Swavy

Hey guys, long-time reader, first-time poster here,

This forum has been very helpful over the course of the last year that I've owned my car, and this is the one thing I couldn't find an answer to. I apologize in advance for the long post.

I've been having some issues with my brakes since I got them replaced at Midas (never going back there) back in August 2018. About a month after I got them replaced, I noticed a small squeak coming from my front passenger side wheel whenever I was making a turn or coming to a stop. I thought, "Okay, new brakes squeak sometimes when they're getting broken in," so I didn't think much of it. However, weeks passed and I noticed that the sound (squeaking, some squealing) was getting a little louder.

Fast forward to late December 2018/Jan 2019, the noise is unbearable. It squeaked when I was just driving, no matter what speed I was going (the sound didn't get louder with speed, the squeak/squeal just got more frequent, if that makes sense), and whenever I made a turn it was ridiculously loud as well. It was almost embarrassing for me to drive around in. Sometimes if I pressed really hard on the brakes, the sound would stop, other times it would just get a higher pitch and sounded like the noise was "slowing down". It also squeaked whenever I drove in reverse.

I got my brother-in-law (a head mechanic at a Lexus dealership in a big city in TN) to take a look at it. He said he didn't see anything wrong, and that he couldn't see any uneven wear on the rotors. He said that Midas might've put cheap brakes on it, and that Lexus vehicles are really picky about brake pads. He told me to just keep driving it, and that the sound would hopefully go away.

I waited a few more weeks, and the sound just kept getting louder. So, I replaced my brake pads. I replaced whatever brake pads that Midas used with Ceramic brake pads. Whenever I replaced them, I noticed that some clips were missing to hold the pads in. So when I put the new pads in, they fit, but they're not firmly secured, they kind of just "float". After I replaced them, the noise stopped. Then, the cycle started again. Now it's been about 6 months since I've replaced them, and it's making the same noises it was making about 6 months after I had gone to Midas. Any advice? I'm not too familiar with brakes, so I'm not really sure where to start. Could the lack of clips be the source? Should I just lubricate the hell out of it?

If I need to post some videos of the sound, let me know, I'll take it for a drive tonight after work and record all the sounds it makes.