Yesterday geoff and I changed out his front brake pads. His car- 2002 z28, stock rotors etc. Driver side took 5 min,put on duralast ceramic pads. easy. Go to passenger side and removed pads. Inner pad was almost metal. The inside of the rotor was carved a bit from the metal scraping it. Compressed the caliper all the way and TRIED the new pads. The caliper would not go back on and was about less than an1/8 off. It was as if the pad was TOO thick. I put the lugnuts on 3 stud and spun the rotor. It spun true, no warp etc. Why wouldnt it line back up? Could it be the inside of the rotor wore down too much? Help please
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2000 Z28 SLP sub frames, J&M LCA's, KYB shocks, Waitforme tuning. Ported TB & intake 35/22 swaybars, Firehawk tires -
My bird has stock calipers, rotors, and pads too, and I have found especially on the front, that it's a real close fit with brand new pads. Probably more so than any car I have ever done breaks on.
More than once I have assumed the caliper piston was pushed back enough, but found the assembly wouldn't go back on.
Stuck the old pad and the piston compressor tool on and gave it just a couple more turns and it bottomed out further. The backer of the old pad will go tight to the caliper casting. Just make sure you're not pinching the boot in any way.
Wow, but 1/8th of an inch sounds like a hell of a big discrepancy though.......
The only thing other than a badly warped rotor, (which you checked....) would be the piston seizing in the caliper cylinder for some reason, and not going all the way in. You'd be able to tell that though.
That would leave the unlikely possibility that the pads are defective, and some lunkhead put on material that was too thick. You could go back to the parts store with the pads and ask to see another type or brand of pads for the same car and just eyeball the thickness--- nowadays nothing would surprise me!
Good luck!'94 Firebird Formula, Lt1, 6 speed, all stock -
The pads are from autozone, made in india and yes one pad was tad thicker. They checked with a gauge.2000 Z28 SLP sub frames, J&M LCA's, KYB shocks, Waitforme tuning. Ported TB & intake 35/22 swaybars, Firehawk tiresComment
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You may have a problem with the piston not compressing completely, due to corrosion. The fact only one of the original pads exhibited extreme wear , may indicate the piston is sticking and not allowing the pressure to be released from the pad when the brake pedal is released.Fred
381ci all-forged stroker - 10.8:1 - CNC LT4 heads/intake - CC solid roller - MoTeC engine management - 8 LS1 coils - 58mm TB - 78# injectors - 300-shot dry nitrous - TH400 - Gear Vendor O/D - Strange 12-bolt - 4.11's - AS&M headers - duals - Corbeau seat - AutoMeter gauges - roll bar - Spohn suspension - QA1 shocks - a few other odds 'n ends. 800HP/800lb-ft at the flywheel, on a 300-shot. 11.5 @ 117MPH straight motorComment
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Thanks injuneer, will try that also. One other thing car has 103,000 and the pads had 35,000 miles2000 Z28 SLP sub frames, J&M LCA's, KYB shocks, Waitforme tuning. Ported TB & intake 35/22 swaybars, Firehawk tiresComment
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Yep. That's my bet. Time to disassemble the calipers. It may only need a serious cleaning and relube, it may need a rebuild.Originally posted by Injuneer
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