Az,

I just went through an episode of squealing brakes on my 85 300DT. What I found is the front pads were worn out. I also found the disc was worn to the point the disc could hold water ( looked like a bowl). The squealing noise was the backing plate coming in contact with the lip of the bowl on the disc. I didn't take any measurements, but I think my disc was below the minimum thickness for the disc. I could not remove either puck as the rim on the disc had the pucks caged in.

Pedal felt soft with the old pucks in. I sent the car to my mechanic to do the disc and pad replacement. Lifts and air tools are wonderful when dealing with 20 year old rusty bolts.

BTW, my car has Bendix on the front, and ATE on the rear.

Hammerwerfer

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1985 300DT 241,000 miles
1979 300SD 202,000 miles