I have noticed lately that my brakes have been a little weak with slowing me down. They are usually fine for the first 10 minutes or so but then it seems that it takes a little more pressure on the pedal to slow me down. Today I drove the car a little harder than I usually do and when I got home the brakes were smoking and a burning smell filled my garage. The only smoked for a minute or so and it wasn't like things were on fire but it certaining never did that before. What should I look for.? I thought that maybe my rear brakes were failing and that the fronts were being over worked but I jacked the car up and tested them and they seem fine. There seems to be plenty of pad left on both front wheels and the rotors like the pads are new...maybe only 5000 miles. The rears looked okay too but they are original (25000 miles). Any suggestions?
did you do the brakes yourself? if so did you bleed them correctly? what kind of pads/rotors?
there shouldn't be an issue with air in the lines if all you did were rotors and pads. were either of the caliper pistons hard to push back in when you put on the pads and rotors? sounds like the brakes are staying on. possibly a bad brake hose not allowing fluid to return to the master, or frozen caliper slides. did you lubricate everything when you did the brakes? i'd say take them apart and make sure everything's moving freely and go from there.
Ya I did the brakes myself and didn't mess with the lines. I will take things apart and see what's up. Thanks.
Okay I went to take my front tires off and have a better look at the brake situation up front and found that the driver side wheel does not turn as freely as the passanger side. It turns when I grab a hold and pull but there seems to be a fair amount of friction. The passangers side is better but not a heck of alot. How freely should the wheel turn? Could this be my problem? If the brakes seem to fade afer driving for a while it only makes sense that they are heating up because of the friction and likewise the harder I drive the car (speed) the more heat is generated (wheel spinning). I'm thinking that maybe my calipers are the problem here...then again what do I know.
They should turn quite easily, you shouldn't have to get a good grip and pull on it to get it to spin, thats for certain.
Might not be a caliper problem, it could be your brake hoses.
A piece of rubber could have broken, causing the piece to fold over when pressure is applied, and when the pressure is released at the pedal, that flap is not releasing the pressure from the pads in the caliper, therefore making it have more resistance. Now, it must not be a huge issue because the last time I saw this happen the rotors were literally glowing red. Ruined everything.
I suggest replacing your brake hoses first, and the caliper on the side that is sticking.. that should be a good start.
1983 Camaro Z28
Thanks guys. I really appreciate all your advice. You never let me down.
first id take out the slider bolts and lube them, while your at it, try to compress the piston in the caliper, it should go in, if it doesn't, you've found your problem
99fireSE wrote:first id take out the slider bolts and lube them, while your at it, try to compress the piston in the caliper, it should go in, if it doesn't, you've found your problem
If it doesn't go in, it could be a stuck piston, or a worn hose, either way, cheap fix. In reality, your best bet would be to replace both front calipers and hoses, should not cost more than 50-75 bucks for parts and brake fluid.
Editing here, it'd be a good idea for you to replace the pads and rotors too, if they were getting that hot, its likely they could keep fading on you even after replacing the other parts. Rotors and pads will probably run you about 60 bucks. And flush as much of the old brake fluid out as possible, it may have boiled, which is a bad thing
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Saturday, August 25, 2007 12:18 PM
Ya, I think I will end up replacing everything there. Want to try to figure out the problem first so I can avoid it again in the future. Thanks again.
I struggle with believing that the parts would be aged and worn out. The front rotors and pads have no more than 1500 miles on them and the whole car itself has only about 24000 miles. It has never seen rain or snow and is stored in a garage when not being driven.
have you always done brakes yourself??? like 99fire said.....prolly your slider pins. they need to be lubed pretty good every time or they will stick.
whiteboyz24 wrote:have you always done brakes yourself??? like 99fire said.....prolly your slider pins. they need to be lubed pretty good every time or they will stick.
Most of the time that would just cause irregular brake pad wear.
1983 Camaro Z28
