My front driver's side brake has taken a turn for the worst. It squeaks and squeals when braking until the pedal is depressed rather hard. I took the wheel of and cleaned the brake dust out real good there doesn't appear to be any rotor warping or damage to the rotor plus even when the brake pedal is released there is still some squeaking until the gas is pressed in that initial automatic trans 5mph movement. Has anybody had anything similar or know what I should do to fix it???

Have you recently changed your pads?

Recent brake pads (January or February). They are cheap pads from Pep Boys but it's just the drivers side that's doing it and it just started when the weather warmed up. My thinking is that the caliber isn't releasing properly b/c it squeaks even after the pedal is released. I just don't want to do any long term damage. Although the squeak is annoying it is something that I can live with.

Sounds like the caliper is starting to freeze up. Did you put the brakes on yourself.If so, do you remember if the piston pushed in harder than the other side?

Yeah I changed them myself. Didn't seem to be that much more difficult than the other side. Any ideas for fixing? I'm not the most mechancially knowledgable. But can usually follow directions if I know what it is I'm to be doing in the first place

Just a quick note on the squeal: Some cheaper brake pads may actually contain small bits of metal (larger than they should be), and they squeal when contacting the rotor. If it's not the caliper, try changing out the noisy pad, or inspecting it for a small piece of metal sticking out. Apparently the manufacturers don't refine the metal enough before making the pad sometimes.

I might agree that it's the pads but it is only the drivers side that does it ever. The warmer it gets the more it does it plus I've already had it off and everything looks fine. There is always dust on the wheel so ijust don't think that it's just a pad problem otherwise it'd be doing the same things as the otherside... or is my logic flawed???

If it gets worse as the car/brakes warm, then it might be a warped rotor. I had that before I got mine resurfaced after abusing the brakes a bit on a hot summer day in CA. It was an intermittant chatter/squeak as I started to depress the brakes, that went away when I applied enough pressure.