would it have killed for the put the direction the bolt goes for the calipers the other way and made them out of a decent material!?!?! Changed he one bad caliper a couple of days ago and it took two hours to get the bolt out because the inside was striped.
And I think I found out why it was grinding...there was only one brake pad on it. The inside one was missing.
I actually just found it outside my house today laying in the street. well, i found the metal part of it because there was literally 0 pad left....unless you cound the liiiiiiitle bit that goes inside the holes of the metal. Didn't realize they were that bad. I didn't get the rotor off because the two other bolts to get that off were striped as well and I didn't have 4 more hours to get them off.
Hold on here. I'm calling BS on this one.
If you had NO brake pad on the inside then the caliper piston was pushing up against the rotor, with no pad being there. The piston would have fallen out and you would have lost brakes on the one side of the car.
Secondly there is no possible way for the pad to fall out of there.
I dont belive for one second what you claim.
Secondly dont you ever lube your caliper slide pins, I do mine once every year on my cars. Do a full brake inspection, suspension, everything man.
Maybe thats why they were stuck in there. By the way if it was stripped that was whoever installed them last, they dont get sripped removing them, they get sripped INSTALLING them, same goes for lug nuts, thats why the first few turns you use your hands, so you dont strip them.
I had a brake pad fall off of an 83 Tercel once... it was very interesting driving home while it was "falling" out.
Made quite a bit of racket until it totally fell out, then the piston fell out w/all the fluid going with it (like mentioned). Junked it after that.
Originally posted by Big Daddy Kane:
I had a brake pad fall off of an 83 Tercel once... it was very interesting driving home while it was "falling" out.
Made quite a bit of racket until it totally fell out, then the piston fell out w/all the fluid going with it (like mentioned). Junked it after that.
I had one fall off the front passenger side on my Contour at 57K miles. It was a big vibration until it fell off (took about 5 seconds). I thought I had a flat tire. Heard the metal on metal sound right after that.
Originally posted by Big Daddy Kane:
I had a brake pad fall off of an 83 Tercel once... it was very interesting driving home while it was "falling" out.
Made quite a bit of racket until it totally fell out, then the piston fell out w/all the fluid going with it (like mentioned). Junked it after that.
The pad can fall off but the metal backing plate will still be there riding on the rotor. That is probably what he means.
Originally posted by warmonger:
Originally posted by Big Daddy Kane:
I had a brake pad fall off of an 83 Tercel once... it was very interesting driving home while it was "falling" out.
Made quite a bit of racket until it totally fell out, then the piston fell out w/all the fluid going with it (like mentioned). Junked it after that.
The pad can fall off but the metal backing plate will still be there riding on the rotor. That is probably what he means.
Yes, warmonger. That is also what I meant. The piston on mine did not fall off. Thanks for clearing that up. I noticed it wasn't clear on my previous post too.
Originally posted by warmonger:
Originally posted by Big Daddy Kane:
I had a brake pad fall off of an 83 Tercel once... it was very interesting driving home while it was "falling" out.
Made quite a bit of racket until it totally fell out, then the piston fell out w/all the fluid going with it (like mentioned). Junked it after that.
The pad can fall off but the metal backing plate will still be there riding on the rotor. That is probably what he means.
Nope. not just the pad but the metal backing as well. If you guys don't want to believe me that is fine as well, like I have nothing else to do but fabricate stories about my breaks. 
And it isn't like it fell out when I was changing them either....cause we changed them in my friends garage and the part was laying out in front of my house. I have only had the car since I first registerd, and that was a year and half ago. And during that time it also sat for about 2 months because I hit a deer, sat another month when I got the buick (which I just sold) so it is more or less like me having the car for one year....which means I am getting around to fixing stuff like that on it. And no, they were not stripped when I first started taking them out. I used a small mirror to see were the heck the bolt was and what type it was. And yes the piston was rubbing up against the rotor, but it never fell out......that turned out to be the metal on metal sound I posted about before. And why am I taking crap from a noob?
