weird noise coming from left rear break, dumb question time!

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

hey you legends, so far every issur ive had has been fixed throgh this site, so thanks in advance for your help\

under breaking at the mo the left rear breaks make a grinding noise, theres no noticable drop in performance under breaking but the noise is embarising and anoying, i havent taken the wheel off (i dont want to do stuff i dont have to do) but i had a look and i cant see any stones under the break pad

could it just be a stone in the break pads that i cant see or are my break pads shot?

thanks for any idears

cheers!!!

[Morton]

Chances are your pads are down to the metal, and now all you're doing is making nice big gorges in your disks This is why you check ALL FOUR brakes on every oil change! Sometimes one caliper will sieze and cause premature wear on one corner

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

ive only got one thing to say to that,

oh sh!t

lol

ive been asking my mate about them for a few months, pedal getting long etc and he just kept on saying, we put new breaks on 6months ago, and now im having to deal with screwd breaks, how long can i drive on them befor causing to much damage? ive gotta go get the break pads and get home from work etc

also ive only changed break pads once, can any one tell me the stages and steps of doin a pad change, so i get it right?

also, id like to get some semi racing pads, any body got any recomendations? prices etc?

[Morton]

1) remove wheel
2) unbolt caliper (2x bolts, top and bottom)
3) pull caliper off disk
4) suspend caliper securely so it doesn't hang by the brake line (big cable ties or coat hangers are good, I personally just take care and balance it)
5) remove the old pads (push them inward and unclip them)
6) fully retract the piston (easier done with a proper piston pusher - set me back $15 but worth every cent in time saved, but also doable with a g-clamp or a large metal anything and a lot of brute force)
7) slide the new pads in, ensuring they clip underneath properly, and are facing the right way
8) slide the caliper back over the disk
8b) at this point, if the caliper won't go on because the pads are too close together, you need to push the piston back further
9) bolt everything back up and bed the brakes in as per manufacturers instructions

take a look first, and just make sure that it is the pads which have no meat left on them I could be wrong, it could be something else obscure!

Here's the fun part - if ONLY the back left brake pads are worn down, and the back right are perfect, then you have a siezing caliper.

IF this is the case, then you need to slide the caliper apart and grease up the slides with some new grease. But we'll come to that later For now I'm going to assume that the pads have worn down nice and quickly thanks to some, mind the expression, stationary acceleration.

For pads, I personally use the cheapest stuff I can get my hands on for the rears. Rear brakes do around 15% of the car's overall braking, and for me - I never really drive in a manner which requires 100% braking effort, (I coast into red lights from miles away and slow down well before I need to) so I'm happy to spend good money on fronts (just in case of emergency), but leave the rear brakes for low-dust Silverlines. At $30 for both sides, you can't complain

Just from my experience, stay the hell away from Bendix. I find you pay much more than you get for your money I like a good quality Ferodo pad myself, and for the equivalent price with a Bendix pad, I find I get longer life and more consistent performance from the Ferodos.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

oh yes there has been rather a not of stationary acceleration hahaha cheers for that bro your an absoloute champion!

ill have a look at them and let you know how i get on, what kind of greece should i use on the caliper if its sezing? and if its seazing am i going to have to get a new calliper?

hopefully your right and its just worn down pads

[Morton]

I'd say that if you've been painting lines on the road, then it's just premature pad wear I once chewed through a set of rear pads in only a couple of months in my VP God I love Queensland. But that's another story for another day.

I personally use Castrol high-temp bearing grease for just about everything. Whenever I change pads, I clean out my wheel bearings (front only) and pull apart all the calipers for re-greasing.

You've best off cleaning the slides thoroughly, and getting into the female ends with cotton tips to get them as clean as you could be bothered doing, then lather them up nicely with some of that high temp bearing grease (you'll find it in small white tubs, similar size and shape to a nice tub of salsa dip) with a red lid, and a small castrol label on the front. With any luck, IF it has siezed (which is unlikely), you won't need a new caliper. Just a lot of grease

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

thanks heaps bro!

yea there aint many areas i havent "marked my terrortory" hahaha, i got the car 6months ago so its still great fun to spend a bit of ruber!

any sugesgions on some semi racing pads?

[Morton]

I'd say for street use, Ferodo tend to be my bet. I know there's better stuff out there, but once you start venturing into "race" pads, you find they take a while to warm up (dead brakes when cold), and REALLY wear down on your rotors quickly and make a lot of noise.

Someone will probably disagree with me, but I occasionally like a good thrash through the hills, and I find that I can leave my braking quite late with a decent set of Ferodos, and even after ten-fifteen minutes they don't fade as badly as some other pads I've used.

I'd suggest you go into your favourite auto parts store, and ask them about the Ferodo pads they stock or can order in. They should have a few different types of pad to suit different price ranges - pick whichever equates to the most you're willing to spend They do everything from budget low-dust help-me-i'm-poor brakes, right up to pads like the DS2500 which are good for heavy street and light track use. They take a few stops to warm up, make a bit of noise, but really play ball once they get some temperature in them. But again, they will DESTROY your rotors. All good race pads will do this.

But again, it all comes down to price And there's no point getting good pads for the back, if you're just going to burn them up ^_^ I'd still suggest rubbish Silverlines up the back, and a really good Ferodo up the front.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

wicked!!! ill make a call now to repco and see what they can do for me

how long will rotors last with semi race pasd on them? and how much is a new set of rotora lol

ill def take your advice put the good ones at the front and the **** ones at the back hahahaha

are there any realy good pads that wont destroy your rotor or wont damage them as much?

