FastTrackGirlie

umm Where can I post this!?? lol
I've got a question about my brakes/piston's etc....

Tell me and I'll post it there, but until then, I'll post it here

I bought my Protege in september since then i've replaced the brakes twice, the rotors, even had the new rotars turned, I've had to get four new tires on the front two because I decided to hit a curb one day and blow them out, then not taking care of the car like I should of I wore through the new tires in a matter of weeks because I didn't get the alignment, which led to me finding out I bent the struts. So I replaced the struts and got two new tires again on the car.
Anyway.. back to these damn brakes.... I recently bought metalic brakes, which started this grr grr grr noise.. yeah I know hard to explain the noise... I upgraded to ceramic brakes and walaa the sound was gone, or so I thought. They restarted to make this noise again. I went to a few auto stores and they all have said this.
When I changed my breaks and I compressed my piston, a little fluid came out...So i figured my calibers (sp) were bad, and I'd replace them in a few more months from now... well they're saying it's the fluid from the piston leak that's making the brakes sound like that.... and that it's making it greasy or some crazy thing like that.

Does this sound like it could be the root of the problemo!?
Long way to ask the question but hey I'm a girl

turbonium959

Leaking fliud could very well be your problem. But considering the amount of stress your front-end underwent with the curb hit, you might have many things that are out of alignment or out of place. Is the noise you are experiencing a scratching one, when something rubs, or is it a vibrating/rattling noise? Also, how is your brake pedal travel?
P.S. This should be posted in the Steering/Suspention.

FastTrackGirlie

It doesn't scretch or vibrate.. just has a wierd rutting noise lol.. it's really hard to describe the sound.
I took it to tire kingdom tonight and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Imagine that.

So I'm gong to just pick up some calipers tomorrow and change them out. Hoping that will do the trick. I'm glad I can do all my own maintance or other wise I'd be broke !!

It's rather frustrating seeing as I've been dying to start making my car prettier and something is always coming up!!

oh and the brakes made the noise prior to me hitting the curb, which I'm thankful for in that sense other wise I'd be so paranoid I did something worse than I've already accomplished LOL.

Thank you for your time,
I appreciate it.

~michelle

turbonium959

Oh, I think I know what it is. I had a problem like this before. Our cars, as well as Ford Escort (we share some parts with Ford), are known to have this problem. When the caliper engages, it presses upon the brake pads to squeeze on the rotor. When the pads move, they are moving down a metal rod called "slider". Thus the pad is sliding back and forth on it. Well, our cars are known to have the sliders freeze in place after years of exposure to water and dirt. They accumulate rust in their pathways, and thus prevent the pad from sliding properly. However, out of the two sliders, most of the time its just one that does not move. Most brake shops do not check for slider movement, and they should. This is how people get fooled into buy a new caliper, when all they need is the slider to be cleaned. Do not waste money on new parts unless you really have to. Trust me, check those sliders.

FastTrackGirlie

You know what!!!!
You hit it on the ball! Because the guy at TireKingdomwasteofyourtime..... said something about sliders but then he said no they're fine...

I have rust built up on the passenger front side rotor and he said thats because they're most likely not clamping down right, or some wierd thing, didn't pay to well of attention I suppose. but then when he did the little test... supposely they were fine.

Well if it's building up rust thats not doing the job so I will look into the sliders..

Calipers are going to cost me 34.99 a piece so if cleaning the sliders is going to do the job then I won't complain at all. the only thing that gets me as odd is that they are fine until about a week after I take my brakes off to either change them or look at them... which I've done quite a few times now trying to figure out what the heck it could be....

So I'll check the sliders and then deal with the calipers... Guess I know what I'm doing this Saturday! oh wells..

THANK YOU!
Michelle