Brake replacement question
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 4,429
Likes: 605
From: Minneapolis Mn
Racer
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 325
Likes: 8
From: Princeton Jct. New Jersey
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Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 4,429
Likes: 605
From: Minneapolis Mn
Loosening the brackets
For me at least, it's usually something won't slip on or align if the mounts are tight. Loosening them up gives you a little fudge room to get the caliper with the new pads on the rotor easier. You want the piston retracted prior to attempting reassembly, just let's you wiggle things as needed to get it back together without the knuckle crunching you might have otherwise.
Kind of like getting all the bolts in and started when reassembling something rather than put one in and tighten it up and then going onto the next bolt.
Just seems to make it go easier for me and I had to put in new brakes or pulled them out to check them on 4 different vehicles last year (2 Fords, a Dodge and the Vette) and it was something I did on all of them and it saved me a little cussing. Just made it go a little easier from where I stood.
Kind of like getting all the bolts in and started when reassembling something rather than put one in and tighten it up and then going onto the next bolt.
Just seems to make it go easier for me and I had to put in new brakes or pulled them out to check them on 4 different vehicles last year (2 Fords, a Dodge and the Vette) and it was something I did on all of them and it saved me a little cussing. Just made it go a little easier from where I stood.
Last edited by hcbph; Apr 28, 2014 at 11:52 AM.
Racer
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 261
Likes: 2
From: Boise Idaho
When you compress a piston in a caliper, open the bleeder screw and let the fluid drin back through it. Do not let it drain back through the system as the garbage in the caliper will get into some other component and ruin it. Cannot tell you how many master cylinders I have seen die two weeks after the brake job.
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 105
Likes: 2
From: Lecanto Florida
The biggest contributor to that follow on failure can be the 'on car' bleed process, not contamination. If the master cylinder piston seals go into "unfamiliar territory" at the end of the master cylinder piston bore (via a full pedal stroke to the floorboard with the bleeders open) the piston seals are damaged by the rough untraveled section of the bore, and will fail shortly thereafter. I never let the master cylinder piston go past it's normal travel section during bleeding.
Racer
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 413
Likes: 2
From: Carencro LA
I'm new to Corvettes and haven't seen any mention of this...is there any reason a Mityvac brake bleeding tool shouldn't be used to purge the system and replace all the brake fluid in the system, when you replace the pads and rotors? I had Porsches for 25 years and had the opportunity to drive the cars at speed several times a year. Once a year I replaced the brake fluid just because it's hydroscopic.
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 173
Likes: 18
From: Edinburgh Midlothian
brake pad thickness
The brake pads for the rear of an 88 onwards vette are in two pairs, one set is slightly thinner than the other, the thinner pad should sit on the inner side of the caliper, with the thicker set to the outside.
This had me stuck getting the caliper back on until I noticed the difference.
This had me stuck getting the caliper back on until I noticed the difference.
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Instructor
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 105
Likes: 2
From: Lecanto Florida
Thanks for your reply. I just tried it on my '96 CE and it seemed to work just fine. I'm glad I did the old fluid was lite coffee color.
I haven't driven the car yet. It's still on jack stands. I'm replacing the distributor, wires and plugs. I'm having a REALLY tough time getting the crankshaft balancer off.
I haven't driven the car yet. It's still on jack stands. I'm replacing the distributor, wires and plugs. I'm having a REALLY tough time getting the crankshaft balancer off.