Why do my brakes squeal when stopping?

Sometimes a loud noise or high pitch squeal occurs when the brakes are applied. Most brake squeal is produced due to vibration (resonance instability) of the brake components especially the pads and rotors. This type of squeal does not negatively affect brake stopping performance. Some simple techniques like adding chamfers to linings, greasing or gluing the contact between caliper and the pads (finger to backplate, piston to backplate), bonding insulators (damping material) to pad backplate, etc might help reduce squeal. Many times cold weather combined with high early morning humidity (dew) could make the brake squeal worse and vanishes when the lining reaches regular operating temperatures. However, some lining wear indicators are also designed to squeal when the lining is due for replacement. Overall brake squeal can be annoying to the vehicle passengers, passerby, pedestrians, etc especially as vehicles are designed to be more comfortable and quieter. Hence vehicle NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) is one of the important priorities for today's vehicle manufacturers.