Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Brakes replaced only one caliper, couple questions..

broke the bleeder valve and screwed up the caliper on a '98 e1 svt, so i bought a new loaded caliper from napa (passenger front). it was $55 after core. after replacing it, the car obviously pulled to the right due to the new pads and caliper only on one side.. now here's the question:

should i replace the driver's side caliper to balance out with the new caliper on the passenger side? if so, should i ONLY buy a napa one, or would any caliper from anyone do? (as i'm worried about some specs getting out of whack from different caliper manufacturers) or should i just buy new pads and leave the caliper be? the reason i'm weary of buying just new pads is if the two different calipers are slightly out of spec (napa vs ford manufactured) i don't want the brand new pads (which i'll buy from stazi) to then be worn down out of whack.

sorry if the post is confusing at all, if it is please just let me know and i'll try to rephrase. thanks.

As long as the pads match all should be well. The calipers won't be any different. They are still Ford calipers. The only difference might be that the otherwise identical piston seal might have been made by someone else.

You should not have bought a single loaded caliper. One caliper and a set of pads would have been appropriate.

well i replaced the pads with the bendix titanium from stazi (thanks for the quick shipping ) but it still pulls to the left the same amount as it did before... is it the caliper? should i get an alignment? (maybe we accidentally leaned on the rear LCA and bent it when we were installing some stuff in the rear)

any other suggestions before i go wasting money on an alignment that i may not need..?

Does it pull only when braking? If so, you still have a brake issue. If it pulls all the time, you have an alignment issue.

If you have a sticking caliper, it will pull in the direction of the questionable caliper.

Do both rotors have about the same thickness as well as about the same finish?

When you installed the new pads, did you have any trouble getting the piston to retract. If so, you may need to overhaul or replace the caliper. If not, did you pull the caliper slide pins for inspection and lubrication? Although a bit unusual, a restricted brake hose can cause a pull. Usually the pull will be oposite the questionable hose. If hoses need to be replaced, I prefer to do them in pairs.

Extremely rare, but some types of master cylinder failure can cause a pull. In our cars, it is even less likely because we have diagonal braking. That is on half of the master does one front and the opposite rear and the other half does the remaining. Still in the area of hydraulics, look for a kinked or bent steel brake line.

Rarely, a brake pull can be caused by worn suspension, such as worn lower control arm bushings or ball joints, or even more rarely from worn tie rod ends.

well the wheels spin freely on both sides of the car, so i don't see how it can be a brake pull (although i only spun the front wheels, the rear wasn't in the air).. the cylinders pressed in fine with c-clamps when i installed the pads, and all rotors are still good. i'm going to check if the rear tires spin freely.. if they do, i'm just going to get an alignment and hope that's the problem.

the only reason why i'm weary of an alignment is it doesn't feel like an alignment pull.. it doesn't shake or vibrate, and there's no road noise from the tires, which alignment problems usually cause. but we'll see.

Make sure the brake hose is not kinked as it exits the hard line from the car.

Some people let the calipers hang which kinks the hose then they don't pull the hose back up through the grommet on the strut and it stays kinked so that when you press on the pedal the brake pressure doesn't distribute evenly between the two calipers. It's easily overlooked.

If this isn't he isue and you've check the slide pins and they are clean, lubed and slide freely, and the spring is installed correctly then you may have a bad caliper.

OK, then it could be bad wheel bearing, bad control arm bushings, bad alignment or all of the above.

well i just tested all 4 wheels.. they all spin freely wihle the car was int he air. none of the brakes are frozen or closed or anything. (the car pulls to the right even when im cruising in neutral). any other suggestions?