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rafter40

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
So. I think one or more of my calipers is sticking. My front passenger side used to and builds up brake dust quicker than any other wheel and now i hear my back passenger side when i am driving... especially slow. my breaks work great when i actually use them and dont make any noise but when im just driving around it sounds like the rotors are going bad but i just think its the calipers sticking.

Is this a common problem with mustang?

and its starting to piss me off so any suggestions on replacement parts?
ill do the work myself and wouldnt mind upgrading if the price is right.

the guy i bought the car from had the breaks redone a little while before selling it but i have already had one caliper replaced for sticking.

what do you guys have to say?
 
#2 · (Edited)
I haven't heard of the Mustang brakes being any better or worse than any other car really. If you need to, stock rebuilt calipers from your local parts store should be alright for daily driving.

A couple fairly easy things you can check though. Safely lift and support the vehicle, and pull the wheel off, one by one if you need to. Remove the calipers from the brackets and check the slider pins. They should move in and out freely, and check the rubber boots for cracks or openings. If the pins are stuck or look rusty or pitted, that could be causing part of your problem. Depending on the severity you may have to replace the whole bracket or just the pins themselves. If the pins are OK go ahead and lubricate them with some slider pin grease and reinstall.

If the pins and brackets are OK check the calipers themselves next. Look around the piston at the rubber boots. Any cracks in the rubber there, fluid leaking out? Loosen or remove the brake fluid reservoir cap and place a disposable towel around the reservoir. Brake fluid will eat paint. Some fluid may come out when you do the next step. Compress the pistons as you would during a regular pad change, you don't need to go to far, just enough to see and feel the piston compressing easily, remember the rear brakes have to be turned while you are pushing them in. If the pistons do not compress easily that might be your problem there too.

Also, check the the parking brake cable movement as well, if you can have someone pull the parking brake handle while you watch the lever and spring movement at each caliper. They should move in and out freely, a rusted cable could also cause the rears to drag.

With the rotors, if I run my finger nail across a groove and I can feel it, it is probably too deep and needs to be resurfaced or replaced. Spray the rotors down with brake cleaner to get skin oils off the rotor.

Thats about all I can think of right now. Just remember to torque down everything back to spec.
 
#4 ·
Brake upgrades aren't really necessary on our V6s. Most people won't ever make enough power with these engines to need anything better. For the caliper that's sticking, you could try simply lubing the piston (there's a special lube for them, usually used for rebuilding the calipers I believe). If you try to push the piston back in (Fronts push straight in. Rears twist in, push them in and you'll ruin them) and it absolutely refuses to move then the caliper is seized and needs to be replaced. New calipers usually run around $70 + core deposit.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
the rotor has some real deep grooves in it. and it looks like the pads are pretty shot. if i get the caliper to work correctly can i simply resurface the rotors and put in new pads?
or will that cause problems... like do i have to replace all the pads at once
 
#6 ·
new rotors, new pads, clean and grease the pins properly...
 
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#7 ·
Rotors have a minimum thickness they have to be at, whoever turns your rotors should know not to turn them if they are close or already at the mimimum thickness. Depending on your local rates, it may be almost as cheap to just replace the rotors.

Pads should be replaced as an axle set; for SaG we'll call the front an axle set. Either replace all the fronts, all the backs or all around. Just don't replace just the front left side as an example.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
additionally... my ebrake is completely useless and has been for a while. it very well me be that cause. Should i disconnect the ebrake to see if its the problem or how should i go about fixing it?
 
#10 ·
well if you pull the ebrake lines completely off and the problem goes away then you had a stuck line and should replace them. my rear passenger was a combination of rusted slide pins and somebody turning the piston in with a set of vice grips, the boots were torn and the pistons were seized. new calipers at autozone or oreillys with warranty and core are around 35-45 depending on location.

and if you dont have one near you, they do ship to home fairly cheaply.. I do it just cause I get lazy and wanna go home after I leave work..
 
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Discussion starter · #12 ·
so checked all my brakes and they ALL are sticking so it is difficult to spin any of the wheels when it is jacked up off the ground. I didnt actually remove the calipers yet to check the slider pins, i was just swapping wheels and checked them.

Shouldnt the wheels spin very freely when the brakes arent being applied or am i missing something?

since all my brakes have the same problem could it have to do with the brake fluid or anything? the brake pedal does feel great
 
#13 · (Edited)
if you can spin them, there not locked down. there should still be a light drag even with out pushing the brakes. if you can hear the pads cutting into the rotors, then the pistons not completely releasing!

By light drag I mean you can just barely hear the pads making contact!!
 
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#14 ·
rafter40 said:
so checked all my brakes and they ALL are sticking so it is difficult to spin any of the wheels when it is jacked up off the ground. I didnt actually remove the calipers yet to check the slider pins, i was just swapping wheels and checked them.

Shouldnt the wheels spin very freely when the brakes arent being applied or am i missing something?

since all my brakes have the same problem could it have to do with the brake fluid or anything? the brake pedal does feel great
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Not the back ones, If those free wheeled I'd suspect a broken axel or diff. The fronts should just barely rub the rotors as there turned. if they cannot turn with little resistance then you prob. have a caliper not releasing prob. from rusty slider pins, also try bleeding the system of air.

Do your wheels get so hot they'll burn your hands after a short drive?
 
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Discussion starter · #15 ·
ok thats cool that they are always slightly touching.

what do you mean if the back ones free wheeled?

the when i was testing the backs, i had the axle jacked up and car in first gear idling.

one of the rotors kept getting stuck i threw some WD40 on it which i prob shouldnt have done but did it anyway and with some more effort i got both rear rotors to spin at the same time...

im curious why you brought up a broken diff or axel
 
#16 ·
rafter40 said:
ok thats cool that they are always slightly touching.

what do you mean if the back ones free wheeled?

the when i was testing the backs, i had the axle jacked up and car in first gear idling.

one of the rotors kept getting stuck i threw some WD40 on it which i prob shouldnt have done but did it anyway and with some more effort i got both rear rotors to spin at the same time...

im curious why you brought up a broken diff or axel
Click to expand...
I was just messing with you on that. did you put the wd40 on the slide pins. Mine on my backs were gunked up really bad and rusted as well. But my pistons were also shot due to someoneusing a pair of vicegrips to turn them in.
 
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rafter40
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