Hot answers tagged brakes
22
The decision to replace is largely based on the thickness. The repair manual should tell you the minimum thickness, below which you should replace the rotors when doing the repair. Use a pair of calipers and measure the rotor thickness, if you're below this number you need to replace the rotors.
You may also wish to replace the rotors if you have ...
11
DOT4 brake fluid has a higher boiling point than DOT3, making the fluid less likely to boil. Using cheaper, lower-grade fluid increases the chances of your brakes failing in situations where they build up lots of heat, e.g., driving down a mountain on a twisty road.
More information: http://www.carbibles.com/brake_bible_pg2.html
11
Consider the possibility that the brakes make the noise at all speeds but that higher speeds mask it.
The most likely cause is worn pads/shoes. You should check their remaining thickness against the manufacturer's recommended minimum. (Look in a repair manual if you have one, or search the Web.) Check the thickness of the brake rotors, too.
If the car has ...
11
tl,dr: The short answer is no, with caveats.
The longer answer starts with "well, you can kill your car with anything if you try hard enough."
Let's use specific examples of when you should use your transmission for engine braking: Waimea Canyon or Mount Washington. In either case, you are descending thousands of vertical feet at significant grades. If ...
10
There are a number of ways this can be done. It can range from a two person job, with on one the pedal and the other at the bleed nipple, to a one man job where the new fluid is forced through the system under external pressure.
For DIY purposes the most common is the two man (person?) way. Person A is at the nipple, which has a hose attached and the other ...
10
The braking surfaces of a rotor require precision machining. The tolerances are in the .002" range. You would never come close without a quality lathe. Each manufacturer also has specifications for minimum total thickness, side to side variance for vented rotors, the smoothness of the finish and run-out which is the difference between the highest and lowest ...
9
You're going to have to bed the brakes in properly. Be very careful.
http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm follow these instructions (at your own risk). A friend had a similar car as yours (IS300) and had the same problem. Once I bedded the rotors in, noise was minimized.
8
There are three cases that cause brake rotors to need to be resurfaced/turned and/or replaced.
Gouging of the rotor by the brake pad holding mechanism (the pad were rubbed completely away and the metal holding the pad start digging into the rotor)
Warping of the rotor from extreme use (rotor gets too hot and warps upon cooling)
The rotor itself wears down ...
8
Yes your brake rotors are out of round. You can resurface them as long as they are not too thin.
The rotor varies in thickness and as it turns when the brakes are applied causes the car to vibrate, and or pulse the brake petal.
It's not an emergency unless it's shaking the car or steering wheel a lot when you brake. I would put a priority on getting it ...
7
It's not a concern really other than being annoying if in fact the brakes are new. It's not a difficult fix; just putting disk brake quite on the back of the pads should solve the problem. It should have been done when they did the brake job, so I would take it back to the dealer where you bought it and ask them to fix it. At my place it would be done at no ...
7
Improper wheel nut torque, use a torque wrench, or an impact wrench with torque sticks to put on the wheels.
Rapid cooling such as running through water with the brakes hot is also suppose to cause it.
Cheap pads, they breakdown under heat and leave deposits on the rotor surface.
Ball joints should not cause the rotors to warp.
Example of Torque sticks ...
7
Can I put the tires in the opposite direction on the rear-end on my front wheel drive configuration?
Following answer assumes you've got tires with directional thread (if you flip the tire 180 the pattern will mirror upsidedown).
Among other duties, tire threads are responsible for "pumping" the water out from below the wheel when you drive through it. If you reverse the directional tires then the water will be pumped to under the wheel, effectively ...
6
It's probably that the pads need bedding in as NoCarrier says. However, my sister-in-law once had her brakes start squealing even though there was plenty of pad left, and the problem ended up being a small stone that got stuck between the pad backing plate and the rotor, in front of the edge of the pad.
6
Most people realize that brakes work by turning kinetic energy into heat. The brake rotors and pads get very hot, this heat is transferred to the brake fluid as well, if the brake fluid gets too hot and boils it effectively puts air in the lines and will lead to brake failure.
You can put DOT 4 in place of Dot 3 but not the other way around.
Note DOT 5 is ...
6
If the manual is saying small amounts of DOT3 can be used, what they are most likely saying is if you find yourself with low brake fluid and only DOT3 is available, it is better to use that than to not have brake fluid.
Once you get back home though you need to get the recommended DOT4 back in the system by bleeding the system and filling with DOT4.
