1. Home
  2. Chrysler Cars
  3. OK, disk brakes complete; now some questions

OK, disk brakes complete; now some questions

Well, I did my first ever front disk brake job. I had done older car drum brakes, but never tackled front disk. Job went fairly well, and the car will now 'stop on a dime and give you nine cents change' as a old friend used to say.

A few observations and questions about today's job:

1) I could not jack from the front using the K member. This car is a 1988 Shelby Lancer, and the Ground Effects from the front wont allow a floor jack to go too far underneath. I jack up one side at a time using the frame rail, and placed a jack stand under the K member per each side. Seemed to work OK, but the car creaked and moaned as I jacked.

2) The LUG NUTs used to have some crome caps on them, and most of the caps are long gone. This makes using a 3/4, or 19mm socket, and/or lug wrench DIFFICULT. I used a rag as a 'spacer', and it worked for the most part, but I am a bit uncomfortable about the lug wrench slipping during an emergency tire change. Any tips, or suggestions here?

3) My procedure was to open the bleeder, use my one man bleeder kit, and re-set the caliper using a re-set tool. Seemed to work well.

4) The anti rattle clip on the passenger side was much different than the driver's side??? I hope I got them on right???? The car does indeed stop great and no squeels, or squeeks.....

Any comments, advice, or suggestions are appreciated!

Bill

88 Lancer Shelby 91 LeBaron Convertible 01 Chevy Impala LS
Reply to
Billccm
Loading thread data ...

First thing you should do is replace all the capless lugnuts with new ones. This should ease your mine about emergency changes. You do NOT have to open the bleeder valve when you are just replacing pads. Use a large C-clamp and squeeze the piston back in - slowly.

Congrats on doing the job yourself.

Reply to
Richard Benner Jr

As far as lug nuts go, I replaced those capped things after experienced the same problems you did, they kept slipping. I replaced them with solid "monster" ones, they look pretty much the same, but they are solid one-piece units, not capped, and they only cost $1.50/piece at the local parts store, while the OEM Capped ones cost $3.00. Anyhow, been using those monster ones for two years now, through the many tire rotations and brake jobs (that car gets 40,000mi/year, so the wheels come off a lot), not one has slipped or stripped yet.

Ken

Billccm wrote:

Reply to
73blazer

Thanks for the info, Motor-Medic. I have heard that the rubber brake lines should be replaced often. I may do that this weekend.

As for liability; autozone.com publishes on their web site how to service brakes. They do not mention arcing of pads, but cover what you mentioned about rotors and calipers. I may let MIDAS do their free brake inspection this week per your recommendation. I usually have the local tire shop inspect the brakes at every 8K miles rotation. These rotors have never been turned, but I didn't see grooves, either. Anyhow, I wonder about the 'liability' issues you bring up when there is so much published about front disk brake pad replacement. Also, bearing in mind what you said, I have to wonder how good the '$49.99' per axle brake job is that Pep Boys advertises when the Raybestos "PG PLUS" pads, brake cleaner, and brake lube I bought were $54.69 with tax at my discount parts store?

I have heard lots of criticism about 'pad slapping', but the car now seems to stop much better, so for now, I know I have 'improved' the situation. Brake pedal is not spongy, and I have had good luck using one man bleeders. A friend has a vaccum pump, and I may borrow it the next oil chnage and re-bleed the system, but again, I am very happy with the brakes now. No noise, stops straight, and pedal is FIRM.

Thank you again for your time in replying, and have a nice day!

Bill

Reply to
Bill

Uh - I believe he was talking about arcing the shoes (i.e., grinding them to the radius of the drum). Only problem is, you are talking about disk brakes - so no arcing involved.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Reply to
Bill Putney

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.