Porsche Brake Pads Squeak – Explained

Squeaky Porsche brakes is a topic that comes up a lot here at Meister Werks. In some instances, days or weeks after the pads and rotors were replaced. There are many reasons that cause this. According to Porsche it’s not a bad thing. We fully understand where Porsche is coming from. Here is a very scientific TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) video on why your Porsche brakes may squeal…. sometimes.

At Meister Werks, we use high quality components when servicing your brakes. Sometimes even the highests quality parts will squeal from time to time. Here is a list of the reasons why you may be getting brake squeal.

Glazed Rotors

Porsche brakes are designed to be used. Since they are classified as performance brakes, they need to be used this way. If you are very light on the brake pedal, aka brake far before you should, this will leave a very minute amount of dust on the disc brake rotors. Furthermore, riding the brakes (having your foot on the brake pedal when you shouldn’t be breaking) will cause this to happen very rapidly. This unnecessary friction causes heat, coupled with brake pad dust, will cause it stick or bond tightly to the rotor. This is essentially making a sticky glossy surface causing the squeal. Think of a new sneaker on a freshly polished basketball court. Brake disc rotors must to be a slightly rough for brakes to perform optimally, without noise. To ‘deglaze’ the rotors, there are methods of braking to clean the disc from this coating. Later discussed in this article.

Corrosion on the Brakes

Do you experience squeaking or squealing first thing in the morning? Maybe while backing up or while driving for the for only a few minutes? One of the few reasons the brakes squeak is due to corrosion. Yes, hours, sometimes minutes after parking your Porsche, the raw steel rotors will start forming a very thin layer of iron oxide, aka rust. This is a chemical reaction between 2 elements. Iron, the material the disc brake rotors are made of, and the oxygen that is in the air. If rain or water is present, this will accelerate the corrosion process. Since water has 2 oxygen molecules, causing the reaction to take place more rapidly.  Furthermore, salt air or water will accelerate this process even faster, due to more of the dissolved ions. This means electrons can move faster. Since rusting is all about the movement of electrons, iron rusts more quickly with salt air or water than fresh water or air. Using your brakes 2-3 times will typically clear the discs from the corrosion or rust.

Cold Brakes

The same experience with squealing brakes, first thing in the morning, can also be due to cold brakes. Porsche brakes are performance brakes, just shy of what racing cars have. The compounds Porsche uses are designed to perform when they are warm or even hot. A cold brake pad or disc can cause squealing. Again like when corrosion is present, using the brakes will increase the heat, causing the squeaking to go away. This sometimes takes a little longer, 5 minutes of driving may dio the trick, but we’ve seen up to 15-20 minutes with some brakes. If you have glazed brakes, this will not go away and the deglazing process will be needed.

Deglazing Brakes

By now you are probably asking, “How the heck do I deglaze my disc brakes?” The process is quite easy and usually will yield results on the first or second pass. First, you’ll want to be traveling on a road that is void of any people, traffic, or cars in front or behind you. Second, you’ll need to have a safe stretch of road to get up to 20-25 mph. 1/8 of a mile or more is best. Accelerate your Porsche up to approx. 30-35 MPH and push the brake pedal hard. If you can get the ABS to kick on, this will also help the deglazing process. We highly suggest not performing this procedure in the rain or poor weather conditions. Furthermore, if you do not feel comfortable doing this, Meister Werks will be to deglaze your brakes for you during a test drive at your scheduled maintenance, free 30pt inspection or repair.

Here is a before and after video from the Tulsa, OK Porsche dealership:

Maintaining Your Brakes While Driving

We highly suggest using your brakes like they are meant to be used. I know this might sound weird. What we really mean is don’t brake 1/4 mile before you need to. Use firm brake pedal pressure when stopping. Riding your brakes or stopped well before you need to is probably the worst thing to do for your disc brakes. Keep this in mind when driving. Remember, your Porsche likes being driven. When you follow these rules above, your Porsche will be much happier and you can eliminate any brake noise in the future.

 

Fix-A-Flat tire repair is not good for the environment, your wheels or tires. It contains Hydrocarbons (Tetrafluoro), similar to the air conditioning refrigerant in your vehicle. When exposed to moisture, it becomes corrosive.

It can corrode the paint inside your wheel, the aluminum wheel itself, and/or any electronics inside, such as tire pressure monitor sensors (TPMS).

Tire repair with Fix-a-Flat Is not permanent and is not a permanent tire repair. If you choose to use this, the product is only meant to keep you rolling up to 100 miles. This will let you repair the tire properly. It will not help you in a “blow-out”, which usually involves separation of the tread from the tire and large, gaping holes in your tire.

If you have a spare tire, please opt to use that rather than a quick fix. It may save you hundreds, and in some circumstances – thousands of dollars.

Click here for directions to our shop. To schedule an appointment, click here.

