sorry for the naivette (i'm a new car enthusiast ), but I'm getting a squeaking when braking, which I presume is the brake pads worn out?

what do you all recommend for this fix? buy aftermarket pads and take to a shop? what brand? thanks

 

is it a squeak or a screech (metal on metal) sound?

 

more of a squeak, it definitely kicks in upon braking and only when braking. it not severe, just annoying and clearly needs to be addressed

 

You may have overheated your brakes at some point and glazed them over. I had that problem on my G, and they scrubbed the pad down a bit under warranty.

Just make sure you can reproduce the noise with your service advisor in the car; I was able to make my brakes squeak on command.

 

Mike, thanks for the headsup. it was nice to go to the shop and have them tell me what it was and have a clue what they were saying.

they asked if I "drove the car hard" ... no double-entendre intended

anyway, I'm good to go, ... the squeak is bearable and not much they can do about it, so they said (and this was a good shop).

 

Just today I took my car to the dealership due to a similar problem (brakes squealing when about to stop, has been going on for a week and was driving me insane). I told them that I was aware of a possibility of the brake pads being glazed, but they looked them over, found nothing out of the ordinary (although I am down to 4 mm on rear pads after 23.5K miles). But I guess they manipulated something when checking as after the visit the brakes no longer squealed.