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[rayivers]

It's possible they are SBS 675 pads, perhaps these 675RQ 'Carbon Tech' ones (I got 604RQ's from Zero to fit my bike):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/675RQ-SBS-Carbon-Tech-Racing-Rear-Brake-Pads-Stock-01621675-/131675362043?hash=item1ea87692fb

Ray

[avernon82]

I'm going to try a few things to stop the squeal, it's driving me nuts!

I'm going to take the pads off and sand with 1000 grit paper and also apply brake quiet grease to the rear of the pads.

Hopefully this will stop the squealing.

[GrantMeStrength]

I'm going to try a few things to stop the squeal, it's driving me nuts!

Please share your results!

[Kocho]

I notice on my '15 SR the front pads have a perforated metal plate on the caliper side, which probably controls the squealing. The rear pads do not have that and are much noisier on mine. Do you guys who say your brakes are quiet have metal plates? Also, do you tend to stop aggressively? As I said, a few hard stops cure the squeal for me, but it returns after a few gentle stops....

[avernon82]

no simple fix. The sanding and brake quiet goop didn't fix it. I'm going to take it to the dealer, I'll be angry if they don't fix it. I'll probably put the bike on a trailer and take a little vacation down to Santa Cruz...

[avernon82]

Just dropped the bike off at the dealer. Without even listening to the howling, they were setting me up for not doing anything about it. I'll be pissed if this doesnt get fixed. No dealership would accept that in a demo bike, why should I have to tolerate it?

To the person who said it doesn't affect performance or function, what if the paint started peeling off after a year? That doesnt affect function, and I would expect a warranty would cover that. You can't exactly call the bike Stealthfighter if it howls at stops so loud people look over to see what's making that sound.

It makes me hesitant to use the brakes in the normal way, I'd say thats affecting performance.

I'll report back...

[GrantMeStrength]

My front squeal encourages me to use the back more, so maybe that's a good thing.

Manufacturers seem to get away with saying brake squeal is just a fact of life. My SO's rather expensive car squealed for years and the dealer tried to fix it once, and then just shrugged and say "eh, what can you do?"

[avernon82]

I'll make a recording of it. Squeal isnt the right word, its a howl. I can actually feel the vibration of it in the handlebars. Sounds like a tractor trailer

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

I said it doesn't affect performance or function, and I know exactly what symptom you're talking about. I'm not trying to dismiss what you're saying, I'm just explaining that you don't have literal leverage to force them do something on warrantee.

I don't know why a 15+ bike would do that, when the brakes are more robust. Try the solutions mentioned above; for me, the problem fully went away upgrading from 13 to 16, and even the 13 I managed to keep it under control under most conditions. It is a frustration and the design should be fixed, but the frustration is probably magnified by having a silent bike with no other maintenance issues.

[avernon82]

Talked to the dealer, Zero told them to add brake goop to the pads.

I had cleaned it off before taking it to the dealer, not wanting them to say "why did you add that crap"?

I doubt it will fix it. Zero apparently said they don't know why some bikes do it, and others don't.

The only leverage I have is a bunch of complaining. I hate when people ask me how I like the bike, and I say "It's great! But the brakes howl like a tractor trailer" They usually respond with, "I've never had a bike do that, it's under warranty, right?"

Every time I stop, I feel like I'm riding a piece of shit and I wish I still had my XR400. Then I accelerate, and I think Holy F%$#.

[avernon82]

It does affect performance. Zero bills the bike as being silent and quiet. Thats the biggest reason I bought it. If it can't be quiet, i would have spent thousands less on an ICE bike.

None of the videos and promo that zero produced have the brakes howling.

[melbrader]

I have the same problem with people that ask me how I like the bike and all I can think of is how loud and discussing my brakes sound almost every time I stop. its something that I would not tell them at first but now I let them know about how loud the brakes are and they are so suppressed and said they have never heard of anything like that on a new bike and they always say, its going to be cover under warrantee right? Mine had the high dollar brake goop applied with no luck at all. when I bought the motorcycle I always figured that it would turn heads for how quite it is but they look at me when I'm coming next to them at a stop light sounding like a semi truck that's coming to a stop with bad brakes. I just don't get it. I love my motorcycle but its hard not to get mad when it sounds so cheap. I have the 2016 SR

[GrantMeStrength]

Time for a poll to work out which models are squealing? Might help Zero diagnose it. And fix it.

[Richard230]

No squealing at all from my 2014 S, built near the end of December, 2013.  It sounds to me like Zero's chosen brake pads and the disc brake steel are not getting along very well.  I would say that either one or the other needs to be changed to stop the brakes squealing.  Since changing the brake pads is a lot easier and cheaper than replacing a disc, that would seem the way to go, while Zero is coming up with a permanent solution. Perhaps trying a softer brake pad material (one that is not sintered metal), might be worth a try?   

[rayivers]

NEWS FLASH: I just eliminated the front brake squeal on my street FX, with only a pad change.  I used Brembo 07KA1705 carbon-ceramic pads I got from Mad4Brakes.com in Italy, which feel more powerful and come on more quickly (with less lever pressure) than the stock TT2508HH pads.  They also broke in easily, in maybe 10-15 light applications.  There's a possibility the squeal will return, but none of the other pads I tried got rid of it completely, even temporarily.

Ray