Forgive me for the necro but I found some free time and motivation yesterday to rip the wheel off and have a look see. I don’t know how I missed it working in there before but I ran my finger across the backside (facing toward car) of the rotor and found some very nice scoring. That rotor chewed up the new pad(s) I put on there too. I suppose this would explain the grindy feeling. Maybe the dark spots on the back can explain the pulsation but then again it could have been from where I was rubbing my greasy finger all over it. Either way when I get a chance it’s new rotor/pad time. This any good? More Information for RAYBESTOS 727CH56655R
I would change the caliper bracket too. I see a lot of cracking in 2nd picture.
Yikes, I was hoping that was superficial. That’s actually brand new. That came with the ac delco caliper I put on it.
I see at least a few pad slaps, and at least one metal on metal pad slap…
Suggest to do that sooner rather than later. In meantime drive extra cautious & expect poor braking performance w/that amount of braking-surface problem.
Caliper cracking may or may not be a problem. Could just be surface crazing. But inspect carefully.
100% spot on. The pad I pulled off that side in the first time I was in there was down to bare metal. The pad on the outward facing side had a LOT of meat still on it, about as much as a new pad. It’s like it was only engaging on that one side.
I currently have two other vehicles thankfully. I never drive this around, I’ve just been running a battery charger out to it every now and then so I don’t have to end up replacing the battery I just put in it. Once I get brakes done though it’s probably gonna be my work car.
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Sounds like your caliper slide pins froze in the caliper bracket…
Yeah brakes were also stuck on that side too (car wouldn’t budge). The bleeder on this caliper was broken off many years ago by someone else so I had every reason to just replace the caliper and get it over with so it’s the first thing I did along with flushing the old fluid.
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I just got my brand new rotors and pads in. Plan on knocking this out this weekend. Save for cleaning the oily preservative stuff off the rotors is there anything I need to do prior to slapping these on?
Clean the caliper bracket slide pins, including the holes they go in and make sure they move completely smooth with 0 binding and then lube the slide pins, if any questions about them, your local parts house should have them in stock… with the pads you should have gotten new hardware for the pads to sit in, remove them paying attention how they come off and clean the rust/dirt off them before installing the new hardware… I always lube the hardware (some don’t) where the pads rest in the hardware (holding them in place)…
Also make sure the face of the hub is cleaned (wire brush) so the rotor fits flush against it flat…
Okay I’ve got the bracket reinstalled and the new rotor on the right side after cleaning the hub face. I’ve got the new hardware in the bracket with a little bit of silicone lube where the pad ears contact. I’ve just spent probably 20 minutes trying to get the ears of the pad(s) in and it just doesn’t seem to want to fit. I can tell the pads can fit based on the shape of it matching up with the slot where the hardware fits in the caliper, the problem seems to be there’s a tiny gap between the caliper and clips. I’ve spent a good while making sure the clips were in just like the old ones, and the old ones had that gap as well but the old pads fit no problem.
I’m about to pull my hair out, it’s as if the ears on the pad are a mm too big.
The area where the hardware sits is spotless, I made sure of that.
Try to see if the old pads will fit in place of the new pads, just for fitment checking…
If the old pads fit and the new ones don’t then take them back and exchange them, hint: you can take your caliper bracket to the parts house to confirm fitment…
If you bought them on line, well then you have basically 3 choices now…
- return them and play the waiting game…
- modify the new pads to fit (not the best idea unless you know what you are going, but sometimes the coating is too thick)
- go down to your local auto parts store and buy something else that fits…
You can also mock up the pads in the caliper bracket for proper fitment with the bracket off the car before putting it all together and finding out they don’t fit…
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I did as suggested and removed the bracket, refitted the clips and after toying around was able to get the pads in. I used plenty of lube but they seem a bit stiff to my unexperienced self. Anyway I put the bracket/pads on the car as a unit, compressed the caliper and got it back on. Bolts are torqued and the bigger bracket bolts a little bit tighter with blue loctite. (I don’t have a torque wrench)
It was going okay until I started putting the wheel back on. Got the nuts tightened to about the 70% point when I went to finish up one nut it went from quite a bit of resistance to little resistance instantly. It doesn’t spin freely by hand but it’s loose enough to tell me something’s wrong. The hub is relatively new as it’s been replaced twice since we’ve had the car due to failing wheel bearings. The studs looked okay to me and I made sure they were clean before reassembling. I’m assuming (hoping dearly) the wheel nut has stripped and not the stud because the nuts do look a bit battered.
