I have owned my 2012 Mazda5 Sport for about 7 years, and have really enjoyed it.

Issue:

• My front brakes started squeaking about 9 months ago. This is mostly from cold start, but happens every time I get going, and generally throughout drives as well. I would say if I drive 20 miles in a day, it will squeak when I leave the house, occasionally at traffic lights & stop signs, and then when I depart from wherever I went.
• In September 2023 I purchased new Raybestos Element3 (EHT1044) pads, and Raybestos 980283 rotors. The squeaking dropped off a bit but then about 2 months in I was in a fender bender that required the car to be in the shop for about 6 weeks, so I forgot about the noise.
• Once I started driving it again I noticed the noise again, did a little research, and decided to swap out the front pads for Akebonos (Akebono Pro-ACT 1044). From my research I understood these were the equivalent of OEM pads. This was in March. Again, small dropoff (maybe only in perception), and then noticed the noise again.
• My mechanic (who is pretty good, but doesn't have tons of years of experience) is recommending I buy directly from Mazda.

Question(s):
Has anyone else experienced this, and have any recommendations for what to fix / replace? I'm frustrated enough that I opened an account at MazdaForum to look for help

Thanks.