As ...
6
It shouldn't be possible for gravel to get caught in the brake itself, but it could get caught in the brake caliper mounting bracket(s) or between the brake caliper and the wheel, the latter especially if you've installed bigger brakes or different-sized wheels.
To be certain: look for scoring or other damage to your braking surfaces — that is, to your ...
6
Firstly, You should not pump the brakes with any of the pads missing - as you have discovered, this results in the pistons being forced out of the calipers! You probably then found that the piston wasn't quite square in the caliper, and re-settled once you had removed it.
I take it you have now removed the offending caliper from the car? (if not, do so now ...
6
It sounds like the caliper is sticking. If the piston is sticking then you would end up with one side worn down more then the other. Also, a piston should compress with a clamp, if it is that hard then that also points to it sticking. The smoking then could be from the pads being in constant contact with the rotor(if it is in that strong of contact). You ...
6
If this was a one time occurance the damage should be minimal. If the brake shoes were worn or damaged the lining material may have cracked from overheating. This is rare if they were in good shape.
The damage done will depend on the type of parking brake brake along with the extent of wear before the incident. The older design of parking brake used the ...
6
In a word, accuracy!
A lathe as used by a mechanic will have the precision required, and the instrumentation available, to ensure the rotors are turned evenly.
You'd be surprised at how much vibration you can get at 70mph from the smallest inconsistencies in rotor height - and how much you lose in stopping power!
6
Sure enough, you've got a damaged wire that is shorting out the entire electrical system. So think about what happens when you press on the brake pedal, it sends power to your brake lights at the back of the car, so if one of those wires were shorting, you would only notice it when you tap the brakes.
The weird thing is, this doesn't happen very often, ...
5
What you're describing sounds unusual. In an ideal situation, when you brake, even if you lock up the tires, you're going to continue moving in the same direction unless some outside force acts upon the car.
To spin a car 180 degrees requires a mechanical malfunction, or an outside force.
Start with the tires: are they the same on all 4 corners, and ...
5
Wow, I'm in the minority here.
It is my firm belief that you should have your rotors turned with every brake pad/shoe replacement!
If you do not do this everything will work perfectly fine, until you apply the brakes
then if your brake rotors/drums were glazed, heavily scored or worn out of parallel to the new brake pad your will stopping distance WILL be ...
5
A few years ago, I had similar problems on my car after changing the pads. The first thing I did was to make sure all of the mounting hardware was tight (bolts torqued to spec, etc.). Next I looked for obvious problems in the suspension. Finally I took it into my mechanic and had him go over it. In the end, it turned out that there was room for some play ...
5
They are supposed to wear evenly. The most common cause that I've seen of uneven wear is the caliper slides sticking. Often, the slide bolt boots don't seal real well, allowing water to get in and wash the grease out. Once that happens, they start to stick, causing uneven brake wear. In my experience, it can also be a problem if the car spends a lot of ...
5
First of all, is brake dust always going to be this much of an issue,
or is it worse since I just got the car and it had been sitting at a
dealer for months before.
Yes, you're always going to have brake dust. A lot? It's hard to say. You'll always have more on the front wheels than the rears due to brake bias.
Second of all, how long is it ...
5
Four things come to mind.
The first two could be a result of mileage or age.
The axle seals may be leaking gear oil on to the brake shoes. The oil will make the shoes grabby (if that is a word). The effect is that the shoes tend to grab or stick when applied. If the leak is slight, it may not have been noticed when the shoes were changed. Over time it ...
5
Can I put the tires in the opposite direction on the rear-end on my front wheel drive configuration?
Unidirectional tread tires need to be mounted according to the directional arrow. Hence they are left or right specific. Nondirectional tires can rotate in either direction. If I understand your question correctly you are asking about mounting what would normally be the visible surface facing in. If that is the case the tire tread rotational direction would ...
5
For general driving, you can leave the car in drive. It doesn't damage the transmission leaving it in drive while stationary at the lights - although you don't want to be doing silly things like revving the engine while holding the brakes on.
In an automatic car, you don't really use neutral. It is a step on the way to selecting Park, which means that the ...
4
The ABS light can be triggered by metallic debris or dirt on the wheel sensor(s). The sensor tries to read the position of the nearby reluctor ring, but if it cannot then the ABS light will go on. It's also possible that one of the reluctor rings has broken or cracked, which would also cause an issue.
I would check the sensors and rings first, before just ...
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