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Old 03-23-2007   #1 (permalink)
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Unanswered: Brake pad question

When putting brakes pads into the caliper how easily should they slide in? Should you have to tap them into place? Also, do all cars come standard with the spacer pieces? When I took the pads off the front brakes on my GT they didn't have spacers. One of the rotors was messed up bad so I had to take one off of one of the other GT's and I noticed that it had spacers in alongside both brake pads.
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Old 03-23-2007   #2 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by Miskatonic View Post
When putting brakes pads into the caliper how easily should they slide in? Should you have to tap them into place? Also, do all cars come standard with the spacer pieces? When I took the pads off the front brakes on my GT they didn't have spacers. One of the rotors was messed up bad so I had to take one off of one of the other GT's and I noticed that it had spacers in alongside both brake pads.
Those are not really "spacers", they're anti-rattle plates.
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Old 03-23-2007   #3 (permalink)
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Because the disc brakes are self-adjusting, when changing the pads, the caliper pistons have to be reset to allow the thicker/new pads to be installed. This means pushng them back into their bores, to allow the new pads to be slid in place. This can be done with a C-clamp or by carefully levering them back with judicious use of a pry bar. When the pistons are forced back in their bores, brake fluid may overflow out of the brake master cylinder. HTH.
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Old 03-23-2007   #4 (permalink)
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on some of the cheap pads I have used I had to file the edges to slide them in the caliper
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Old 03-23-2007   #5 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by namba209 View Post
This can be done with a C-clamp or by carefully levering them back with judicious use of a pry bar. When the pistons are forced back in their bores, brake fluid may overflow out of the brake master cylinder. HTH.
My tool of choice for squeezing the pistons back in is a small pair of c clamp vise grip.

The pistons should be clean before squeezing them back in.

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Old 03-23-2007   #6 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by hrcollinsjr View Post
The pistons should be clean before squeezing them back in.

Harold
Another good point, Harold. My USAF training has me automatically wipe the polished surfaces with the material used to actuate them. In this case a rag moistened with brake fluid.
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Old 03-24-2007   #7 (permalink)
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Thanks for the help guys, I'm waiting for the cross-shaped retaining pieces to get in at the parts store tomorrow so I can put the brake pads back in and secure them. After that is checking all the lights.

Speaking of which, on the dash panel there's like 5(?) circles that are supposed to light up, some with different colors. What do these indicate?
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Old 03-24-2007   #8 (permalink)
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The 5 little circles are two rows, upper having three and lower having two. The upper outside two are for you turn signal indicators, they are green. the middle one is white, indicates when your headlights are not correctly closed or open. The lower row, the left side is blue, for your hi-beams, and the right is red for e-brake/low brake fluid/clutch adjustment.
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