porcupine73 Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 So I get home with green ('00obw 2.5L n/a at 4 wheel disc brakes) and I seem to think I can smell hot brakes. A quick check around the vehicle reveals the right rear wheel is like cooking hot. I jack up the rear. Left rear wheel turns pretty smoothly. Right rear wheel turns OK, seems like a little bit of drag, and there's this raspy kind of sound like there's grit or gravel in there somewhere. I pull off the caliper and the sound is still there. At this point I start to take the caliper mount off but figure I don't have the time or parts to fix it tonight so I put it back together. So I'm guessing this is either the emergency brake guzzed up somehow or maybe the wheel bearing? I shook the wheel before pulling it off and everything seemed tight; no noted freeplay. But maybe if this wheel has been getting hot for sometime from sticky e-brake it took the wheel bearing with it...hopefully cv joint is ok. edit: forgot to mention, shook e-brake cable and yanked e-brake on and off a dozen or so times; no change. Unfortunately red ('96 brighton) was up on jackstands with all the wheels off awaiting it's debrightonization, so I had to put red all back together so I can get to work tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 Anyone have any advice? I got the rotor off (after about a half hour combination of hammer, torch, air hammer, bigger hammer, etc). With the rotor off, there is no noise; the wheel turns pretty smoothly and freely. The raspy noise I heard is the rotor rubbing against the back plate. The driver's side rear makes this noise too but not as bad. The backing plates are kind of rusty but not horridly so. So what should I do/check? I'm a little puzzled as to what was making the wheel hot? It doesn't seem like the rotor rubbing against the backing plate would be enough to make the setup cooking hot. There was no noticable difference when I pulled off the caliper. It seems the most likely suspect is the e-brake sticking on a little bit; maybe I should just clean everything up (I backed off the adjuster before removing rotor) and give 'er a drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 What condition are the wheel bearings in? nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerFahrer Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 +1 on the wheel bearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmanaenk Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Wouldn't you hear the bearing going bad? I'd say its a sticking caliper. Check if the caliper slides on guiding pins freely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 I may here it going bad in this car. You may hear it going bad in this car, but the owner of the car may not notice the sound, as it slowly creeps up, and doesnt really get bad untill the bearings are ready to self detruct. And i just re read the post, and he doesnt mention anything about the calpier slides, so thats some place to look at too. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 Ok thanks for the advice guys. I'll have another look see tonight. The caliper seemed to slide pretty freely on the mount, but I haven't worked on brakes before. So I'll pull the other rear wheel and compare. For the bearing, with the rotor and wheel off I hear no noise at all when I spin the hub and it seems to spin as freely as the other side. There is no noticeable freeplay. Maybe I'll flush the whole assembly with brake cleaner, regrease everything, put it back together and go for a short test drive. If the wheel stays cool I'll hope I'm golden. Can I maybe bend back the backing plates a little bit and/or clean off some of the rust? I know the rotor is rubbing against the backing plate and I think that was the little bit of drag and raspy sound I heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Just a thought How hard was it to get the pads out of the caliper bracket? I lost a rear pad prematurly as rust built up between the SS clip and the bracket. The pad dragged and wheel was hot. Have you seen the notice about new pads being oversized? The pad's tab that goes into this slot is to large? I don't buy into the wheel bearing, if it were bad enough to make it smell like you said. I think you would have felt it in your test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 Hm...interesting thought Skip I will definitely check it. The pads remained ni the caliper support when I removed it. I didn't yet try to remove them. The shims or whatever those metal things in there with the pads are a little rusty looking. I'll have a look see tonight. These brakes are what was on the vehicle when I bought it used about 15k miles ago last year. When I heard that raspy gritty noise I thought it might be wheel bearing, but it's dead silent and smooth and no freeplay with the rotor off. The rotor has rust on the back and the backing plate has rust and they rub together a little bit making the raspy sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 Check if the caliper slides on guiding pins freely.Well I got both sides apart today. One of the guide pins on the caliper on the hot wheel was frozen. All the others moved pretty freely, but one was stuck. Also the pads were pretty frozen in the caliper mounts. There is rust on everything in the braking system, which isn't too surprising since this area uses rock salt. All pad thickness is still good, all at least .499". Rotor thickness is good, about .393". Rotor runout is about .003" on both rotors. Rotors have no deep groves, but they're kind of rusty. So I guess I can just clean everything up and reassemble. Or should I just replace everything with new (which I am always tempted to do) and rebuild the calipers? Here's some pics to show the condition of the existing parts: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Rotors dont cost much. Since you have everything apart i would go with new. While your there, get a new hardware kit for the parking brake also. If cost is an issue, you can use the old rotors, nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted March 4, 2007 Author Share Posted March 4, 2007 Sounds good nipper; I think I'll just replace everything. The fronts probably need to be looked at too. So what's the type/brand of pads and rotors to use? Stick with OEM? Or something aftermarket? I've heard some people say they like brembo rotors. Regular? Slotted? Drilled? Drilled&slotted? How's about EBC pads. But green or red? Phew too many choices. I wonder if I should replace those rusty backing plates too? Though I assume I have to pull the hub to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 When in doubt, go with subaru pads. Now if your going to go with all 4 pads, then i would suggest to upgrade. But it is abit silly to have better pads on the rears then the front. i am watching some wagner rotors on ebay for 13.00 a pop plus reasonable shipping. I would trust wagner rotors. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted April 28, 2007 Author Share Posted April 28, 2007 OK finally wrapping up this job. Did: caliper reseal kit on all 4, brembo sport slotted rotors front, stoptech slotted rotors rear, stoptech stainless braided brake hoses, oem pads, oem parking brake shoe kit, painted calipers and brackets with g2 caliper paint. Some pics: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2 Subaru Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 Yeah Buddy!!! That looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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