Brake Caliper tightness

[pitzel]

Hi. I know little to nothing about brakes, but is it normal, on the front disc brakes of my 1992 Cutlass Surpreme, for there to be significant 'play' in the mounting of the caliper on its mount? ie: I can grasp the brake hose, give it a bit of a light tug, and the entire caliper moves somewhat in place.

 

Same thing happens on both sides. The brakes have never felt 'right' in this car, and i'm obviously wondering if merely removing and tightening some bolts on the calipers themselves might make a difference? Is there naturally supposed to be some 'play' in the actual mounting of the front brake calipers?

[digitaloutsider]

No. Tighten them.

[pitzel]

What tools will I need to do this? Any significant risks involved here, esp. considering that my calipers would appear to be significantly corroded?

 

Thanks for the reply digitaloutsider, this is my first ever car (never did have one when I studied electrical engineering at the university), at the ripe young age of 25, and this board has already saved me a good thousand dollars on simple repairs such as the oil pump drive seal, idle relearn, and a few others. I very much appreciate any help anyone can give me.

[digitaloutsider]

You need a Torx T-60 socket and a ratchet. Just tighten the bolts. They can strip, so be careful. Other than that, I don't think there are any other risks. You may want to take the calipers apart and lube the sliders with a little grease to ensure free movement. Other than that, you should be good to go.

[GnatGoSplat]

If the bracket is firmly attached, but just the caliper itself is able to wiggle... that's normal to some degree when brakes are not engaged. Have a friend step on the brakes and there should be no play with the brakes engaged. If you suspect too much play, you'd need new slider bolts or slider sleeves in the calipers themselves.

[pitzel]

Okay, so I pulled the front wheels off and gave the brakes a good inspection. Everything that could possibly be tightened town, was tightened down.

 

So I think my problem is a combination of pad glazing, as well as severely worn pads.

 

When driving the car, the 'problem' manifests itself as the initial application of the brakes doesn't quite 'catch', but subsequent applications of the brakes work fine. I do not get any pulsation whatsoever, or any of the other ill effects people here speak of when referring to warped rotors, etc. Gave the car a wash/spraydown with the garden hose last night, and the front brakes were obviously slipping quite a bit.

 

So to fix the problem, I think I will throw a new set of pads into it. Priced out a few today, and this is what I found:

 

Raybestos/Auto Parts Plus Brand -- $17.05

Raybestos $38

PGD $62

Raybestos Ceramic $105

Monroe $54.99

Certified (Crappy Tyre brand) $39.99

Economy Crappy Tyre whitebox pads $23.69

 

I guess I could afford the ceramics, but the cost is awfully hard to stomach without good evidence they actually last significantly longer.

[93CutlassSupreme]

you don't want Ceramics.

 

 

i had Bosch Ceramics, and hated them. they tore the shit out of my rotors. they cut nice, deep grooves into them. they don't stop worth shit either, and they're loud

[digitaloutsider]

Get EBC Greenstuff Pads.

[pitzel]

Okay, I scored a fairly sweet deal on some Raybestos Quietstops from the local parts guy. Gotta love the Canadian dollar lately. Couldn't find the EBC Greenstuff's anywhere. So far, here's my kit:

 

 

Will be using the factory rotors which are not at all warped, and measure out to be well within spec after roughly 67k miles on-wheels.

 

Wish me luck! For my sake Gutless93Supreme, I hope your bad ceramic experience (or your bad brake experiences overall, going by some of your posts I've looked up) doesn't end up afflicting me.

 

One more thing; is engine paint the same as caliper paint? They have a close-out on engine paint, at $1.50/can, and if the stuff would work good on the calipers, I should pick up a can. Does caliper paint serve any functional purpose aside from the 'rice' factor?

[93CutlassSupreme]

Wish me luck! For my sake Gutless93Supreme, I hope your bad ceramic experience (or your bad brake experiences overall, going by some of your posts I've looked up) doesn't end up afflicting me.

 

i'm pretty sure i need hubs, which i'm not spending the money on. good luck on the brake job.

[DaveFromColorado]

according to the book...

 

the (front) bracket to steering knuckle bolts should be tightened to 148 Ft. lbs (those are the T-60 bolts)

 

the (front) caliper to caliper-bracket slider pins should be tightened to 79lbs.

 

the rear caliper pins should be tightened to 92 ft. lbs.

 

hope that helps a lil' bit.

 

--Dave.

[93CutlassSupreme]

good luck getting a torque wrench, or any socket, on those rear caliper mounting bolts.

 

 

a box end wrench is really all you can fit in there

[pitzel]

Okay, so installed the pads. They sure make a huge difference in terms of pedal travel. Filled the slider boots full of plenty of anti-seize, compressed the pistons with a screwdriver.

 

No noise, nothing otherwise 'bad' to report, other than the old pads had quite a bit of cracking in the friction material, perhaps causing some of the bad noises that I was hearing. Definitely hope my problems are solved now!

[HokemBokem]

good job also my new raybesto pg plus pads and raymold rotors feel great on my buick.

[pitzel]

Actually, on further inspection, the retaining clip was broken on the driver-side pad. Essentially when the pad was not under pressure, it was free to flop around in the caliper itself, but when braking pressure was applied, it would slip around until the force was strong enough to lock it in place.

 

I have a hard time believing a tiny, tiny piece of metal could mess up the operation of the brakes so much, but it seems like a plausible explanation for the brief brake slipping I was experiencing until I applied quite a bit more pressure on the pedal.