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View Full Version : Brake job gone wrong. Need ideas...



formerflyboy
08-28-2015, 11:05 AM
So I decided to save some money and replace the front rotors and pads on my 2011 4x4 Lariat. I have the Haynes manual and read online.

Got everything apart fine. The rotors and caliper brackets went on fine as far as I can tell. I put the new pads in. This is where I think I ran into trouble. I got the ends of each pad into the metal clips and had to persuade them with a mallet. The calipers went on after using a C-clamp to push the pistons in (I did open the master brake reservoir) but still took some doing. Finally got them on and tightened everything up to torque specs. Remounted the tires, pumped the brakes a few times. I did notice that at this point the brake pedal was mushy and went to the floor several times then wouldn't go down at all. I let it sit a couple of minutes and the pedal was moving again and has moved easily since.

On the road there was no noise at first but felt lime the brakes were dragging g a little. Made a left turn and started getting a metal on metal sound from the left front. Moved the wheel back and forth a few times and it stopped. Was quiet when going straight but started again after another left turn. I quit after a few more seconds and has been quiet since.

Got up this morning to make the 20 mile drive to work. Noticed immediately that the brakes were slightly engaged with no pedal application. No noise coming from the brakes at this point. Confirmed an issue when my indicated instant mpg was at 16 I stead of it's normal 19 at a 60mph cruise.

When I got to work I put my hand near the front wheels and could feel the heat. Also noticed discoloration on the outer inch or so of the left rotor.

So any ideas what I did wrong? Something I was trying to figure out when I was doing this was what, exactly, pulls the pads off the rotors when the pedal is released? It seems that when I put the pads in the caliper bracket that they were practically right on the pad so when the calipers squeeze the pads against the rotors to stop what causes them to not be against the rotor when you release the pedal since the pads are not connected to the calipers?

Could improper torque on the caliper mounting bolts and/or caliper bracket bolts cause anything?

If I can't figure out the issue I'll have to take it to the shop on Monday and have them look since I'm likely to end up with a brake fire.

Thanks in advance.

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fballman9
10-20-2015, 02:59 PM
It's normal for the breaks to run hot and or smoke at first. The metal on metal noise could be from not greasing the ends of the pads where they slip into the brackets or really cheap break pads can do that. Take it easy on them for the first few hundred miles and the excessive heat should go away.