Question on Rear B13 Brakes
I installed rebuilt calipers on the rear of my B13. Afterwards, the emergency brake throw was way too long and, on one side, there was no brake dust being produced. Further, the emergency brake was not holding the wheel on this same side when the car was jacked up and the emergency brake engaged.
I inspected the emergency brake cable and found nothing unusual. Then I pulled the caliper on the offending side and discovered that the piston was still pretty far away from the pad backing plate. So, I "unscrewed" the piston from the caliper to minimize the distance between the piston and the back of the pad while making sure that the little nib on the backing plate was lined up with the notch in the piston.
After doing this, things got much better. The emergency brake worked normally, and pedal movement while engaging brakes was reduced, with good solid pedal feel. But I still felt like the offending side produced a little less brake dust. Since I don't drive the car much, the rotor had gotten rusty on this side when it was initially not working right at all, so I don't know whether that has anything to do with the way things are now or not. At this point, I'm replacing the rusted rotors and installing new pads.
So, here's my question. Should it matter that I didn't carefully minimize the distance between the cylinder and the back of the pad at first installation? I always thought that as long as the nib was lined up with the grove and the caliper fit over the pads the hydraulics would push the caliper out when the brakes were first driven. Didn't work that way for me this time.
Should I replace the caliper now?
For extra credit: I also replaced the MC when the rear calipers were renewed initially. Could these symptoms be caused by a faulty MC? The brakes work fine in the front on both sides.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Bill
I inspected the emergency brake cable and found nothing unusual. Then I pulled the caliper on the offending side and discovered that the piston was still pretty far away from the pad backing plate. So, I "unscrewed" the piston from the caliper to minimize the distance between the piston and the back of the pad while making sure that the little nib on the backing plate was lined up with the notch in the piston.
After doing this, things got much better. The emergency brake worked normally, and pedal movement while engaging brakes was reduced, with good solid pedal feel. But I still felt like the offending side produced a little less brake dust. Since I don't drive the car much, the rotor had gotten rusty on this side when it was initially not working right at all, so I don't know whether that has anything to do with the way things are now or not. At this point, I'm replacing the rusted rotors and installing new pads.
So, here's my question. Should it matter that I didn't carefully minimize the distance between the cylinder and the back of the pad at first installation? I always thought that as long as the nib was lined up with the grove and the caliper fit over the pads the hydraulics would push the caliper out when the brakes were first driven. Didn't work that way for me this time.
Should I replace the caliper now?
For extra credit: I also replaced the MC when the rear calipers were renewed initially. Could these symptoms be caused by a faulty MC? The brakes work fine in the front on both sides.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Bill
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Originally Posted by billc 
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