rear...though it sounds like from the front. The brake pad repacement procedure between the 850 and S70 is almost identical! Use the 850 instructions and go for it. You will however need the 7mm hex socket to get the calipers loose. Also, make sure to use plenty of silicone grease behind the pads and between the shims and pads on the rear. If yours doesn't already have the shims they are well worth buying from fcpgroton.com as they will get rid of any squeeking you might have back there.

wolf · Post by **wolf** » 11 Oct 2006, 19:32

cool, thanks for the reply, wierd though, i think somehow you edited my original post, so your reply covered up my question. oh well, haha.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 11 Oct 2006, 19:49

Sorry about that...I'm still getting used to being a mod and some of the tabs you click on are easily confused. I didn't try to edit your question.

For those who might read this, the question was how difficult is it a brake change and how different is it from the 850 (have manual) as well as squeeking now from what is thought to be the front brakes. Hope this about sums it up...from memory, anyway.

wolf · Post by **wolf** » 13 Oct 2006, 19:59

hey,

I took off both a front wheel and back wheel today with one of my friends who is a mechanic, and he was going to show me how to put in new brake pads, but he said (and showed me) that my pads were still around 3/4 cm thick, which he said were not that close to needing new pads. He drove it around and he thought that the squealing sounded like it was definitely coming from the front (but i guess he could be wrong). He said they could just be glazed over, or they might just be noisey pads for some reason. I have also noticed that when you just slightly brake, it makes the strongest squeal, but when you really push down hard on the petal, it stops, but its still extremely annoying, it sounds like a UPS truck.

Any ideas?

thanks again

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 13 Oct 2006, 21:37

3/4 cm of pads (that's 7.5mm)...your mechanic friend is right. Volvo recommends replacement at 4mm on the fronts and 2mm on the rears. I would say that the grease on the back of the pads has dried out...you could still slide the calipers off of the rotors, compress them and re-grease the backs and see if this gets rid of the noise. Another trick is to scuff the pads with some sand paper if they have become glazed.

wolf · Post by **wolf** » 13 Oct 2006, 23:40

so say the pads are somewhere around 6-7.5 mm left, how long should that last me before i should probably replace them? Because depending on the time, i could just deal with it until i need new pads.

thanks again!

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 14 Oct 2006, 08:52

Twice the thickness of allowed minimum is actually pretty deceptive. The thinner these get the hotter they get when braking. Run-out therefore occurs exponentially quicker than when the pads are thicker. But still how long they'll last really depends on your braking style. If you push your car and brake hard you can wear these out in no time....plus, I suspect that besides the dried out grease that I mentioned, the thinning pads are still one of the reasons for your squeeking. If you have the chance to replace them in the near future (within a month) I would.

The nice thing about knowing that you need to replace them soon is that you have time to look around and order the pads you want from wherever you want (fcpgroton.com, etc.) instead of you suddenly needing pads in an emergency situation and having to settle for whatever the garage has in stock.

Btw, even though everyone talks about ceramic pads, etc. being good, I have always stuck with OEM pads no matter what rotors I've used. Although there IS MORE DUST, I've never had a problem out of the Volvo pads and they seem to wear evenly and don't chew the rotors up like other pads do.