olddog

iTrader: (2)

need some help guys.
this morning while driving to work on the highway(20mins drive) , i notice my driver side front wheel is smelling of "burnt brake pad" like i just changed the padsi think its no big deal and continue to work.

In the evening, on my way back, there was traffic so i decided to take another route which ended up being 1hr on the road. On the way, i noticed that the right driver side was kind of acting stuck upon release/take-off in traffic. Average person wouldnt notice but i did cos its my car and i drive it daily.I then start to smell the brakes again and actually see some smoke coming from the driver side front wheel. When i got home i spat on the rotor and find it hotter than the other side.

As an FYI, I changed my pads back in December and all was fine. though i had to use some force to push the piston back in order to get the new pads to fit in.


Only thing i could think of is that the piston is stuck.
Am i on the right path? if so, can i attempt a rebuild? what do i need? or can i just take it out and oil it?

please advise

thanks
olddog

jcat_350

piston's gotta be frozen. Did you let the pads get waaaay down before you changed them? I'd give the brakes a good bleed and maybe try compressing the piston a few times with a clamp, then pump up the brakes, then compress it, that sort of thing. Worse comes to worst I'd get it rebuilt or even grab a new one.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Either the piston or sliding pins are seized. You'll have to pull the actual caliper out to investigate.

olddog

iTrader: (2)

i guess i know what my saturday morning exercise will be then....
what the sliding pins? i have never encountered those on the forum before. any pic or description?
and in regard to a rebuild, what does that entail? i'd like to try that first cos getting a new will take at least a week. there are no GSs in the junkyards over here and the dealership is not an option for me.


thanks
olddog

GS300ToM

iTrader: (32)

what gsteg said, double check everything especially the sliding pin, regreese and hope this helps.. everything on here is what u need for your rebuild

olddog

iTrader: (2)

i took apart the everything today.
the sliding pins came out fairly easily.
they still had grease on them but i cleaned that and regreased it.
The pistons did look a bit dried up and rusty but when i hit or pushed one, the other came out and vice-versa. Isn't that an indication that the pistons are working fine?
Is there a way to just lubricate the pistons? Am thinking they might just be rusty and not moving properly.
Can i use white grease on the pistons? (thats what i used for the sliding pins)

Any other info is much appreciated...

thanks

olddog

handoverfi

iTrader: (7)

if the brake locked up and the pad is completely gone your gona need a new caliper happened on my truck a while back. if you know how to rebuild it to make it work go that route calipers arnt cheap brand new lol

vwynn

iTrader: (4)

dont think uneed to replace the WHOLE caliper.. they sell rebuild kits to repair your worn our calipers. consist of replacing the piston i believe.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Most overhaul kits consist of seals and o-rings only. You do not use grease for the piston's o-ring. Just apply brake fluid right before you slip it in.

olddog

iTrader: (2)

thanks guys...i might have to rebuild the caliper cos when i put it back together and went for a ride..i could still see that the rotor was abnormally hotter than the others.
is a rebuild hard? dont want to start it and then realise i have to take it to a shop.
what does it involve? removing the pistons and puting new ones?
also, will a regular automotive store carry these rebuild kits?
canads sucks for getting parts
thanks
oldog

skperformance

iTrader: (6)

Just finished rebuilding my rear calipers on my LS.
It was a pain of 5 hours because i was swapping in stainless steel brake lines, as well as replacing the piston seals. One side had a frozen slider which took almost 2 hours of heating and spraying to loosen.

So if you need to rebuild a caliper is is really simple .
It has 2 seals ,
The main one that is surrounding the piston that keeps dust out and is supposed to be lubed at every brake change.
The second one is to keep the brake fluid in the caliper and not in the dust boot .

So pull the caliper off ,press the brake pedal until you pop out the piston.
Rip off the old rubber dust boot , remove the small round clip holding it in .
Pop off the small rubber seal just inside the piston edge on the caliper with a small flat head screwdriver.
Reinstall new parts after using supplied pink grease on seals.

For more than one piston use a block of wood to block the other pistons and do one by one.
Hope this helps.
BTW buy new sliders at the same time. As well you are removing the whole slider from the caliper assembly and cleaning it off and spraying brake clean to remove the old brake slider grease each time as well ?

olddog

iTrader: (2)

i checked around and the best i could find in canada is a rebuild of my caliper for $75.
If rebuilding is easy, i would like to save this amount but i heard the rebuid kit is like $45bucks so i think its better to let them rebuild it for $75bucks.
skperformance, where did u get the rebuild kit from?
on the sidenote, how do i remove the caliper without causing the brake fluild to run /pour out. i heard allowing that to happen will cause air to get into the master cyclinder and that is a master pain.
do u block the brake line with a "cork" or something? or can u actually do this rebuild without disconnecting from the brakeline?
how easy is the popping out of the pistons? Are all rebuild kits generic Or car/model specific? How long on average is a rebuild?

Thanks
olddog

olddog

iTrader: (2)

just did some searching online...looks like caliper rebuilding is as easy as abc.
Only tough part could be removing the caliper which dwell on brake line presssure....
i willfind a rebuild kit and attempt this myself....gotta save every penny i can this year

tom steele

screw that time for brake upgrade to ls 400 calipers there four piston and basicly the same as the supra tt brakes the only differance is the roter size about .4 of inch smaller but i got my ls 400 calipers for 95 bucks plus core at autozone then turned in my stock gs 400 caliper for my core back then bought roters on ebay for 130 so i did my upgrade for 340 you still will need rcas i made my own for about 10 bucks so a little labor and 350 for a big break kit can't beat it

skperformance

iTrader: (6)

Buy a kit from the dealer , which is where i got mine .
You mainly need slider pins as well.
Who cares is fluid leaks out , it will no matter what , keep a container to catch it as well as the cap on the res on.

You did some searching on the internet ? , i posted a complete how to just above . LOL