Interesting rear brake job on 2007 Ford Edge

[FordSVTGuy]

My brother-in-law came over complaining about a grinding noise at the passenger rear side wondering if I could take a look. When I took the wheel off I saw right away that the outboard brake pad was down to the metal backing and clearly stuck against the rotor. The inbound pad was okay, with little wear. The opposite side was similarly in very good shape. The underlying issue was a huge amount of rust and buildup on the outboard side of the caliper bracket. I mean I’ve never seen it quite like this before. Looks like whoever did the previous brake jobs neglected to address this properly. I had to use a Dremmel to grind it off...

Anyone else see something like this?

 

[Trav]

Oh yes, its more common than you might think.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Seen it on multiple brands of vehicles especially Ford. I have an escape I bought from my aunt I had no idea it was from up north. When I put brakes on it I had to pry the caliper off the pads off everything and a whole lot of rust came with it I replaced both calipers and both brake hoses and it does a lot better now and used lots of grease to hopefully prevent it from happening again.

 

[michaelluscher]

Wait, your not supposed to need a torch and grinder for a simple brake job?

You can put all the anti seize and silicone paste you want, but 6 months down the road you'll be grinding and wire brushing it again

 

[FordSVTGuy]

Wait, your not supposed to need a torch and grinder for a simple brake job?

You can put all the anti seize and silicone paste you want, but 6 months down the road you'll be grinding and wire brushing it again

I guess I’ve been lucky that I’ve not needed to grind those channels before. I always take the time to get the crud and rust off when I’m doing a brake job, just never saw it quite like this.

 

[Delta]

This is the average in the North, honestly. When I did front pads and rotors on the '12 Liberty everything was rust jacked to the point it warped the old rotors. The drivers side caliper was salvageable, but the passenger required a replacement. Ironically the Jeep had a pad slap and rotor resurface 2 years before at the time of purchase. Less than 6K miles and everything was wasted. They used no lube on any contact points... After winter I plan on pulling the brakes off on the Tacoma to clean and lube everything back up. Just a way of life around here.

 

[Lapham3]

Of course, a shop can't reasonably do this, but on my stuff, I'll wire brush the parts and then use a rust converter paint before reassembly. It's a big help and I often then will hit any other under body rust issues. I've been able to extend the life of parts and the cars for a few extra years this way.

 

[Hall]

Almost "normal" for brakes in northern climates. I'd bet a shop that does a lot of brake jobs sees this on an almost daily basis.

 

[Jetronic]

Yeah, almost daily here. It's not as bad now as it was a few years ago as we learned to catch it before it gets this far. It starts with discoloured brake discs and deposits from brake pads on discs and often with a slightly dragging wheel. Not something a brake tester picks up but you can feel by hand. Often times moisture gets under the piston boot aswell so that needs checking and sorting aswell

 

[john_pifer]

Glad I live in the South!

 

[Blinker]

This is very common on cars driven up north. This is why many people prefer rear drum brakes.

 

[benjy]

with DIY you can spend more time + be fussy + also buy better parts for LESS! my preowned Massachusetts 2011 Frontier SV got the full TLC, higher quality EBC rotors + yellow pads for great braking!!!

 

[supton]

And people look at me funny when I say it's a good thing to take it all apart once a year and grease stuff up. Do it once a year and it all just comes apart the way it was meant to--let it go a few years and out comes the hammers. It's only a few minutes of extra work at tire rotation time.

 

[Jetronic]

I agree, supton. If you live in a place without salt on the roads you can extend the inspection/regreasing period obviously. But it's not a bad idea to do this even then at least once every few years.