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Old Dec 7, 2012 | 03:20 PM
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So bought my 99 Formula in August, as far as I'm aware the brake pads were brand new at the time. never had any noise and plenty of stopping power.

About a week ago on my way to work there was an accident in front of me, I slammed on the brakes to avoid it and luckily got around it fine and got to work after making sure everyone was ok, drove to work fine with no noise from the brakes. Then when I left work that night the front brakes started squealing whenever I applied any pressure to the brake pedal and the rear brakes started grinding as well.

Now I'm know the brakes have an auto adjusting system for setting themselves, (according to the manual) so I'm wondering if they readjusted themselves too tightly or if I'm looking at having screwed up the rotors/pads. It has been rather cold here lately so I was thinking the rotors may have heated up and then cooled too fast and warped but just wanted to get some ideas on what everyone thought.
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Old Dec 7, 2012 | 05:57 PM
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if you dont know what your doing .......find a good shop.......otherwise its pretty simple

the main problem with the brakes is pins rusting and sticking

then check your pads and rotors
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Old Dec 7, 2012 | 06:18 PM
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Originally Posted by sjsingle1
if you dont know what your doing .......find a good shop.......otherwise its pretty simple

the main problem with the brakes is pins rusting and sticking

then check your pads and rotors
Not a matter of knowing what I'm doing, I've changed brakes before, just never seen a set act like that to go from practically brand new and no noise to grinding like their down to bare metal for a month. I havent had a chance to tear it down yet, damn job and all, to see it, just wondering if anyone else had had this happen under these circumstances and what they found when they tore it down so I can go ahead and buy what parts are necessary and have everything ready to go when i do work on it this weekend.
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Old Dec 8, 2012 | 07:09 AM
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remove and clean up the caliper pins.you can scuff up the rotors if they aren't grooved.
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Old Dec 8, 2012 | 12:05 PM
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Is there pad left? IF the inside pad is more worn then your calipers are sticking.
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Old Dec 8, 2012 | 12:07 PM
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Disc brakes have no self adjusting, as the pads wear more the calipers fill with more brake fluid filling the brake caliper cylinders. Drum brakes have a mechanical self adjuster.
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Old Dec 8, 2012 | 07:42 PM
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You should stop driving it until the problem is corrected.

Originally Posted by Rubedo
as far as I'm aware the brake pads were brand new at the time.
My theory here is that whoever did them didn't know what they were doing.


Originally Posted by Rubedo
there was an accident in front of me, I slammed on the brakes to avoid it and luckily got around it fine
No worries here. This is what brakes are supposed to do.


Originally Posted by Rubedo
Then when I left work that night the front brakes started squealing whenever I applied any pressure to the brake pedal and the rear brakes started grinding as well.
This is not good. The brakes may not have been put back together correctly, with the proper torque applied, or the hardware dressed appropriately. They should be thoroughly checked out. (The pins and hardware re-lubed at a minimum. They might even need to be replaced.)


Originally Posted by Rubedo
Now I'm know the brakes have an auto adjusting system for setting themselves, (according to the manual)
"Self-adjusters" are typically items on an old-style drum brake, which are not on these cars. The disk brakes will "adjust" as the pads wear down normally, but one panic stop wouldn't wear that pads enough to make a noticeable difference.

The squeaking may not be a big problem but grinding in the rear is worrisome.
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