emdoller

Took my car out today and noticed the car pulling left when braking. I decided to bleed the brakes to see if that would help. As I pulled off the front right wheel I noticed what looked like black grease splattered around the inside of the wheel. After bleeding all wheels the car still pulls a little to the left. My guess is the splattered grease on the inside of the front right wheel might be a clue.

Any ideas?

Ed

66jack

The rubber brake line could be collapsing internally...

JohnZ

Year?

emdoller

Oops... Stock 67

anyChevy

If wheel bearing grease has contaminated the brake pads on the right side, it may be the cause of it pulling to the left.
Time for new front pads, repack the bearings and maybe new bearing caps.
It probably wouldn't hurt to replace the flexi lines while your at it.

emdoller

Thanks. I'll take off the pads and see if there's any grease on them. Great idea! I'll pull the bearings as well.

Ed

65air_coupe

The grease is the most likely culprit but I had a similar problem and it turned out to be the old flex lines.

Vet65te

Ed - How old are your calipers? If you find greasy looking radial spray on the backside of the rim and tire, it could be a leaking caliper. Sometimes old brake fluid can turn dark and when it leaks out and mixes with road dust, it can look more like grease than brake fluid.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

emdoller

Mike,

I have DOT 5 brake fluid which is purple. This was black and was very different.

If it was grease from my bearings, how is it getting out? If the front cap is on I assume somehow it's coming through a seal on the back?

Ed

Vet65te

Ed - I would have expected the rear grease seal to keep the grease contained but we're all guessing until you can tear it down enough to check it out. Did you notice any 'play' when you pulled the wheels up front?
Mike T - Prescott AZ

emdoller

Thanks Mike. I didn't notice anything strange when I bled the brakes other than the splattered grease. I'll start pulling it apart next weekend. I've done many brakes on modern cars but never on my vette nor have I ever done bearings. Always willing to give things a shot and learning is always good especially with this forum to help.

Ed

66jack

Check the 'rubber boots' on your ball joint...it might have torn/ripped...

emdoller

Managed to sneak away from the family BBQ to check the ball joints. They look fine.

Ed

Dennis Beck

On my '66 with non power brakes I had a hard pull to the right after winter storage. The left front pads were hung up. I removed them and cleaned things up and they are just fine now. Something else to consider.

Dennis

emdoller

Thanks. I don't think that's it because when I bled the brakes the week seemed to spin freely and all that black grease splattered on the inside of the wheel leads me to believe I have another issue.

Dennis Beck

My wheel also spun freely but because the pads were hung up the pistons could not move the pads far enough to apply even force to both front wheels.

Dennis

emdoller

Got it. Can't wait to pull it apart on Saturday.

emdoller

Update: I pulled off the wheel and quickly saw what appeared to be grease all over the rotor. So we now can confirm why the car is pulling left. What I'm not 100% sure of is whether it's grease or brake fluid.

I pulled off the caliper and have pictures attached.

First Questions is, how do I confirm if it''s brake fluid to not? If you look at the brake pads you can see that the paint is coming off which leads me to believe it is brake fluid.

One thing to consider is I did swap out my master several months ago and when I did I switched to DOT 5 synthetic fluid. Not sure if it's related or not.

Second question is if it is the caliper where can i get it restored?

Thanks for all the help!!

Ed

Rotor


Brake Pad


Caliper 1


Caliper 2

65 Pro Vette

Rebuild them fast, better check the others, I say brake fluid because it removes paint and all the paint is off your pads. You must still have dot 3 fluid in your system, that is not ever good. Flush everything out.

Tampa Jerry

Without question, the fluid you are seeing, is brake fluid. When you switched to synthetic fluid did you thoroughly flush the lines and calipers? You cannot mix the two fluids. Have the calipers ever been sleeved in stainless steel. If not, now is the time to have them sleeved. If they have been sleeved, consider rebuilding with O rings. I have done 6 cars with them and have had zero problems. I got mine from Vette Brakes and products. They are local for me. In any event a thorough flushing and cleaning of your system is in order. Good luck. Jerry