I assume wheel nuts are not universal. Rock auto has different sizes listed. This seems like something I could pick up at the parts store locally I just don’t know what size to look for.
If nothing looks obviously wrong, like threads are destroyed or the stud is turning, you might try hand-threading the possibly-faulty nut onto the possibly-suspect stud, with the wheel removed. Might provide a clue. I’ve never had to do it myself, but doubt it is a huge job to replace a wheel stud. Press fit, I expect the new stud is pulled through the hole just using a nut & a stack of washers.
Suggest you get one if you intend to do diy’er auto repairs, not that expensive. I have a beam type, not as easy to use as the click type, but works ok & produces repeatable results. If my TW is too big to fit the space available, I’ll just use a wrench or ratchet/socket in combo with a portable bathroom scale; i.e. if I want 40 foot pounds, I’ll press on the bathroom scale to get an estimate of how much 40 pounds of force is, then apply that same force to the end of a 12 inch ratchet.
Best bet on finding the correct wheel nut is to take one you know fits to a parts store, and compare it to what they have. Another method is the local auto-parts-recycler or Pick N Pull.
Try giving the parts counter person your vehicle info and let them look it up… You can even take one of the old ones with you to confirm match up…
It is more likely that you damaged the threads on the wheel stud or they have stretched, then the nut going bad 1st (but lug nuts can wear out also)… If you keep having to replace wheel hubs cause the bearings keep going out then you are probably buying the cheap stuff, you get what you pay for most of the time… The hub could be made with less then desirable materials and or the machined tolerances are not as good as the better made parts and the wheel stud has simply spun in the hub… Not very easy to get back off…
And yes, your Chevy Classis is very common, no need to get parts on line…
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Looks like I might have dodged a bullet. I took the right wheel back off and noticed that the threads in the nut were in fact sheared off because they were wrapped around the stud. Cut myself in the process of removing it lol. What I also noticed is that once I got that new nut on there how easy and clean it felt going on. All the others bind up and one of them doesn’t even go on straight. Looks like I’m gonna be buying a couple packs of them. I verified the threads on the studs were clean by trying the new nut out on all of them. Still having trouble getting the pads in the clips for the other(left) side but progress is progress I guess. I don’t mean to treat this like a blog but I really do appreciate you guys help with this.
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I’m getting pretty pissed off here. I’ve got two maybe three different sets of hardware here and some of them allow the pads to slide slightly better than others but all are WAY too tight. Especially the ones that came with the pad because the pads don’t even fit in those. I’m inclined to slap them on and call it a night but I get the feeling I’m going to end back up at square one with seized brakes again if I do. Do I have to roll the dice and spend more money on a third set of pads or can I just take a file to the sides that engage the groove in the clips? This is beyond ridiculous.
I’m a diy’er & I’ve changed brake pads on a VW Rabbit and Corolla for years. Never had this sort of problem myself, seems pretty frustrating. It’s always been a pretty easy job when I do it. Most technically taxing is probably figuring out a way to retract the caliper so the new pads will fit. hmm … do you have a copy of the manufacturer’s recommended procedure for brake pad replacement on your car? Or at least an aftermarket repair manual , Haynes, Chiltons? Maybe there’s some special procedure for your car.
When I did it before (last year when I changed the caliper) the bose pads actually went in without a problem. The calipers came with hardware preinstalled and the bose pads came with their own set as well. I’ve tried them all here. As for retracting the caliper I used a clamp and the old brake pad with the master open. I just checked some online reference my library provides, aside from that it’s all I have.