Custom Vehicle Rendering

Here at Meister Werks we want you to see a Custom Vehicle Rendering. This will show you exactly how your vehicle will look after receiving our custom treatment. We can manipulate a photo of your vehicle to have different wheel sizes, colors and styles. Another thing we can do is show you different colors of powder coated brake calipers. Furthermore, we can even lower the vehicle to mimic the exact look of springs, coilovers or airbags on your vehicle.

To get a rendering of your vehicle, we will need a parts deposit before starting on a render. After which, we will provide you with an animated gif photo. Just like the one seen here, private link and password to our website to show you – and only you – exactly what it will look like.

Even though we do not provide the following services in house, we can also apply a wrap color, window tint and more. See out custom shop page for just a fraction of what we can do for you. Contact us to find out more about what we can do for your car.

About Us

The owner and of our company, Dave Meister, has always been a car enthusiast. Since age 16, he’s had a passion for modifying and working on European cars.  What is now Meister Werks began in 1997. With Dave manufacturing and selling custom gauge faces to fellow car enthusiast friends with VW, Audi, and Porsche vehicles.

As our business has grown over the years, our products and services have expanded as well to keep up with customer demand. Now a full service shop, Dave and his staff will take the time to explain your vehicle’s needs to ensure you have a confident and positive experience. To provide you with the best experience possible, we only hire staff with the widest knowledge and best work ethic. Dave and his staff have a passion for excellence has resulted in satisfied customers. Customer service is our number one goal— Dave always says, “if you’re not happy, we’re not happy”. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, this is your go-to shop for European automotive service and repairs.

Dave grew up in Redmond, WA and is a resident of Renton, WA and has lived in the Seattle area his entire life. He has deep roots in Seattle’s history and area. His Great Great Great Grandmother and father moved to Seattle here from Germany. In 1907, they were one of the only German families in Ballard area and the house that his Grandmother was born in still stands to this day.  Dave enjoys working on his 1980 VW Scirocco, spending time with his wife, 2 kids and Chocolate Lab, ‘Blue’.

Powder Coating Service – Prismatic Universe

Enkei RPF1 Wheels, powder coated in house with Prismatic Powders Prismatic Universe powder coat.  Furthermore it is finished with a powder clear coat. This unique powder is a special order and costs a little more than standard powder coating powder.

We can powder coat anything that is aluminum, steel or any hard metal. We strip and blast your parts to bare metal. Then pre-prep the parts to get ready for powder. We coat the wheels with a special electrostatic spray applicator and bake the part at 400º for around 10-15 minutes. After the part has slowly cooled down it is ready to handle and your project is ready to be installed.

Contact us today to get your wheels powder coated, 425-254-0627. You can also email us by clicking here. Meister Werks European & Import is located in the Seattle Area. One block south from The Renton Landing in Renton, WA, across the street from The Boeing Store and on the westside of the Paccar / Kenworth plant.

Meister Werks happy to announce that we will be offering a 10% discount to all Mini Addicted car club members. This discount is good up to $100 off any service, maintenance, repair or performance item. Contact the Mini Addicted car club for further details.

About Mini Addicted

Mini Club Member – H&R Sport Spring Install

The Club name speaks for it’s self “MINI ADDICTED”. This social club is all about the MINI. We love the idea that no two MINIS are alike. We enjoy customizing, modifying and adding our own character or twist to the MINI. This social club is here for sharing experiences, car knowledge, photos and building new friendships.

Lori’s Mini – Hella Rally Light Install

This club will have meet ups, events, drives, photo shoots and attend car shows. We are a Pacific Northwest club only, so you must live in Washington, Oregon or Idaho plus you must own a Mini to be a member. There are no dues involved in this club but there are logo/stickers and club shirts and hoodies available to order. This social club is here for all members to feel welcomed, accepted and feel they are apart of the MINI Community. The MINI ADDICTED car club was founded by Lori Aaron Sept 2017 as a private page, it then went to a closed group in 2018.

Meister Werks European & Import NAMED CARFAX TOP-RATED Service Shop

Verified Customer Ratings Used to Name the Inaugural CARFAX Top-Rated Service Shops of 2019

Meister Werks European & Import is being celebrated as a CAR FAX Top-Rated Service Shop based on verified reviews from actual customers. The exclusive list of service shops recognize in the inaugural CAR FAX Top-Rated Service Shops. These shops receive an average of 4.77 stars out of five on CARFAX Car Care.

“Our goal is help car owners make confident decisions,” said Mike Liou, head of Service Marketing at CAR FAX. “We have over 10 million active Car Care subscribers. These subscribers use the program to help keep up with maintenance and recalls on their vehicles. We want to utilize this community to highlight the service shops who are going above and beyond when it comes to customer care, and we do so with reviews from only verified customers.”

