Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Tech Tip: Fingers and Ears




It seems like a common cure to slather the back of the brake pad with exotic lubricants and hope for the best. But, on floating piston calipers the outside “ears” or “fingers” can have corrosion or flaking surface treatments where they make contact with the pad. This can prevent the outboard pad from setting squarely in the caliper. This can lead to brake noise no matter how much lubricant you put on the back of the pad.

Before you replace the pads take some time to clean up the surfaces of the fingers with an abrasive material of wire brush. On some caliper designs, it might be advantageous to lube just the fingers or ears and not blanketing the brake pad with expensive brake lubes. Who knows, you could save some money on brake lube.

No comments: