Caliper sticking?

Crappy pads and rotors tend to squeal.

Try lubing the slide pins and putting some anti-squeal grease on the backside of the pads.

FoxRod87 said:

And the slide pins are on the front calipers and not the back.

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There are also slide pins on the rear calipers, and they are prone to seizing which usually causes the inside pad to press into the rotor when the brake are not being applied. It could be the cause of the noise especially if one of the pins was seized and the previous owner just slapped the pads in without unsticking it.

Seen it happen dozens of times

FoxRod87 said:

The slide pins you are talking about are they the clips that hold the pads in the bracket or what are you talking about? Be more specific. Thanks.

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View attachment 328034


Caliper on the left is taken apart. The bracket above has two bolts sticking out of it. Those bolts are screwed into the slide pins. They are greased up pins that ride in bores inside the bracket and slide in and out and center the caliper when you press the brakes.

On the caliper on the right, you'll see the protective dust boots. Water usually gets underneath and rusts these pins in place locking the caliper and allowing it to only press from one side. It's VERY common.

Another shot of rear caliper showing the bolts and the boots where the pins are.
View attachment 328035

Usual symptoms are noise like a squeal or grind when the brakes are not applied from the inner pad pressing against the rotor because the pins won't allow the pad to center. People usually discover this right after a fresh brake job because you have nice fat pads and nowhere for the calipers to go.

If you let it go, it tends to grind the inner pads down to the backing plate and eat the inner rotor...while the outside pad and rotor look perfectly fine.

That's about the #1 Mustang brake problem right there. In fact it's a common Varga brake caliper prob. My Mustang was 2 years old and i discovered one pin seized during a routine brake check. Luckily i fixed it in time.