JBB

I had a scrapping noise in the right front brake, so I take it apart. All looks fine, so I clean it up, lube the pins and put it back together. The noise is still there, so I take it to the mechanic. He fixes it, and tells me the spring clips were out of position. Huh? But the noise is gone, so I take it home. When I get home, I figured out what he did. On the top spring clip is a tang that hooks into the brake pad. It looks like it's there to pull the pad off the rotor when you let go of the brakes. He broke that tang off, and installed the pad upside down so the hook for the tang is out of the way. The noise is gone, but is what he did ok? I also can't figure out why that was even causing the noise, but the noise is gone. Any help?

ateick

iTrader: (1)

pics?

maxiiiboy

When correctly installed, the "front edge" of the brake pad should be farther away from the rotor than the rear edge. This way, when you apply your brakes, the pad attacks the surface of the rotor at a slight angle (I call it "positive" angle); this positive angle of attack minimizes brake shudder. (Just imagine how badly would your brakes work with "negative angle" where the brake pad is slanted the opposite way, and where the front edge of the pad contacts the rotor first).

At any rate, that's why the clip is there, and that's why it's present on only one side of the pad. The clip (and the bracket) must be mounted so that it's positioned on the front side of the pad (relative to rotor movement),

I am not sure what exactly your mechanic did. However, if his installation violates my "angle of attack" rules stated above I wouldn't be surprised if you run into brake issues (shudder) before too log.

maxiiiboy

Oh yes, I forgot the noise issue.

It could be the clip. However, it could also be the pad. The last set of pads on my 2000 SE was poorly installed; as a result, the pads became glazed and were causing a horrendous grinding metallic/ceramic noise.

All these problems went away after I installed a new Powerstop kit while being very careful about how to place the shims/clips. In particular, I took a lot of care to make sure that the angle of attack is positive. It has paid off - the brakes are working great and are super quiet!

JBB

Thanks for your help, Maxiiiboy. Why that tab is only on the top now makes sense.

The first pic is the left front, and the way it's supposed to be.



This second one is the right front, that was making noise, and you can see he bent the tang backwards and out of the way.



Here you can see he turned the pad upside down so that the hook, or loop, is on the bottom and out of the way.



I presume he did the same thing to the inside pad, but I haven't looked. Right now, it has solved the problem- I guess I wait and see if it's going to start shuddering. If it doesn't start to shudder, I presume this is ok?

maxiiiboy

The right/passenger side has not been installed correctly. The upper side of the outside pad is missing the hook/loop (which is at the bottom).

I suspect your pads have been somehow misplaced, and that at least two of them have been installed in a wrong location. Alternately, you got a bad set, or something like that .....

This set-up may work fop a little while but the passenger side will develop shudder long before the driver side does.