People that drive 3000lb of metal around and don't keep an eye on their brakes.
And about how ford designed the brakes. The front brakes are easy as pie to do and the design is just as easy as any other car's to deal with.
working with the rear brakes here....front ones are still good. Thank God for that, because that is actually what stops the car. And my car is only like 2800 lbs or so, thank you very much.
And I have been keeping an eye on the brakes....that is why I bought the buick, because I didn't want to put the money into them before I would sell the car...but I loved the tour too much to get rid of it so I got rid of the buick. I just didn't think they were THAT bad until it started grinding and I took off the wheels.
So they did fall off. Hmm, whats up with that?
Originally posted by KingpinSVT:
So they did fall off. Hmm, whats up with that?
My speculation of what happened on the Tercel may have happend to him also... I think the pad was worn down to the metal, which the metal backing ended up shaving quite a bit off the rotor, which allowed the pad to "fall out" of it's guides on the caliper.
At that point, hitting the brakes hard may have caused the pad to no longer be held by the caliper, and the metal on metal friction of the pad/rotor caused it to slide and make all sorts of racket until the little springy part that grabs inside the piston breaks off... and the pad just uhh... falls out.
If you pad backing plate fell out. You had some other problem. The backing plate is wedged in between the caliper and caliper braket. If it is the right size it can't fall out. Whatever happened, it's likely that you over heated the entire assembly beyond what it is normally designed for and siezed the bolts. Did you use and PB blaster or even wd40, if not, stripping the bolts was your fault not Fords. 95% of people get them out with out a problem, the other 5% is user error.
-Andy
a corner of the metal bracket was worn off and that might have caused it to fall out. I need to get a new, non dog eaten, digital camera and show you guys.
Again,
If it wore down, something else was wrong.
-Andy
The reason I say that is because I too had a pad come off the backing plate, and I know it had at least 30-40% of its life left (based on what was left on the 3 other rear pads).
Originally posted by KingpinSVT:
The reason I say that is because I too had a pad come off the backing plate, and I know it had at least 30-40% of its life left (based on what was left on the 3 other rear pads).
Just about EVERY EBC Green pad I've seen has signs of, or has ACTUALLY delaminated. It's common with craptastic pads.
Mine went south on the original pads.
my question now is how do I get the bolts that hold the bracket that keeps the rotors in place when those are striped as well?
I only ever undo the botls holding the bracket to the nub. I have NEVER had the need to undo the caliper from the bracket to do a brake job.
He has said that his pads fell off the backing plate and the backing plate was ripped from the mount. He likely has extensive damage to his rotors and then will need replacement.
Have you tried any pentrating oil, like PB blaster. If you stripped the bolts that bad then you did something wrong. When a bolt doesn't brake loss instantly, you stop and evalutate what you are doing. You the heads are completely gone, it needs to go to a shop and have a professional remove them.
Just because you can buy tools doesn't mean you should DIY. DIY can cost more if you have no experience doing mechanical work.
-Andy
OH yeah, the rotors need to be changed baaaaaaaaaaaaad. That much I can tell you. The thing is with those bolts, is that I barely put an force on them and they just striped out. We were using PB blaster on them a lot. Actually had a nice stream running down to the drain on the floor. They aren't compleatly striped down, you can get some grip to them yet. After dealing with that first bolt and what he need to do to get it off, we didn't feel like monkeying around with the other ones. would it be wrong to try and heat them up before trying them again?
Take the caliper ones off first, it will give you more room to get to the bolts. You could slide a 2ft pipe over top of your wrench to give you more leverage. Most importantly, you need to have be sure that the socket is fully engaged on the nut. If your socket is bottoming out, get a long socket. Also, make sure you are using a 6 point socket and not and 12 or 18. A 6 point socket is the only way to get the grab you need, 12's and 18' are thinner sidewalls and can flex.
-Andy
Originally posted by elraido:
Originally posted by warmonger:
Originally posted by Big Daddy Kane:
I had a brake pad fall off of an 83 Tercel once... it was very interesting driving home while it was "falling" out.
