01red

Bought a 2001 V6 Convertible in May. During test drive and after the Right Front wheel would get warmer than the Left front and others. Figured it was a bad caliper at worst. It would not get burning hot, but noticeably warmer to the touch when I put may hand on the wheel.

A few weeks ago took the Right wheel off, greased the pad tracks and filed the pad edges, which seemed rough, so the pads would release easier. After driving and testing for a few weeks with both front wheels running cool, things seemed good. While working on this caliper, I noticed the pads were ready for replacement with about 10 percent pad remaining.

I replaced the pads last night. The Left front had about 60 percent pad remaining. This morning, after my 10 mile ride to the office, I felt the wheels. The Right side was cool, but now the Left side is warmer. It feels like that pad is not releasing.

I have read a few post here where people have changed pads and the calipers fail.

Is there a trick to doing pads that someone has found?

Is there a design problem such that if the calipers are not FULLY compressed they do not release?

BTW: While cleaning up after the job, I noticed that there was a slight difference on the back of the old pads. The inside pad had two small nipples and the outer pads had small indents. When stacked back to back, the nipples fit into the indents. (Was this just for shipping?) I did not notice these on the new pads, but now they are installed.

Is there a difference on pads that needed to be observed when installing new pads?

Chopper

A 2001 has probably had the original fluid in there for eight years and it probably looks like coffee.
The caliper(s) probably have dirt and corrosion in the bores causing resistance when releasing the brakes,causing them to drag.
This is very bad!
To remedy the situation,start by removing the calipers and popping the pistons out.
Clean and shine the bores using 400 grit sandpaper folowed by a few passes with a sctotchbrite pad.
Reasemble and hope/pray for the best.Do this at all four corners for the best results but you can get by just doing the ones that are sticking now.
Use the bleeding process to change the brown fluid for clear.
Clean all the old fluid out of the master cylinder reservior with a turkey baster.
Refill the reservior with clean fluid.
Go to the passenger side rear brake and let the old fluid run out through the bleed valve.
Keep the mastercylinder full of fluid or you'll have to start over and bleed it too.It's way worse if you have ABS.
When clean fluid comes out of the bleed valve,close it and start on the rear drivers side.This one will go a lot faster since most of the old fluid was drained out at the last wheel.The front passenger side is done next and the drivers side is the one you finish up with.
Get a couple quarts of DOT 3 since it'll probably take most of it.

01red

Thanks for the advice.

I did find that the Inner and Outer pads have slight difference with the rivet pattern. I moved them around to match the way the old pads were installed.

Took a test drive and Left side is still getting hot from dragging. This is very frustrating and confusing since the Left side was fine before changing pads and the right side was the one with problems originally.

I checked the Slider Pins and they seem fine.

I will work on it more tonight. Can the Pistons be eaisly removed? Any tools needed? I don't have a shop manual.

Fluid looks clean and clear, but I will try replacing it.

01red

Replaced the caliper and things are good for the Left wheel. My guess is that the O-Rings get messed up when the piston is pushed back into the cylinder sometimes. Reading the Forums, this seems quite common after a pad change.

Next is to replace the Right caliper. It is much warmer than the Left wheel now.

Gas milage should go up nicely when I am done.

I am afraid to check the rear brakes now.

01red

Replaced Right caliper with rebuilt from Autozone (same as Left one) Monday night and bled fluid. Wheel would not turn by hand when done. When old caliper was on, wheel would turn, but not easily.

Removed the replacement one and took it to AutoZone for exchange. They had to order from another store since out of stock.

Relpaced with newer rebuilt last night and things seem fine now for this wheel too.

One thing I didn't relalize untill this week is that to replace the front pads, only the lower mounting bolt, needs to be removed. When that is removed, the caliper can swing up and the pads removed. No need to suspend it from wire or balance behind the rotor.


Interesting thing is that the one from the other store had replacement pins, mounting bolts, boots, hose bolt and slides. The other two from my local store the box just contained the caliper and two copper washers. Salesman checked part number to make sure I wasn't getting more than what I paid for and then let me have the new unit with extra parts. (I later checked Autozone.com for these calipers and details state they contain mounting hardware, so I guess I got ripped on other calipers.)

Chevynova400

I just did the same job, my front calipers were sticking. I got an autozone rebuilt one that turned out to be junk. It was warped and the threads were stripped so it would leak fluid. Luckily I was able to return it and get a new one that was much better. A 2 hour job turned into a 4 hr job. I replaced the pads, rotors, calipers and brake fluid. I also lubed up the pins. Next time I am going to go with a better choice of caliper. Anyone have any luck with NAPA.

Jfsram

Considering what you have invested so far, as in time. I would just replace both calipers and both front brake hoses. It's good brake maintenance anyways.