Found fix to squealing noise... I hope.

[David Thornhill]

I'm new to StangNet, but I'm on another forum. I've had my GT for about 6 months now, and 3 of them I've had a strange reoccurring squeal. I thought it was my clutch, then my transmission. Finally I had a mechanic ride along with me, and he pretty much singled it out. We jacked the car up and he tried to spin the front right wheel. It barely went anywhere. My rotors and pads are SHOT, but I didn't know my calipers were bad too.
So I bought rotors, pads and calipers with 40K on them for $50. (good deal I think)
My long, drawn out question is, what should I look for when replacing the calipers?
Any tips to make bleeding the brakes an easier process?
My dad only has a certain amount of knowledge with these newer cars, so any help is appreciated.
Thanks guys!

 

[trinity_gt]

A couple of tips to help with bleeding:

1) Minimize the amount of time the hydraulics are open. Don't disconnect the hose and leave it while you do other stuff. Get the replacement caliper, new copper washers etc ready and at hand. Then, unbolt the old caliper and immediately connect the new one. This helps prevent fluid loss from the system.

2) Pre-fill the new caliper as much as possible with fluid. Not unlike how you might fill a new oil filter with fresh oil before installing it, filling the caliper with fluid reduces how much air you need to pump out.

3) If the calipers are used carefully inspect them. Are the bleeders free? Do the pistons move reasonably easily? Any signs of leaking from the seal? Without disassembling them how do you know the condition of the bores and the fluid remaining in them? Consider a rebuild kit for them so you can inspect the bores and pistons, seals, clean them etc.

Everything depends on budget etc but I seriously doubt the wisdom of buying used braking components. Used calipers are probably okay with a rebuild but rotors and pads?

 

[David Thornhill]

Thanks for the info! I'll be doing them this Tuesday and hopefully it won't be too much of a P.I.T.A. My dad checked them out and he said the rotors and pads are fine, he thought they had 20-30K miles on them. As far as my knowledge goes, they look pretty good. My rotors are SHOT. Huge lip on the outside of it. My dad said the squealing could be a heat warped rotor also. I was hoping to just save the time and effort buy replacing the whole set-up!
The guy I bought them from took them off to upgrade to bigger Brembos, so i feel like they should be in fine working order!