Originally posted by 98SVT100:
Compared the new to old and found not a big change in thickness. Some, but not much. So I need your help here.
What could be causing poor braking?
Sounds to me like the front caliper springs are not installed correctly. I did have this problem a few months ago, when a friend and I changed my front brakes/rotors. I was cleaning the place up when he reinstalled both springs, and he did it wrong.
First stop sign we encountered was horrible - I went right thru! We checked everything, pads, lines, bleeded the system (again), but still no front brakes.
I searched on the old forums to try to find out what was happening, and it was almost unanimous: springs installed the wrong way.
The springs are pressing together the caliper itself and the carrier. It's sadly easy to place them incorrectly... There are some "loops" at each end of the spring, and pins that get into holes in the caliper. The loops should get behind (towards the rear of the car) the carrier, bringing the two parts together.
If I had a digital camera I could post a picture of the spring correctly installed.. There is a small picture in the Haynes manual, showing the upper part of the spring only though..
I installed the bottom pin in the corresponding hole first, by placing the spring almost horizontally, and got the bottom loop behind the carrier. Then I raised the spring to get the second loop behind the carrier at the top, and placed the second pin in the hole using pliers - it's easy to get your fingers hurt by the spring..
After reinstalling both springs correctly, I had front brakes again.. (and some brakes!!)
Hope this helps...