“Meister Werks is honored to be a Car Fax Top-Rated Service Shop”, said owner Dave Meister. “Our main objective is to provide our customers with the highest level of customer service. We also offer the best quality parts for repairs, service and performance on our customer’s European and import vehicles.

In February, CARFAX also launched the first-ever Top-Rated Dealer award to car dealerships. These are based on more than a million verified reviews.

About CARFAX

CARFAX.com, part of IHS Markit, helps millions of people every day. We help consumers confidently shop, buy, service and sell used cars, Coupled with innovative solutions powered by CARFAX. The expert in vehicle history since 1984, they provides exclusive services like Used Car Listings,  Car Care,  History-Based Value and the flagship Vehicle History Report to consumers and the automotive industry. Based in London, IHS Markit is a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions.

 

Don’t Defer Your Brake Service and Maintenance

A customer of ours came in a few weeks ago for some service and maintenance and also complained of a brake noise. He had deferred his service and maintenance brake fluid flush several times over the years. These photos are the result of it. Since the system was not maintained, it rusted the brake caliper pistons & brake lines. Due to the rarity of the vehicle, our only option was to rebuild the brake calipers and perform a flush, multiple times, to get the corrosion out of the system.

At the same time, we also performed other deferred service and maintenance. Some items included an axle replacement, upper / lower ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings, rear transmission mount, the entire exhaust system, valve cover gasket and a four-wheel alignment.

We advocate on your behalf to perform your maintenance done when it’s due. By doing your service when it’s due, It will prevent further damage to other components. Furthermore, this will cost you much less in the long run. The safety systems in your vehicle are very important to service, which will also keep you safe and avoid any potential breakdowns.

To make an appointment for your vehicle’s maintenance, please call 425-254-0627. You can also book an appointment by clicking the link below. Meister Werks European & Import is located one block south from The Renton Landing in Renton, WA, across the street from The Boeing Store and on the westside of the Paccar / Kenworth plant.

Meister’s Pizza / Bread Dough
(Makes 2 – 16″ pies / 4-6 calzones / 1 large loaf of bread or 2 small loaves)

Ingredients:

1 – Ingredients

  • 2 cups hot tap water (hot enough to touch, but not too hot where it’s painfully hot. One day I’ll get a proper temperature)
  • 5 teaspoons yeast / 2 packets (1/4oz ea)
  • 3 teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt (table salt is ok, but sea and kosher makes it taste better)
  • 4 cups of bread flour, high gluten flour or unbleached flour (better quality flour yields a better rise and more fluffy bread / crust)
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil “EVOO” (if making rosemary bread, use infused rosemary olive oil if possible)
  • 1-2 tablespoon semolina flour
  • 1 tbsp crisco (for bread with with a bread tin)
  • 2 tablespoon honey (for the bread recipe only – if used in pizza it will burn the crust at the 450º-470º temp)

Sauce: You can use marinara or Spaghetti sauce, but it does tend to be watery. You can reduce it down or make this killer recipe, Pizza Sauce Recipe.

Directions:

1 – Yeast Salt Oil – (Optional Honey) In a mixing bowl, add the yeast only. (photo 2) Turn the faucet on and get the very warm water. Add water in the mixing bowl and gently stir with a whisk, mix until all of the yeast is combined. (add honey if you are making bread) Set timer for 10 minutes and allow yeast bloom. (5-6 minutes if you use honey) (photo 3 w/o honey)

2 – Yeast

3 – Yeast Mixed with hot water (Optional Honey)

4 – Yeast Bloomed 


2) After 10 minutes, add one cup of flour to the mixing bowl. With the same whisk, mix in flour, sale and EVOO. Add the second cup of flour and mix again with the whisk. (photo 5) The consistency should be just like pancake batter. Now dump the third cup in and mix with a rubber scraping spatula. (photo 6) Mix in thoroughly scraping the sides of the bowl. It should be pretty thick at this point. With the fourth cup of four mix in a little at a time. (photo 7) Towards the end of the fourth cup transfer it to the table, and start kneading. You might not need the entire 4th cup, you’ll use the rest while kneading. You want the dough to be slightly sticky.

5 – 1 cup of flour, Salt & EVOO

6 – 2 cups of flour 

7 – 3 cups of flour

3) Knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes. (photo 7 & 8) If it gets sticky, sprinkle flour (from the 4th cup) and continue kneading. After awhile, It will start to get dry / not sticky, you can stop at this point. Don’t put too much flour in. If you do it will be too thick and the crust / bread will be very dense. At this point the inside of the dough should still be ever so slightly tacky.

