MusPuppis Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 Edit, brake not break. Its 4:35am and I'm a little tired from the nights events, lol. Just pretend I'm not a complete idiot, as hard as that is. I thought about putting this into the Brakes section but its more a trouble shooting question and doesnt pertain to a Z, so I thought it'd best to keep it isolated from useful Z related info, heh. If I was in error I apologize. Ok, I'm prepping my SHO to sell. Getting little stuff taken care of and the biggest things other than getting it painted were new rotors pads and tie-rods. The car barely even had brakes, I mean it would audibly (very, I got weird looks in traffic) grind and didnt stop worth a damn. I dont drive the car and I'm terminally poor so it just sat on the back of my list of things to do. Between my Z, random work, school, the Festiva (SOOO close to being done.. 12.7's baby!), this obnoxious 91 'Stang and a small ass-ton of other stuff, I just didnt care, lol. Anyway, I finally got the money togethr and picked up the new pads and rotors. Tie-rods I have but need a special tool so it wont be till next weekend.. I pull the first caliper off and remove the pads.. wholey friggen crap. The inner pad is ripped to bare metal and is eating the rotor. The outer pad isnt worn much at all! I mean next to nothing. I compared it to my new pads and it looks like maybe 25% is gone vs. the brand new pad. IF that. Odd I think. I move on to the other side of the car.. SAME thing. Inner pad is totally dead, outer pad is nearly new. The calipers 'look' ok. The piston compressed easily, the car has good pedal feel. Soft enough to be nice on the street but not spongy. They were on correctly. No shims on the brakes, but none in the new box and no marks or evidence it was ever supposed to have them. I dont pretend to know alot about the inner workings of brakes. I know how the basic system works and I can maintain it, but this just has me a little confused. Maybe I'm stupid and its obvious, but I'm missing it regardless. Any thoughts? The car is a '93 Ford Taurus SHO. All wheel disc, anti-lock brakes (that dont work..). I admit to being a little mean to the car.. The character of the engine is just way to fun not to dig into. High revving, loud, quick.. The ass will slide out easily. Too bad its a Ford =/ So maybe this problem is just me being a jack-ass to the car.. I mean, just tonight after getting the new brakes on my first impulse was to beat the hell out of it for a little while.. Which resulted in a coolant hose somewhere in middle of a nest of other hoses blowing off or rupturing or something. Gonna have to wait till morning to figure that one out. Just wondering. I intend to sell the car and even if I can 'hide' the problem, I'm not going to. I want to know its working right and safe before it hits the chopping block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom'sZ Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 many calipers have only one piston. When you step on the brakes, the one piston pushes it's pad against the disc, and then the caliper slids over on a shouldered bolt or something until the other pad is against the disc. It sounds like your calipers were frozen up and not slidding, so only the pad that had the piston behind it was rubbing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusPuppis Posted July 23, 2006 Author Share Posted July 23, 2006 Good idea. When I pulled the bolts out they didnt have any type of grease on them at all, which could account for the problem. Getting some today and regreasing them after I figure out where this fountain if anti-freeze is coming from. Thanks much, very appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruez Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 There are some pins on the SHO brake calipers that are notorius for rusting and seizing up... or they bend.. Take them out (if you can) lube them up real good or go buy some new ones.. I had the same thing happen to my SHO also.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumo Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 95-00 Luminas especially with rear disc brakes do the same thing too. Make sure you clean the bolts, shims, pads before installing. Then get some synthetic caliper grease or brake grease and apply at the points where the brake pads slide or move including the sliding bolts. My car did the same thing yours did and after cleaning and lubing the points where the pads slide or move including the sliding bolts it now has normal wear. Good luck:icon28: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusPuppis Posted July 28, 2006 Author Share Posted July 28, 2006 Just a little update; I took everyones suggestions, bought some brake grease and pulled the pins out, lubed it all up along with the caliper slides. Took it for a test drive and right away I started to smell brakes, which is good, means the outer pads are engaging. I took a look after the drive and all seems to be well. Shortly after I put my new tie rods on and completely borked my suspension, so it drove really well for a few minutes atleast. Counted the threads but it didnt help, lol. Goes in for alignment tomarrow. Thanks fellas. as always the knowledge on this board comes through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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