Brake Problems
 

I went to the shop to get my front brake pads changed. The guy said i needed new front rotors because they had grooves in em...so i was like just change the pads...so as he was doing this they called me back in and said i need a new right front brake caliper. He said something about how it wasnt retracting and the reason why i wasnt noticing it was because i barley had any pad. He said he wouldnt even take it home...and it special order part and its couple hundred bucks ....so i said put it all back on im going home. The weird thing is the braking doesnt feel any different than the first day i got the car. Always had to put a tiny more effort into stopping the car. There is no vibration or pulsations when i brake either. Even when i brake from 65 MPH its smooth. Me and my mom had a huge fight about the car so maybe its time to let it go. Its just not worth it if I'm going to fight with family over it. I hope this is nothing major. :(

To your neutral corners everyone, no need to fight. Next time, I advise changing the pads yourself. Took me only about an hour and I had never done it before. It's possible your problem is similar to mine, you might need to bleed the brakes. That will account for the non responsive feeling when trying to stop;)

Keep the car.....take a deep breath....in with the good, out with the bad...Ahhh, now doesn't that feel better? :p

LOL thanks whoru....but the car is up for sale anyway...im taking offers from anyone. It just seems weird to me that i need a new caliper. Nothing seems ot be wrong when i drive the car except for that noise because my pads are gone. I didnt get the pads changed. And yes I'm going to do all the things myself in the future no matter how long it takes.

That reminded me...When I changed my pads, they weren't as far gone as I thought. Yet the left front was squealing like a pig. Turns out the dust shield was touching the rotor, the sound had nothing to do with the pads. It went away after I bent it away from the rotor....but now has returned...time to get dirty again:rolleyes:

The calipers on the SVX are a floating type, so they rely on clean, well-lubricated slides to operate correctly. Quite often the grease gets contaminated and the slides corrode or dry out. When this happens the caliper doesn't float properly and drags one of the pads against the rotor.

I don't think a sticking caliper is worth getting a new one, but I do make sure that every time I change my pads I take the slides and seals apart, clean them real well, and lube them up with high-temp caliper grease.

Now, if the seals on your slides are compromised, then you may need a rebuild kit to get new ones. Or maybe the seal around the piston has cracked and broken. I don't know. But I would recommend taking your car to somebody else for a second opinion rather than just dismissing the mechanic's recommendations as ridiculous.

If you can't afford a new caliper and new rotors, then I recommend selling the car. There are likely far more expensive repairs in your future, and it doesn't sound like that fits into your current situation.

Your right pockets. Its for sale in the wanted for sale section. I will put it up on ebay later sometime. Its such an awesome car...my first....but i just dont have the money.

Unfortunately, as you've found out, the SVX doesn't make a great first car. I mean, it's a fantastic car, but it requires a lot of expensive care.

Sorry to hear about it, man, but you're doing the right thing for yourself.

Yeah its an awesome car but just not for me at this point and time in my life. Maybe some day though. I just dont wanna go through the hassle of selling it and buying another car. I'm giving it in to my mechanic later to see if he thinks i really need a new caliper.

In the first line of the origina post "I went to the shop...." That pretty much tells the whole story. Most shops are less than honest and try and use scare tactics on people that don't know about cars.

"Mrs. Jones, we found a problem with your front brakes.....yeah, both calipers and rotors need to be changes....if not, you could experience complete brake failure and crash and die....yeah, it's gonna be about $800 to get your car safe again...."

Unfortunately, shops can't get rich just recutting rotors, lubricating caliper pins, bleeding lines, and changing pads. Even though that's usually all that needs to be done.

I completley agree with you on everything. However i do k now about cars which is why i came back home with my car instead of letting them fix it. I seriously doubt anything is wrong with the caliper but i dunno. The guy said he didnt want to put new pads on with bad a bad caliper. Back in may they also told me i needed new struts and mounts and nothing is wrong with them. I only went to them because it was convenient and close by. Never again will i go there.

By the way you can get remanufactured front calipers for your car at Autozone for I believe $59.00. They are fenco brand and come with a lifetime warranty. I have installed one on my right front and have had no problems with it.
Tom

Are calipers easy to install? Ive only done minor work on my car myself....changing oil...tranny fluid ect. Never taken the wheel off to do anything. Ive been told brakes are very easy to do.

I just had my front pads and rotors changed. They were getting REALLY bad. And, like you, I was told I needed a new caliper because it wouldn't retract. It seemed weird to me, but the tech doing the job was a good freind of mine. I took his word and ordered a caliper. When it was installed I got a chance to see the old one...busted seals. Probably could have been rebuilt with a kit, but the whole thing was very rusty and crappy looking and a Suby reman caliper isn't that expensive.....well, for me anyway:)

So, the moral of the story is you can have a bad caliper and not really notice it if your brakes are horrible in the first place.


Dave (new brakes, yeah!)

could someone tell me how to replace the caliper and pads?

It is possible that you really don't need a new caliper. To check, when you remove the pads, if the piston will retract, then you don't need a new one. If it is frozen, and you can't press it back in (I always use a large c-clamp and a block of wood, then you probably do (you could rebuild it, but it probably sin't worth it.

Replacing is not difficult. There is a bolt/pin at the bottom. Remove it. It will then swing up on a pin. You can slide it off. Then there is usually (most cars, I assume the SVX is similar but I am too lazy to get my shop manual right now) a bolt that holds the brake hose to the caliper. Remove it and tie something around the brake line to keep all your fluid from leaking all over the floor. The new caliper will attach with the same bolt through the line. Be sure to replace the washers with new ones (if there are washers) as they are also seals.

You will need to remove the bushings on which the caliper slides as they don't usually furnish new ones with the rebuilt caliper. Clean them up, re-lube them with caliper grease (or, my choice, silicone grease - the new caliper may come with some).

Now is the hard part (after it is all back together) - you have to bleed the brakes. My advice - do a "good enough" job, and take the car to your neighborhood gas station and have them flush the whole system. You should have that done every 2 years anyway. The cost is relatively minor (about $50) and you now it is done right. Doing it yourself is a pain - you need a helper and if you let the resevoir run dry, then you need to bleed the entire system. It will be the beat $50 you ever spent.

Now if the piston does retract and seems to be working ok (there are times when the brakes are worn low when the piston may be difficult to get to start retracting, but once started, will continue fairly easily. In that case, I would not replace it), then what you probably need to do is to remove the "slide bushings" and clean them and re-grease them.