[Morton]

Well, tell me - what is the most stressful ordeal you're going to put your pads through? At the end of the day, with stock calipers and rotors, you can only get so much braking performance.

Being completely realistic, you're not going to pull up massively fast with $200 pads when compared to $60 pads on stock rotors and stock calipers. If you want to stop fast, you need a very expensive brake upgrade kit.

Take my advice and just grab some midrange Ferodos Your wallet will thank you. (Just don't go braking from 200kph on a regular basis)

New rotors tend to be around the $150 mark for a pair, up to $300 depending on what sort of rotors you want (standard, slotted, gold plated, etc)

I don't think there's such a thing as a good race pad that won't eat rotors. The idea of a good race pad is that it bites into the rotor, and pulls you up hard. One unfortunate side-effect of friction, is that friction wears away at things.

Imagine street pads are 1000 grit sandpaper. They're quiet, they grip, and they don't wear things out too much.
Good race pads are like 100 grit sandpaper. Makes a hell of a noise, and tears everything to shreds - but has a lot of grip.

To put it into perspective: After one round of V8 Supercars, a full set of brand new rotors on a car will be destroyed.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

spinning my weels on a regular basis how ever every week or so i normaly go for a thrash arround mt ngongotaha (a mountan in rotorua) or out to the blue lake, arround lake rotorua etc, some prety tight turns after long strates, im definatly gunna get some mid range Ferodos, they sound like what im looking for at the mo, with xmas coming up the roads are bizy and i need to save money hahahaha, do repco or super cheap stock them?

[Morton]

Yeah, they should If you like a good cruise through the mountains, the next thing you need to invest in is a manual transmission. Engine braking saves brakes

I can only imagine what the mountain roads must be like in NZ. I'm jealous

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

your so right about the manual!!!! when ive got enough money thats the first thing im gunna do

mate you would love the mountain roads, there like bathurst but never ending, long strates, tight corners sweepin corners loads of camber, drops and rises an adrenaline rush from start to finish, if your ever in nz, rent/buy a realy good holden and take her around some of the roads its fantastic

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

sweet just spoke to repco, theve got a set of mid range ferodos for the rear wheels and there gunna get some samples ready for me so i can get good hard wearing pads for the front

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

Why is nothing ezy LOL

I did the pad change and no majior problems, except the only pad that was warn rite down was the ouyside pad on the left rear, so I'm guessing that its a seazed caliper, so were do I go from here? What do I need to buy (greece and tool wise) and how do I go about un seazing it,steps etc, thanks in advance, btw Morton the step by step about the breaks change was brilliant, thanks again bro

[Morton]

Hey no worries man, any time.

To pull the calipers apart, all you need to do is pull the two halves REALLY hard. They should slide away from eachother, and then it'll be a bit tricky, but get something in there to lever them apart that last inch to separate completely.

Take a look at how the rubber covers sit before you do this, so you can make them sit pretty after. The rubber covers are used to keep the grease inside

Once they're apart, the slides will look obvious, and you can pretty much work it out from there

If you have any serious issues, take some pics and I'll attempt to describe the procedure on them

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

all greeced up,way easyr than i thought! Except for one thing, the last person who did a pad change before me couldent get the bottom female peice to slide in enuf so he hit with a hammer to close the caliper, the reason he couldent get it to move (he didnt know this) was cuz the male/female bit hadnt been greeced and had seazed. Hitting it with a hammer made it worse and its totaly seazed it wont budge, as far as i could tell none of them had ever been greeced so it was a big job, next favor to ask of you morton is, I'm obviously gunna have to get a new right rear caliper wen I've got it how do I go about changing it? Sorry to be a pain mate

[Morton]

Nah that's alright. Go to a wreckers, and grab a corresponding caliper that seems to slide together/apart REALLY easily. Pull it apart and check the condition of the grease. You can afford to be picky, and take one that's been very well looked after.

Then all you have to do is unbolt it from the brake line. one bolt, and a VERY IMPORTANT copper washer which stops brake fluid leaking out

After you refit the new caliper, ensure you bleed the caliper properly. There should be a guide on that somewhere here

(basically, to bleed brakes, you remove the bleed nipple, undo the bleed screw, and get someone to do stuff with the brake pedal while you open and close the screw so no air goes back in but stuff writing all that out now because I'm going to bed and havn't slept at all since well before this conversation started yesterday morning. I've been in the garage working on the stato. So I'm going to have a quick 4hr nap, and I'll be back online later)

lol. afk now. **** this.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

hahahahaha sweet as bro, i know youv prob just woken up but thanks heaps, ill try find the caliper in the next few days, if i have any issues ill let you know, sein as your a legend and you know your **** lol. what you been doin to the stato?

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

YAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!

ALL DONE!!!!

i put the caliper on last nite, shes runnin sweet! brake pads are beded and ready to go to

the breaks feel realy good now, no grabing or rock hard pedals just smooth controled braking, your a champion bro, thank you so much for all your help with this, you saved me a sh!t load of money by tellin me how to do all of it

so thanks again bro your a total legend!!

[Morton]

Fantastic Always good to hear something like this being resolved so easily ^_^

Congrats mate!