Screech sound while braking hard

[MattG]

Last weekend I took my car out for a spirited drive; I hadn't driven it hard for many months before this. When braking hard, a very, very loud screech sound reverberated through the cabin...it was impossible to localize but was of a very constant and steady pitch. It seemed tied to brake temperature, for was only noticed when braking hard from moderate speeds (~70mph down to 30-40mph), and even then would not immediately be heard - I'd start braking, then a second or so later the sound would start. I found a nice section of road to test this more, and found it very repeatable, but it did require some fairly high speeds to, I believe, get enough heat into the system to produce this noise. Nothing about the car's handling, during braking or not, seemed unusual, everything appeared fine.

Any ideas what the problem is? I'm guessing it's related to the anti-squeal shims or thereabouts, I've just never heard anything quite this intense before. It's not the wimpy squeal I've heard from other cars' brakes, this was LOUD and a bit deeper pitched. The car has about 13k on the stock pads.

[BlueHeaven]

Your car has the super aids; take it to the local veterinarian immediately.