Hello every one,

I was wondering if i could get your advice on the following issue. I bolded the important info to make it easier for you to look at .

I have a stock 2002 Cavalier VL sedan with 192 000km, and it still suffers from uneven breaking even after having the rotors and pads replaced. The pedal pulsates, and I feel the car lunging forward and pulling to the right when breaking. It isn't as bad as before changing the rotors and bads, but it's still noticeable and seems to happen more on rougher roads (aka all roads in Southern Ontario). I brought the car to a local Midas location in June 2011. Midas replaced the pads and rotors, and had also serviced the caliper boots. This happens when breaking at all speeds. Also, the wheels get extremely hot on short trips in the city

The car was still not breaking like it should so I brought it back again. Midas replaced the rotors and pads a second time under warranty. They replaced the boot sleeves as they were worn, but again found nothing wrong with the calipers. I got the car back from the shop this afternoon, and long and behold it still brakes unevenly. I know brake shops tend to use crappy parts, but it's impossible that they are this crappy.

Is it a case of crappy parts, or could the problem be caused by a bad master cylinder or other hydrolic issues, or I'm I looking at bad shocks or struts, or other suspension issues? Also does anyone have any make suggestions for rotors? Everything I bought in the past never lasted more than 2 years... I should have changed the pads and rotors on my own like I normally do, but I was too busy and had to take it to Midas. I don't slam on the brakes at the last minute, and I don't drive agressively, and I'm getting tired of having to replace the rotors almost yearly.

Thanks for the help!

JP

Sounds like a messed up caliper

I'd say replace your calipers.. I'm not sure if the ship to canada but rock auto has centric semi loaded calipers for 16.33 each right and left... I put these calipers on my car with ebc rotors and greenstuff pads and haven't had any trouble with them at all. some may not like the price but its a good product, has a 90 day warranty as well so if anything does go wrong.. you'd be good till then. You might also want to replace your rubber caliper hoses if they seem worn.. I don't see any reason for your MC or related parts to be bad if your other (rear) brakes (I assume) are functioning normally.

Thanks for the help Jordan,

I did replace the passenger side hose due to wear and it still doing it. I'll have a look at the calipers myself to see if they are faulty. What's the best way of determining if a caliper is faulty? I did my last brake job in the summer of 2009, and there was no signs of leaks on the dust boot, and the caliper looked like it was in good shape, however I did notice that the inner pads seem to wear quicker than the inner pad... Is this a good indication of a bad caliper?

Uneven pad wear is usually the caliper not sliding on the bolts/bushings very well. My problem was when I changed my pads (for the first time since I owned the car) my inner pads wore out way faster than my outers, and my left side caliper bushings weren't sliding so the left side would grab and pull the car to the left at highway speeds. Trashed a set of plain old parts store pads in a matter of a few weeks. I decided to go with a whole new setup, calipers, rotors and pads... I figured it wouldn't hurt to change the calipers at 110k miles, also gave me a reason to toss the rusty calipers and put some fresh painted ones on there... and my brembo rotors were trashed as well so all new seemed like a good idea. Now waiting to do Jeffie's saturn rear disc conversion.. have all the parts ready except the brackets from Jeffie. And the next time I do new pads and rotors on front again I am doing matching sets all around... EBC Ultimax Blackdash & Greenstuff pads. shouldn't be too bad.

That sounds like a hell of a set up. This rear disc conversion is going to be sick. Do you have to modify the brakelines? I unfortunately have a limited budget and I've had the car for 5 years so I don't know if I'd go that fancy, but the darn caliper is still not sliding properly after having the bushings and pins replaced. It's time for new, and better calipers.

First thought slide pins on calipers sticking.Honestly I would just buy two new calipers and be cautious on reusing the pads,unless u have super low miles on them.A bad alignment or worn struts will cause premature wear on brakes but,with your case I would lean more towards the brake components first.

Nope, with jeffie's saturn swap all you need is saturn calipers/brackets and assorted hardware, and saturn rotors redrilled to 5x100 (saturns are 4x100) The saturn rubber hose connects to factory Jbody hardline and your good to go, ebrake also hooks straight up with no modifications, and it also uses the caliper/pads on rotors instead of an internal drum ebrake like the neons and alero/granny am etc.. I like my EBC on front now, not sure how long I will go before I upgrade the rear (if I need to) might just do greenstuff pads in the future, save money for body work and engine mods..

check your caliper pins, calipers, pins could have broke into 2 pieces

"As I lay rubber down the street, I pray for traction I can keep, but if I spin and begin to slide, please dear God protect my ride." -Amen