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If you can find the Brembo pad p/n for your brake, I highly recommend trying them out.  I've used both the carbon/ceramic and sintered compounds, both worked great & neither squealed.  You may have to get them from Europe; I've ordered them from CarpiMoto and MotoRacingShop in Italy, both places got them to me in 4 days or less.

Could it be that the pads are somehow porous and "like" to be saturated with water like a sponge?

Hi Brian,

Applying caliper grease to the backs of the pads doesn't work at all. I've attempted that several times with both conservative and liberal applications. Nor will attempting to "bed in" the pads, whatever that means, as pads obviously change shape throughout their life. Curiously, the odd recommendation to wash the bike jives with the observation here.

To test hubert's theory (whether the pads hydrate), perhaps I can try wetting the pads gently with a spray bottle without washing away the dust. I'm doubtful, because washing gets rid of the squeal for a week even if riding in 90 degree dry weather and leaving the bike to bake in the sun.

I am also using EBC HH semi-sintered pads and like them.

YMMV is definitely the rule and not the exception with this very old issue with Zero brake pads. I wish I had better answers.

I'm definitely saying YMMV = "your mileage may vary", as in we can only guess what will work for you.

To be clear, this is the very first issue where I recall receiving condescension in the Zero world.

Basically I was told "you only hear it because there's no combustion engine noise".

This was insulting as I have a relatively quiet V-Strom 650 where I can clearly hear that the pads are quieter than on the Zero and do not squeal especially the way the 2013 DS pads did.

I tried these methods and eventually worked it out a reasonable reduction, but ultimately moving on to the 2016 DSR was better overall. Even then, on my DSR, I use sintered pads to keep unpleasant noises down.