Front Brake Pad Retaining Clips - 2000 Concorde LXi

I assume the diagram you are referring to is the one in my post all the way at the bottom of this page:

Scroll down to the 4th post (the one with the photos) on this page (in the same thread): I think those are what you are referring to, but I might be wrong - people use the names of parts so haphazardly. The top two photos are what would accurately be called pad retractors (they act like springs to help push the pads away from the rotors when the brakes are not being used to reduce/eliminate drag and help minimize wear and heat).

The bottom two photos show what I would call wear bars (I call them that because they provide renewable rubbing surfaces so the pad ears don't wear into the steering knuckle when they move back and forth during use of the brakes). You would use one or the other - i.e., either the pad retractors *OR* the wear bars. Some people use neither with no seriously bad effects. With neither installed, the pads will sit slightly further in on the rotors (giving slightly (but probably insignificantly) less braking effect than if you had either the wear bars or the retractors installed). Personally, I use the pad retractors on both of my Concordes to minimize brake drag, heat, and wear.

I hope you are referring to one of those two parts - and if so, you can now see exactly how they are installed.

While we are on the subject, there really is a minor issue with the pad retainers on the front pads on the LH cars, depending on which brand of pads you get.

See the photo and two sketches in my first post here:

Early on, apparently there was a mix up in the information that flowed from Chrysler to the aftermarket world on the front brake pads for the

2nd generation LH cars. The photo and the sketches in my linked post tell the story. The pad that most aftermarket companies used to sell, and many still do, have the wrong retainer on them (front outboard pads). As you can see in the photo, the ends of the retainers are *supposed* to fit in the recesses in the caliper (where the letters "KH" are) but don't.

The photo shows the pad with the wrong retainer on it. The lower sketch shows that the correct retainer is straight along the bottom edge, not curved up (like a moustache) like the incorrect retainer is in the photo. The correct retainer fits perfectly in the recesses. The good news if you got the wrong one (because the manufacturer is too stupid or lazy to have fixed the problem years after they were bound to have known about it) is that the pads with the wrong retainers will work OK. Because the retainer rests on the edge of the recess with spring loading, the pad tends to tilt or flip into the rotor, and so may drag a little bit. But hopefully your pads have the correct retainers.

Probably more info. than you wanted to know, but hopefully I addressed what you were really asking about.

page:

here:

Hi Bill. Thanks for the help. Yes... it's the retractor clips I tried to describe. I was able to find a picture on another site for Dodges. Another individual described the problem and someone who appeared knowledgeable can to his aid with photos. I used those as my guide and completed teh task before I read your reply. Your pictures are actually better than those I used. Thanks for the help ... again.

P.S, Couldn't link to the last URL you gave without a password:

page:

>

here:

>

You're welcome. Was that Dodge site by chance

and the info. posted by someone named "Peva"? If so - that was me.

Oops - yes - that particular thread is on a "members only" area of the site. Hopefully you can tell from my verbal description whether your front pads have the correct retainers or not (based on whether the ends of the retainers nest properly in the recesses of the calipers). But like I said, the wrong ones will work OK, they just will fit a little funky.

Glad you got the retractors figured out.