Made quite a bit of racket until it totally fell out, then the piston fell out w/all the fluid going with it (like mentioned). Junked it after that.
The pad can fall off but the metal backing plate will still be there riding on the rotor. That is probably what he means.
Nope. not just the pad but the metal backing as well. If you guys don't want to believe me that is fine as well, like I have nothing else to do but fabricate stories about my breaks. And it isn't like it fell out when I was changing them either....cause we changed them in my friends garage and the part was laying out in front of my house. I have only had the car since I first registerd, and that was a year and half ago. And during that time it also sat for about 2 months because I hit a deer, sat another month when I got the buick (which I just sold) so it is more or less like me having the car for one year....which means I am getting around to fixing stuff like that on it. And no, they were not stripped when I first started taking them out. I used a small mirror to see were the heck the bolt was and what type it was. And yes the piston was rubbing up against the rotor, but it never fell out......that turned out to be the metal on metal sound I posted about before. And why am I taking crap from a noob?
Whatever man, I wasn't calling you a liar. It is most common that the pad comes loose from the backing plate. I can only imagine how long it would have to be driven with metal-metal contact for the metal backing plate to finally come out....followed by the piston and whetever else. Seems to me you'd get it checked out before then.
Anyway, most common is the pad comes apart and you get metal to metal contact with the backing plate and the rotor. That is when normal people stop and get it fixed.
Do I seem normal to you people?
We don't care about normal. We expect common sense and intelligent thinking. Guess not in your case.
-Andy
and doesn't common sense tell someone to fix it when the can afford it. Just didn't think they were THAT bad...car stopped, no sounds, no vibration, nothing to indicate there was anything majorly wrong. And I was planning on getting rid of it before I had to sink money into them...cause I did know they did need to be changed soon, just not as soon as I thought. Neglect on my part, yes. I can adimt that. And those seem like rather harsh words coming from an moderator....expect something like that out of steda.
No sound or pedal problems? Highly unlikely! That [censored] should have shimmied like a coin operated motel bed. It's not cheaper when you end having replace more parts than the original maintenance called for, and having to pay a professional to not only repair the problem but fix the bigger one you have. At the very least you should have hooked up with a true knowledgable car guys and paid him in beer to watch over you.
-Andy
I did have my g.f's dad look over them before I started. He is a heavy equipment mechanic. And I do sware on little kittens lives that there were no problems before that besides being able to look at it and go, that needs to be replaced sometime soon. Even after putting the new caliper and pad on, it feels like it did before the grinding started. It didn't pull either way and no sounds and no vibrations. And I did put 40K miles on the car since I got it (year and half ago) but most of that was going between college and home every weekend---600 miles round trip and not a lot of braking. The only "major" problem that had after all this was that I just decided to replace the caliper...and that was only $48.
Originally posted by elraido:
and doesn't common sense tell someone to fix it when the can afford it. Just didn't think they were THAT bad...car stopped, no sounds, no vibration, nothing to indicate there was anything majorly wrong. And I was planning on getting rid of it before I had to sink money into them...cause I did know they did need to be changed soon, just not as soon as I thought. Neglect on my part, yes. I can adimt that. And those seem like rather harsh words coming from an moderator....expect something like that out of steda.
Yeah common sense tells someone to fix it before it gets too bad. If you don't know (or just decided not to) how to look at the pads and tell you need new ones, then you should have someone that knows what they're doing work on your car (even if it's just 2800lb stripped out).Atleast you admit neglect.
Moderators are people too and have their opinions.
oh man, I had the worst day when I was trying to take off my bolts for my calipers, I mean what SIZE is it?? jeez......id like to replace it with an allen head bolt that torx head is just crap. I finally had to remove the caliper by the bracket bolts to get it off......Imagine reinstall in that manner....it was tough...now i gotta get a torch to heat it up....its still stripped. just havent had time to do it lately. Have you driven a ford, lately. remember those commercials..... I hate minnesota winters.....
maybe it is just driving and changing the brakes during a MN winter that screws them up.
