2004 Tahoe - sticking rear caliper

[Brian]

Congrats. Now you have $400 for ammo. Can you tell me how many miles you have on the truck? My burb is getting up on the miles and it might need new pads.

I can go check for sure tomorrow, but not too many for it's age. I remember a few months ago rolling past the milestone 80085.

Rotors were rusted but probably could have gone on a bit longer. Outside rear pads were still maybe 50% or a little bit less but the inside pads were shot.

[Erni]

Thanks. My truck is past 85k so it's probably time to take a good look and order some parts. But so far the breaks feel good.

[Great-Kazoo]

All done, wasn't bad at all. The only annoying part was trying to get the old brass washers off the brake line, while brake fluid was dripping all over the place. No clue how they were supposed to come off but I ended up chopping them off with a pair of snips so I could put the new ones on. Got the little guy to play with the pedal for me so we could bleed the lines - brakes are great now.

The e-brake is now weak and goes all the way to the floor before it bites, so I'll need to fix that this weekend, but it's soooo smooth compared to where I was. I don't know what the brake shop guy was talking about when he told me my pads were fine. The inside rear pad on the right was grinding well into the metal, and the inside pad on the left was about 99% gone too.

Thx for the feedback - saved at least $400-500ish in the end for what was a pretty easy job.

Set the e-brake 1/2 way down. Then follow cable to the adjuster nut[s] You'll know what to do from there. I like vacuum bleeding , one person job easy to do, except the off the work seat to refill m/cylinder and back. Then up and back., again.....

Feels good to have done the job yourself and put that extra money in your pocket. There are some jobs it's How Much and How Long ?

[Brian]

Set the e-brake 1/2 way down. Then follow cable to the adjuster nut[s] You'll know what to do from there. I like vacuum bleeding , one person job easy to do, except the off the work seat to refill m/cylinder and back. Then up and back., again.....

Feels good to have done the job yourself and put that extra money in your pocket. There are some jobs it's How Much and How Long ?

Yeah but it's not like the e-brake on my jeep, which was super easy to adjust the nuts. Apparently I have to take off the calipers and rotors to get at the e-brake drum to adjust on the tahoe - it's under the rotor. Talk about a stupid design, at least from a servicing standpoint. Wish I would have paid better attention to that part when I was doing the brakes. I read something about brake shoes and said "nope, not me - tahoe has disc brakes." Duh, the e-brake is a drum. Apparently if it's warn down it's a PITA to get the new shoe on too, but I'm hoping I'm ok as it was working just fine before. Oh well, tomorrow's my birthday. Maybe I'll take the day off and not worry about it.

It holds ok unless I'm on a slight slope. Parked in the slanted driveway, if I switch into reverse, it starts to roll slowly, so I'll need to fix it, but it's not super-urgent.

[Brian]

Calipers are going back for core fee, but what do I do with my rotors? Probably worth a couple bucks in scrap if nothing else, but I don't have a big bin to toss metal parts in and sit on it until it's worth it. They probably have some life left in them if someone wanted to clean and turn them. I suppose I could shoot them but I'm not that dumb.

Hmmm... a big wind chime?
Ultimate Frisbee?
Throw them in the neighbor's yard?
Make a bar stool? (Then construct a bar)
Melt them into 1oz eagles and sell them as PM?
Make an axe out of the rotor (scroll down about halfway) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...-Thailand.html

A buddy of mine told me he keeps one in the base of a shopvac to keep it from tipping over. That's actually a pretty cool idea.

[00tec]

I weld a piece of rebar to the rotor for a little impromptu target.

You should look into bedding those pads if you havent already.

[ben4372]

If original brakes are worn out, the rotors can be turned usually once on most vehicles.
By switching to ceramic brake, your pads will last longer and will indeed cut your rotors harder, but by the time you need new brakes you will have needed new rotors anyway.

BTW a lot of new vehicles are coming with ceramic brakes as OEM. Less fade and actually get more aggressive when hot.

There are still applications for organics and semi-metallic where they are best. There are brands that are certainly better in certain applications/makes/models as well.
Ceramic have their place as well as organic and semi-metallic. When in doubt about your particular application... there are lots of people out there to reach out to either in person or on the web to find what is working best for a particular vehicle make, model and year.

As far as most dust nothing compares to Carbon-Metallics. The same that were used on the Space Shuttle and on 90's GM trucks. Black soot everywhere, but the only pad that would last longer than 3500 miles... even became the OEM pad after 2 years of production and brake issues in the 90's trucks. Anybody else remember Performance Friction Carbon Metallic pads?

Those Carbon Metallics were nasty. They seemed to be carved out of rock. A 90's suburban might get 25-30k on the original brakes. Easy twice the life on the Carbon Metalics. But you would need rotors next go round gauranteed.