Shop Discount Brake Pads

Bounce Test - All four shocks pass this test. I performed a bounce test on all four shocks and they are functioning perfectly OK. The shocks dampen the oscillation in less than 1 bounce, in fact when I push down and release the car body the bonnet doesn't even bounce back above its initial height.

I don't even see how that is possible. Virtually any oil leakage at all from a shock or strut will render it inoperative. The claim of oil getting on the brakes is really out there but I would fail it on the simple fact that the shock/strut would be dangerous because it would substantially deteriorate the handling of the vehicle.

like HT pointed out it won't perform as it's designed to with the oil leaked out of it. Some may fail it on safety some may not.. under ontario guide line aslong as a struck attached top and bottom it's considered safe by the MOT (Ministy of transportation). Now every province/state has there own rule and it all comes down the mechanic working on the car.

Just curious - what did the old brakes look like? Same thing? Does this do this to both sides? I would normally blame this on a frozen caliper if pronounced on one side. The pads may just not fit properly or could be a hardware problem. The grade of brake parts should never mean they can't perform and wear out early or irregularly.

This could get more complicated if it did this to both sides,

T

The previous brake pads wore completely down to the point they were eating into the inside and outside of the rotors on both sides. The pad lining on all 4 pads was completely gone. There was nothing about them that made me think there might be some sort of problem. I did check my records and the last pair of pads lasted a bit over 10,000 miles.
The problem on my current pads is happening on both sides. The wear is identical. I'm wondering if I did something wrong when I installed them. It is a fairly heavy vehicle and I occasionally tow a dirt bike trailer. Would the added weight of the trailer cause this kind of brake wear?

It's the heavy wear on the leading edge that has me thinking on this one?? I have known some cars to just eat brakes up fast and one happened to be a 93 Cavalier which may have similar brake design. I knew that Cavalier from near new till way over 200,000 miles and nice owner came in regularly after I did the third front brake job on this car with then maybe 45k on it and she was a bit ticked about them wearing out so fast twice on warranty! With that car I threw everything out - Rotors, calipers, best pads, flex hoses and she would come in every 7,500 miles for a grease, oil, filter, tire rotation when I always would look at brakes and the suckers were half gone - again!!

We just scheduled oil service with new brakes overy other time around for the next 150+K till she got another car. Nice even but fast wear out?? In fairness she was a bit hard on the brakes and this model was the convertible which weighs lots more than the regular car and I'll just chaulk that up to under sized brakes for the car.

The uneven wear makes me think the calipers can cock some with worn pins or the rubber they slide thru allowing this to happen. See if you can rock the caliper much just with your hands and look and it should show where they are not staying in line - caliper prob or the pins??

Do these wheels spin freely or can you feel some brake drag?

T

I checked the calipers and they were not loose at all. The tires seem to spin fairly easily with no uneven drag. I pulled the pads and rotors off tonight and the pads are gooved and cracked. The rotors have minor scorching. I was told that when you install new rotors, they should be turned first because they don't always run true....which I didn't do. Also, I didn't lubricate the caliper pins when I installed them last time, which is another thing I have learned you need to do. Could these be the causes of my problems?

High quality rotors do not need to be turned and the ones I buy say right on the package if you do any warranty is over.

The cracks in the pads suggests high heat and perhaps those pads can't take it or they are worked too hard. If you don't lube up caliper pins they just don't stay free but that usually shows up as uneven wear or problems on just one side of the vehicle first.

It stinks but I'd start all over with nice new stuff and bleed out all the brakes and get new fluid in there. It's not good to just push back caliper pistons returning the fluid back to the reservoir either,

T

Sidom was on this so I left it alone but see it's been a couple days - sorry. Know we are all volunteers and most work full time. There could be a computer problem - sorry.

OK: I'll butt in and say when you've done brake work and can't get a "pedal" as I'll call it then there's either air still in the system after bleeding or many times on an older car especially the master cylinder in the course of bleeding manually which is common has just travelled into a new area of its bore which could be all crusty and tore the seals up right away and may bleed but not hold pressure again.

There are some other possibilities but not so common to me with this car.

Ideas for the fix. Plug off master cylinder and see if it will hold firmly. Try on car bench bleeding if it went dry of fluid air gets trapped and may not be so easy to get out. Usually that would result in a soft pedal but not NO pedal!

Some ABS systems will have specific procedures for bleeding if exposed. Just pads and rotors shouldn't have violated the hydraulics if system wasn't wide open. Most 91s didn't have ABS but could have.

My gut feeling is that the master cylinder tore up it's seals if there's no other seen issues. They don't leak in general when they do that - well yes but internally unseen not on the ground.

Best when saving calipers to retract the pistons by letting fluid out thru bleeder not pushing old fluid back up to master which is tricky to do and many don't. That's where the junky fluid would have accumulated from heat, any rust and just pushing that back up to master is really a no-no but done all the time especially by DIYers but shops have been known to do that too.

Again - my guess so far is master cylinder gave out even if not the original problem it very well could be now as said. IMO, a new one is not wasting money in that old of a car as it is a wearing part. Means you have to bleed out backs too if replaced too,

T

You called Tom.......It's been busy

Looks like you've said the same thing I would..... Does sound like the masters gone south.


You or anyone is never butting in, as always jump in with the solid advise.......

Thank you very much, if thats not the problem ill let you know

Knowing what type of vehicle you are working on would help?

When you say you have no brks, do you mean the pedal is going all the way to the floor?

its a 1991 cadillac deville, and yes the pedal goes to the floor all the way

If the parking brake works through the caliper, the caliper’s piston needs to be rotated in the bore and compressed at the same time to get them to retract.
Dan.

I think that you've got it, thanks Dan.

Although I suspect that I also have to open the bleed screw

It's best to bleed it out while retracting as you are not pushing old brake fluid back to the master cylinder. If you do that and don't intend on bleeding the whole system put a clear tube into a clean glass container from the bleeder and keep it submerged or air may get drawn back in.

It's a good time to just replace rotors as most don't have lots of extra metal to turn them,

T

First off thanks for all your help.

This morning I loaded my tools into the car and set off to work (far easier to do this kind of job on a flat concrete floor with a big equiped workshop at hand).

So.......... yes the pistons must be twisted (clockwise), at thesame time as pressing them and yes once you know how its a piece of piss (excuse my french).

I had intentions of grinding the head of a bolt so that it would fit the piston head but as it turned out I took the easy option and...........

.........twisted the piston with a big pair of adjustable pliers (taking care not to damage the aluminium piston head), and pressed the piston in by turning (by hand), a big bolt I found in a disused factory next door (yes that easy).

Where things went a little wrong was I put a clamp on the brake hose so that I could bleed the old fluide out at thesame time but it would seem that under the rubber they are braided and so I flattened the tube a little. I did put the clamp on at 90° and that seems to of made my round hose into a square one.

However the good news is that they work

Keep an eye on that hose or just replace it. It has been compremised,

T