Brake Maintenance

[tr23]

Hello All

New poster here at BITOG. Recently I have started tackling my own vehicle maintenance and repair, partly due to savings and partly due to finding my truck engine overfilled with oil from the local lube shop. I come from a strong mechanical and electrical background, with lots of time on wrenches but NO time on cars.

I was wondering if someone could help me out by walking me through brake maintenance, and what products to use where. I have 4 wheel disc brakes on all three vehicles I'm responsible for; a Mazda3, Ranger and TrailBlazer. (A link, PDF or video would also be fine, as I'm sure this info has been explained before)

Due I need different products to lube different parts and minimize wear and noise? Or can I get away with one good product?
I have found a reasonable supplier of vehicle parts and consumables, and they carry Permatex Ultra Slick Ultra Disc Brake Caliper Lube (green label), Permatex Ultra Slick Ceramic Extreme Brake Lubricant (red label), and Permatex Ultra Slick Brake Lubricant (green tube).

I already have standard grey antiseize, and an aresenal of lubricants and penetrating oils from my business. I stocked up on brake cleaner.

The iniatative for brake work is a slight squealing from the Ranger's brakes.

Thank you in advance for any help you can pass along!

 

[The_Jeff]

This is actually a perfect job for the haynes/ chilton manual.

Also check out youtube; it's great to see people grunting on rusted fasteners or showing you stuff you run into in the real world.

Brake squeal is a toughie but a good start is to take them off and put them back on again! Sometimes pads get stuck or rust welded to their brackets and prying them out shows where the problem lays.

 

[Sawdusted]

Go to youtube. You will find tons of videos on brakes. You can probably find brake videos for your exact make, model and year.

One chanel i would recomend would be ericthecarguy. He has done a lot of instructional repair videos and quite a few of brakes included.

 

[turtlevette]

I never use any grease on my brakes. There is some adhesive such as CRC disc brake quiet you can apply to the back of the brake pad (non friction side that touches caliper piston) that dampens the harmonic vibration in the metal plate that causes the squeal.

 

[Donald]

Half the people here just use Sil-glide from NAPA. The nice thing about brakes is that they come in pairs so you can always look at the other if you cannot figure out how something goes.

Some pads will have a tab or ear that rides on a rail (for lack of a better description). That rail will need to be lubed. So disc brake lubricant and some PB-Blaster for frozen bleeders. A large C-clamp. A few metric 6 pt sockets, maybe allen sockets and maybe Torx sockets. I just replaced a caliper where the OEM was Torx and the rebuilt caliper was allen.

While calipers can be rebuilt, get your feet wet with brakes first. Unless required, I avoid messing with the parking brake. I never use it, so its just for NYS Inspection.

 

[JHZR2]

Check my recent thread on my brake job.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/e30-bmw-brake-job.211799/

Go to Napa and get the 3M silicone brake paste. Im also using the CRC Silaramic but not on the slides. GM brake sliders apparently dont do well with petroleum greases, so definitely use the silicone stuff.

Optimally youll pull both pins, try to get any grease you can out of the bracket bore, then lube it all back and torque it all together.

 

[JC1]

tr23,

Also try and learn about brake line bleeding. As mentioned Eric the car guy on youtube has lots of good videos.

As for tools, You also need a good torque wrench, a clicker type is best. Not sure if you have drum brakes to maintain. They need special tools for the springs etc.

Not sure about your vehicles, but honda's for instance have screws on the front rotors that need to be removed with an impact hammer. You can get an impact hammer from princess auto for under $20.

As for your brake lube, I would get a larger container of whatever your preference is. I usually buy mine when I visit the USA cause that stuff is around $15 and up in Canada before taxes, where you can get a bottle of CRC for around $10 in the US. Don't waste your time with the small tubes or packets. They don't cover much and they are overpriced for what you get.

You will also need to stock up on brake cleaner. When princess auto has sales you can get a can of brake cleaner for $3 bucks or so. Otherwise you'll pay around double if you buy brake cleaner elsewhere.

Regards, JC.

 

[spasm3]

Some mechanics here say not to, but i have used permatex unltra copper on the backs of the brake pads on GM brakes. I apply it to the pad backs and install them, i then with the vehicle sitting still i apply the brakes before the rtv sets. this ensures the pad does not ride on the rtv but the rtv is squeezed out. let it set about an hour then drive. I feel this glues the pads in place and prevents the pad oscillating against the caliper pistons hence squeeling.

 

[tr23]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help, and I've found some stuff on YouTube already.

 

[threeputtpar]

I'm not sure what year your Ranger is, but when I did the front brakes on a 2006 Escape I found that the caliper pins needed a 9mm hex bit to get them off. In almost all hex bit sets, 9mm is not included, so it took me a couple of days to find one. Pretty stupid of Ford to use a fastener size that many tool sets don't have.

Norther Tool, of all places, had a hex bit set that has a 9mm included. So if you get into this job and find the same thing I did, they may be able to bail you out.

 

[Fastmover]

Here's an excellent how-to for changing brakes on a Charger.

http://www.lxforums.com/board/showthread.php/101366-Brake-Pad-Replacement-(5-7L)-Step-by-Step

 

[steve20]

For the rear caliper pistons on some Fords I've done, use an inexpensive tool to get the piston back in the caliper--you have to turn it back in (like a regular screw)--trying to push it back in with a C-clamp will most likely bend/break the C-clamp and tear the sealing boot as well

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: Sawdusted
Go to youtube. You will find tons of videos on brakes. You can probably find brake videos for your exact make, model and year.

One chanel i would recomend would be ericthecarguy. He has done a lot of instructional repair videos and quite a few of brakes included.

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