I suck, but what else is new? Brake problem...

[carnagexxxx]

Ok so I get bored and decide to replace the rear pads on my '93 coupe. This is the first time that I have done this on this car. Actually I have never had a car with rear disk brakes (except that 87 buick regal but that doesn't count because i had to replace the fron tire once a month...).

So I jack it up and get started. To my surprise the two bolts that hold the caliper on came off easier than expected. I lube the hawk hps pads with the permatex green goo and wrestle the bastards into the metal retaining clips. I then proceeded to shove the caliper piston back into the caliper (p.i.t.a with greasy pliers) but the thing wasnt lining up right.

No matter how much I tried I couldn't get it over the bottom small piston(for lack of a better term) that that the caliper bolts screw into. There is a top one also that was moving back and forth freely. I figured that the bottom one should too. Got the liquid wrench out and after much time with a fine persuasion tool the thing got loose. I popped this thing out and you wouldn't believe how rusted it was. So I cleaned both small pistons (caliper screws into these btw), lubed them, and threw them back in the way they were. Sure enough the caliper fit properly over the pads blah blah blah.

Test drive produced results which were disappointing. I drove down the road at about 25mph, threw the clutch in and pulled slowly on the e-brake. It worked a bit but nothing that would say that I should attempt anything harder. I now also have to pull higher than before.

Please forgive if I am not being very clear but it's 3:00am and I am tired as hell. If anyone has anything they can help me with please let me know.

[downshift_sideways]

well how about stating what you need help with...

Re-adjusting your e-brake?

[MangoDorifto]

Did you replace the rotors also? You can adjust the ebrake cable to fix your issue with having to pull up higher. Also remember new pads and rotors need a bedding/break-in period before they work at full potential. But if everything went on smoothly afterwards and the piston isn't ceased, your brakes should be working.

[g6civcx]

Check the rear calipers for seized/pitted/scored piston. You should retract the pistons fully to help line up the caliper.

[carnagexxxx]

well how about stating what you need help with...

Re-adjusting your e-brake?


Yeah, sorry about that. Like I said I was REALLY tired when I posted it and I'm sure it didn't make too much sense. My main concern (as addressed more below) is that my ebrake won't lock the rear wheels up when i pull it when it normally should bite. The secondary problem is whether or not it has to do with a busted-up dust boot on the large caliper cylinder.

Did you replace the rotors also? You can adjust the ebrake cable to fix your issue with having to pull up higher. Also remember new pads and rotors need a bedding/break-in period before they work at full potential. But if everything went on smoothly afterwards and the piston isn't ceased, your brakes should be working.

No, I didn't adjust the cable. I will do some searching on this but any advise is appreciated. Any idea how long HPS rear pads on stock calipers take to break in while we are talking about it? Even if the cable needs adjustment shouldn't I still be able to get sufficient force that would slow the car down by pulling it back? They do work as I could see when I looked at the rotor after I pulled into work.

Once I un-jammed the small piston (and again I don't mean the big one you have to retract with pliers) it bolted on correctly.



This weekend I plan on doing the front with Z calipers, hawk pads, lines, etc. Btw, I still am waiting on my calipers from heavythrottle which puzzles me because I live in PA and they are in NY. I got my calipers from Cali and the other odds and ends from Texas...but I digress.:-/ :ugh:

I guess since I have to do the rear braided lines I'll just refurbish the rear calipers as best as I can. Here's the problem, and it's my noob fault, I mangled the dust boots on both. I read another post where someone told anoth guy he was "fawked" :( which makes me fear the worst.

I feel like such a tool because of all this. I guess you don't expect much trouble changing pads... guess it's the nature of the beast for 15 year-old cars.

Thanks for the support and any more suggestions are appreciated.

[g6civcx]

Okay, I can't take it any more. The "piston" you keep on referring to are called pin bolts. The rubber pin boot sits over the pins that slide in and out, and the pin bolts hold the caliper onto the car.

You need to check over everything. Start from scratch.

Do like I said above and check all of your calipers for signs of wear and replace if necessary.

You need to release the handbrake and fully retract the rear caliper piston, the big one, not the pin bolts to have the caliper sits properly over new pads.

You need a rear caliper tool. You can use vice grips and pliers, but it's better to use the tool. It looks like a cube with nipples on the ends that go into the slots. You turn it with a ratchet. It's like $5.

Check all of your retainers and clean/grease them up according to the FSM.


For HPS, you need to bed them in per instructions that come on the box. Basically do 8-10 medium speed stops and then drive on the freeway for 15-20 minutes without stopping to cool and heat cycle the pads.