7a – Knead Dough

8 – Almost 4 cups of flour

9 – For Pizza Oil Bowl

10 – For Pizza put in bowl

11 – Dough Risen

1/2 = 2 – 16″ pies 1/4 = 4 calzones


At this point dust the dough ball with flour. You can cut it in half, wrap it in cling wrap and freeze it or put it in the refrigerator for tomorrow. I tuck in into a ball with a little more flour to keep it from sticking to the cling wrap. It will rise in the fridge or freezer, don’t worry about that. After you thaw it, the co2 will release from the dough naturally.

Homemade rosemary infused olive oil

4. Pizza:
a) For very fluffy crust, this will rise and cook at the same time. After kneading, let it rest for 10 minutes, so it’s elastic not so dense and has some elasticity to it. Throw it into a pie, top and bake.
b) For regular crust let it rise! In a new bowl (or you can just clean the mixing bowl you just used) put a little bit of EVOO in the bowl. Coat the entire bowl with the olive oil. (photo 9 & 10) Put the dough in the bowl. With a tiny bit of extra-virgin olive oil brush the top of the dough so it’s coated on top. Now cover with a towel and let rise for about 60 minutes. It will double in size. This is what you do for bread as well.

After 60 minutes has gone by, your dough should be about double the size. (photo 11) Punch the dough to release the co2

These will make 2 – 14 to 16 inch pizzas. You can also preheat your oven to 450°-470° (depending on your oven) and cook it right away. (let it rest for 10 minutes before throwing or rolling out. If you don’t let it rest, it will be too elastic and will not hold its shape)

4. Bread: If you are making bread, let it rise in a greased bread tin, or for a french style loaf, roll it out to a roll after kneading and just leave it on a cookie sheet and let it rise. Put semolina flour on the sheet. After an hour you can put it directly in the oven. See instructions below.

Baking:

If you do not have a pizza stone you can use a cookie sheet. Sprinkle semolina flour on your surface you are transferring it from. Do not use regular flour. It will burn. Pizza stones should be preheated minimum 45 minutes to cook the pie thoroughly. You can use a cookie sheet as a pizza peal to transfer it onto the preheated stone too.

With the regular flour roll out pizza dough with a rolling pin as flat as possible. If you have the know how, try and throw the dough like a pro, but the results will be the same either way.

Evenly, apply the semolina flour on the cookie sheet, then put the rolled / thrown dough on the cookie sheet. Top pizza with desired toppings.

If you do not have a pizza stone then use the cookie sheet and just put it in the oven like that. If you do a little twist and shake the cookie sheet quickly, this will allow the pizza to slightly move off the sheet and transfer it to the stone. It takes a little practice.

Pizza should take about 12-14 minutes to cook depending on how efficient your oven is.

Bread:

You can roll into baguette, tennis ball sized ball for dinner rolls, Or all the dough on a cookie sheet or in a bread pan. Let rise for 1 hour then put it directly in the oven for 40 minutes at 425º. To get a crispy crust, remove after 20 mins and brush with olive oil, butter or better yet, garlic butter. Mmm!

  • Note: You can make really good french toast with this bread. Also makes really good croutons as well!

Cheese / Sausage bread:

After kneading roll out flat, add a generous amount of cheese and/or precooked pork sausage, roll into a log and let rise 30-60 minutes after kneading then put in the oven for 20 minutes at 425º. To get a crispy crust, remove after 20 mins and brush with olive oil, butter or better yet, garlic butter. Mmm!

Rosemary Bread:

Add 2 tbs of honey to the yeast and dry ingredients, before adding warm water. Add 2 tbsp of dried crushed rosemary. Add it in while you are mixing the first cup of flour.

 

Nov 14th, 2019 – Chocolate Chip Coconut Bars

Service Treat of the Week – November 14th, 2019 – Chocolate Chip Coconut Bars.

Book your service appointment today. While you wait, enjoy our freshly baked goods and a cup of gourmet coffee while you wait for your vehicle service.

To make an appointment,click here, call 425-254-0627 or email us. Meister Werks European & Import is located one block south from The Renton Landing in Renton, WA, across the street from The Boeing Store and on west side of the Paccar / Kenworth plant.

#CoffeeAndService #CoffeeAndCars #ScheduledMaintenence #BMW #VW #Volkswagen #Porsche #Mercedes

Air Suspension Refresh – Evo X

Last night we finished a air suspension refresh for this customer’s previous air ride install. Although we did not do the initial install, we fixed many problems with the old install. We resealed and trimmed all the leaky air lines and fixtures. Then we cleaned up the routing. We also made a custom base for the components to mount to. We finished that off with some fresh carpet. Previously they were screwed directly to the vehicle’s spare tire well causing an excessive amount of vibration and noise. We also stripped the spray painted tank to bare metal, prepped and powder coated it in house with Super Durable Wet White powder. To finish it off we rotated the compressors so they would not come in contact with the false floor that was previously made. Over all the noise reduction was at a minimum 20db less. We believe it turned out looking much cleaner, safer and functional than it was before.