Black Magic Brakes Squeaking
- Thread starter Michael Alzen
- Start date
Well dangit I need to check mine. I figured I had a pebble jammed in there or something and had no idea the orientation mattered. I at least know I don't have divots because I fixed those when I installed the pads.
And now I'm second guessing every brake job Ive ever done.
And now I'm second guessing every brake job Ive ever done.
I am just saying that if your front brake package would have a picture or a diagram of how the pad is supposed to sit in the caliper, it would make the life easier for bunch of folks, and would save plenty of folks from having deep divots in their knuckles (from incorrect installs). Seems like common issue with folks installing the front brake pads incorrectly.
It appears that I was running my OEM brake pads incorrectly for like last 7K miles. Now I have deep divots in the steering knuckle, and I end up replacing the knuckles.
I would say divots will happen regardless of pad orientation. They will happen up until the weld repair for the divots is done which then finally makes the surface hard enough to not wear away from the pads. I do agree a diagram could be helpful for the folks not paying attention, but then again a lot of them probably don’t pay attention enough to where they’d even notice the diagram if there was one.
Offhand, do you know of a site or link that can detailed info on how to do the divot repair? My welding skills are not phenomenal but maybe I could tackle this.
@mrblaine is the best information I’ve seen for that repair. As far as I’m aware it’s pretty much weld it up to restore the missing/divoted material, then grind back to smooth.
Key is to wire brush it until it is shiny clean. Turn the heat up, fill the divot and then use a hard grinding disc to reshape the slide. Use a new brake pad to make sure you don't have it too large which will bind up the pad sliding back and forth.
Yeah, I thought this way once. Then in the military you learn that anything w/o idiot proof instructions will be done completely wrong.
Do you know if somebody sells hardened knuckles with welds added in this areas? I can believe how idiotic is the design of brake and knuckle interaction that makes these grooves/divots happen.
Also, is there any way that the fact I ran w/o shims/clips, with just the pads touching the steering knuckle rails made the problem worse?
I am still trying to understand how people run 200K miles on a single knuckle with the pad cutting through it.
I’m not sure about others but me personally, every used knuckle I’ve ever seen has divots in it. It seems to be a much ignored design flaw considering that the brakes stayed the same from 1990-2006 other than a rotor change and corresponding matching unit bearing around mid 1999.
As far as I know, there are no clips that fit the front knuckles for the pads to slide on. The rear disc brakes have those, but not the rear. That simple change would have probably made a huge difference on the fronts.
I don’t know of anyone that sells fixed knuckles.
Did you consider making and selling some clips like this for front brakes?
If there would be clips like this, then this entire divot story would not happen to us, right?
Not speaking for Blaine regarding his interest in such a thing, but there's a lot more to it than just the clip. You have to uniformly remove the clip thickness from the knuckle to make room for the clip. The only plug n play solution would be to sell the clips along with knuckles machined for the clip, otherwise the buyer would have to find their own means of modifying their knuckles.
I did make some and then modified the pads to clear. Once I figured out how dumb that was, we did not make any more.
If the pads are oriented correctly and the divot repair has already been done, what would be the next think you checked?
I've got about 10k on mine after 2 years installed (centric calipers and rotors at the same time) and for about a year I've been getting a squeak. It's not constant, it's in and out with each rotation of the wheel, and it's there when I'm NOT braking. I don't know whether to take it apart and check for pebbles or go repeat the break-in procedure but I'll do whichever.
Noise when not on the brakes has nothing to do with the pads. Look elsewhere. I'd check lug tightness, crap trapped between the rotor and flange, and put a keen eye on slop in the unit bearings. Do a short slow drive whipping the wheel back and forth and see if you can pick up on the squeak changing with the rotor leaning over. Get some good lube on the reaction bars.
I would look on the back side of the rotor for a rust ridge that may be making contact with the dust shield.
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