[SR2Zero]

If you want to lock up your rears... go hydro!

http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?p=842558#post842558

[carnagexxxx]

Okay, I can't take it any more. The "piston" you keep on referring to are called pin bolts. The rubber pin boot sits over the pins that slide in and out, and the pin bolts hold the caliper onto the car.

Yeah man, sorry about that. I was too lazy:cj: to look up the propper term but thanks lol.



You need to release the handbrake and fully retract the rear caliper piston, the big one, not the pin bolts to have the caliper sits properly over new pads.

You need a rear caliper tool. You can use vice grips and pliers, but it's better to use the tool. It looks like a cube with nipples on the ends that go into the slots. You turn it with a ratchet. It's like $5.

Did that with no problem (thanks to the research I did). Everything is bolted up just right. I would say I'd get to everything this weekend but my new rotors haven't showed up yet :ugh:

If you want to lock up your rears... go hydro!

http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?p=842558#post842558
Thanks for the link! My interests are piqued especially since it is much cheaper than I expected. After I get this mess settled, maybe that will be the next sub-$200 mod if I get bored.

[MangoDorifto]

Kinda lost on which boot you mangled though. The piston boot or pin bolt boot? Also hydro ebrakes are sick but i think they're too hardcore for a street car. If you want a more agressive ebrake check these out..

http://www.rhdjapan.com/jdm-low/URAS-Tatsunootoshigo-S13-27043

[mademedoit]

I'm in the same boat right now I bought some cross drilled rotors and metallic pads. I put the rears on first (fronts the next weekend) pulled the ebrake as hard as I could and only came to a slow stop. I readjusted the handle... still barley works. After a few days I noticed a small puddle of brake fluid around the wheel, had to replace the rubber seal on the main cly and bleed the brakes. When I put the front brakes on though I could feel a big improvement right away, anyways its been a month and the rears still suck. I've tried bleeding the brakes in the rear again, do I need to pay to get it bleed on the vac. machine, I'm clueless.

[carnagexxxx]

I'm in the same boat right now I bought some cross drilled rotors and metallic pads. I put the rears on first (fronts the next weekend) pulled the ebrake as hard as I could and only came to a slow stop. I readjusted the handle... still barley works. After a few days I noticed a small puddle of brake fluid around the wheel, had to replace the rubber seal on the main cly and bleed the brakes. When I put the front brakes on though I could feel a big improvement right away, anyways its been a month and the rears still suck. I've tried bleeding the brakes in the rear again, do I need to pay to get it bleed on the vac. machine, I'm clueless.

I WAS going to take apart everything tonight so I could rebuild the rear calipers but that requires me to bleed the breaks. I was informed today that my rotors won't be comming in until next week :fawk2: so I don't feel like bleeding again when I swap in the new calipers up front. I guess this is what I get for trying to do shit last minute and not fully preparing myself for a task.


Kinda lost on which boot you mangled though. The piston boot or pin bolt boot? Also hydro ebrakes are sick but i think they're too hardcore for a street car. If you want a more agressive ebrake check these out..

http://www.rhdjapan.com/jdm-low/URAS-Tatsunootoshigo-S13-27043

I messed up the piston boot.

As for the hydro brake, lol, yeah I can see myself driving down the road and having a brainfart and hit the sucker by accident. :Ownedd:

Just took a look at the URAS link. Maybe after I get this completed I will look into these a bit further.

[carnagexxxx]

Slight update...and this may help some people.

When ordering brake rotors from Heavythrottle be sure to keep in mind that they don't do immediate shipping. Apparently they take 5-12 days to CNC the rotors for 4-lug and slotted/drilled. I didn't know this as they list this information on their "policies" page.

I talked to Jeff about it a few days ago wondering where my rotors were and he explained it a bit. SOOOOO.....if you haven't ordered from them before and you want to do the z32 rotors from them, make sure you plan about 2 weeks for arrival. Again, this is paraphrased from talking to the guy. Hope it helps.

[carnagexxxx]

Update:

I finally got my front rotors (from heavythrottle) and calipers (z32 30mm) on the car along with the braided lines (from SPL) and Hawk HPS pads. I've been driving with thm for about 2 weeks. Everything seems to be working ok but there is a strange clunking sound when I hit the brakes after driving a bit.

Over the weekend I decided to re-bleed each caliper and to inspect them to make sure everything was secure. I noticed that the rotors up front seemed a bit loose over the lugs. I could actually replicate the sound I was hearing by pulling the rotor out toward me (a few millimeters) and pressing it back against the hub.

Has anyone else had an issue like this? It is very annoying and I would think that there should be zero play whatsoever on the rotors.