Brake job help

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Front brakes. ordered new rotors and hawk pads.

I can barely slip (I mean beat) the left side caliper on. when I do it is so tight it will not spin! WTF! I'm about to light this thing on fire. The right side is also tight but acceptable I think ( Slight drag). There is no play what so ever

I compressed the pistons in with the old pads. the old pads and calipers from a 2003 cobra had like 10K on them. It is always something. I checked the pads part number and it is good. hawk HPS (HB 111 F. 610)

A simple ****in job turns into a mess.

Any ideas what could be the problem? I had to walk away tonight.

Tomorrow I will swap rotors and see if one is too big.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

I'll bet 1 piston is not 100% flush and all the way in.

 

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I'll bet 1 piston is not 100% flush and all the way in.

I bet you're right. I had to walk away. The wife was not happy the kids were fighting lol So I got pissed.

Tomorrow I will take the proper match tool and compress the pistons with out using the old brake pads.

i will report back op:

 

[VirtualSVT]

yeah and make sure the boot it's hung up or torn.

 

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yeah and make sure the boot it's hung up or torn.

Oh man it better not be! I just bought these 2003 front calipers. Super low miles. They should be fine.

I probably just didn't get away with my usual way I do things. Tomorrow I will have a different attitude. I went into it today right before dinner thinking OH YEAH i'll just throw these on real quick. Piece of cake :lol:

 

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problem still there. I removed the calipers and took out the pistons and everything looked good and could see the piston was all the way back in.

I mic-ed the pads and it appears they are larger than the .610 spec Hawk has advertised. I'm getting .649 and .650 per pad. This would be equal to 2mm larger than advertised. Does not sound like a lot but would solve my problems.

I'm going to get a set of motorcraft pads and see where everything is at and pray this solves the problem.

I have never seen a set of pads that will not slide over a rotor. Usually there is all kinds of play when compressing the piston into the caliper.

Has this happened to anybody else? I'm hoping that the .080 extra thickness will make a difference.

Does anybody have a brand new set of pad laying around and a micrometer??????????????

 

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Well the Motorcraft Pads did the trick. The caliper slipped right on.

The problem was the hawk pads were too thick. .649 - .650

Motorcraft pads .621 - .622

Who would have thought 1.4 mm would make that much of a difference!

 

[2DXTRM]

I wonder if they boxed a pad that was meant for a different car in that box. Some cars use the same caliper but have different pad thickness.

 

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I wonder if they boxed a pad that was meant for a different car in that box. Some cars use the same caliper but have different pad thickness.

I'm sure it was something stupid like that. It says right on their website the pad overall thickness is .610

The part number ends in .610 as well.

It just was not meant to be that I have Hawk HPS pads. A couple years ago I wanted them but they were out of stock so I went with the Brembo sport pads and that is a dusty noisy mess. At least with the Motorcraft I should be good for what I want to do with the car. i.e.. just drive it.

 

[VirtualSVT]

I love Hawk HPS pads. I run them on my trucks lol.

Strange though. Usually they make several different thickness pads for the car and I wonder if they were a miss box.

 

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The motorcraft pads have almost no dust. Like them and recommend them for normal driving.