Brake Dilemma please help/advise (1 Viewer)

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Oct 11, 2005
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so the front brakes on the 96 i just bought are shot. metal on metal on the front left side kinda shot. theres a constant squealing coming from the left side even with the foot on the gas, and that god awful grinding coming to a full stop.

problem is I gotta drive 100 miles, mostly highway, on Sunday. I don't have the time or tools where i am to replace them before i go. If all I am risking is further damage to the rotor, thats fine, Im going to replace the fronts. If I am risking serious damage to the calipers, pistons etc, it would be a major pain in the ass, but i could leave the cruiser where it is and come back for it with the tools and parts.

as far as safety, the braking is still real good. the rears have more than 50% life left and the right front isnt quite as bad as the left, almost though.

thanks in advance for any and all input.
 
Pads are easy to change, the caliper doesn't have to come off to change them.
 
Where are you?I have aset of front pads with ~1/8" left on them. Take all of 10 minutes per wheel...easier on the ears than metal to metal...
 
Hopefully what you are hearing is the wear indicators. Like mentioned, it takes about 10 minutes to do pads. Basically remove the tire, remove the spring clip and pins, compress pistons, install pads, then put the rest back together.
 
stayalert said:
Where are you?I have aset of front pads with ~1/8" left on them. Take all of 10 minutes per wheel...easier on the ears than metal to metal...

im just south of Worcester, heading to the cape Sunday morning to catch the ferry back to Nantucket.

I considered picking up a pair of OEM pads to throw on for the drive, but also considered the possibilty of ruining a pair of new pads on the beat up rotors. I wish I had figured this out sooner and I would have swung up to Concord to pick up those pads. Probably just gonna drive to the cape and hope for the best. Thanks for the offer though!
 
From your initial description, it's not clear that you're hearing the wear indicators or hearing the metal-on-metal sound of pad backing to rotor. I'll assume for safety's sake that your pads are gone and you're metal to metal...

Ideally, you should replace the rotors and pads before you venture out, but if you can't, then you do the next best thing... If so, and you can't replace the rotors before your trip, just get yourself a set of Acme pads and let 'em be torn up by the gnarled rotors while driving with lots of distance between you and others. The galled rotors will do a good job of wasting your pads, but should last long enough for your trip. The braking efficiency will be reduced.

When you get back, replace the rotors and pads with OEM (you should order them now so you have them when you return).
 

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