Recent brake job, now front caliper creaks!

[BMan5150]

I had a local speed shop install new pads and rotors about 6,000 miles ago (late spring). When I got the car back, the brakes felt totally different than my stockers - there was no immediate reaction when I hit the brake pedal. Over time, that sensation pretty much went away. The car has always stopped well with the new pads and rotors. My problem is twofold: when I depress the brakes while not moving, I can clearly hear a creaking noise coming from my driver's side caliper. I even verified this was where the noise was coming from by having my wife hit the brake pedal while I inspected the caliper.

Tonight, I took took a look at the caliper, loosened and tightened the caliper bolts; double-checked the lower caliper mount bolts (they too were tight) and after all of that, I'm still getting a creaking sound.

Also, I feel like the brakes are dragging a bit. I found it slightly difficult to turn the rotor without the tire on, but it was possible with a minor amount of muscle. Is this normal? I kinda recall other cars I've had having the pads drag a bit until the brake pads wore a bit, but I'm concerned this is excessive. I certainly won't net any good ETs with dragging front brakes!!!

Any thoughts? Oh, the caliper slide back and forth OK so I don't think it's seized or the caliper bolts are in need of any lube.

Lastly, is there any trick to loosening/tightening the caliper bolts? It took forever to tighten the top caliper bolt. It was also very difficult to turn in comparison to the lower/rear front caliper bolt. It almost seemed like the bolt was just turning and not making progress.

Thanks!

 

[Mustang5L5]

Well brand new brakes need to bed in. That's why they may have felt like Mush when you first started driving on them.

With the tightening of the caliper bolts, the pins actually spin inside the caliper bracket. SO when you tighten the bolt with one wrench, you actually need to hold the pin witn another wrench to keep it from turning. If you look closely, you can see a spot where they are flattened to put a wrench.

You should physically take the caliper off and pull the slide pins out and verify that they are well lubed and can slide easily. If one bolt went in slow, that meant the pin was spinning, but if the other one went quick, then maybe that pin is sticking.

The pins tend to cause a lot of problems on cars with brake setups like the Mustangs.

 

[BMan5150]

With the tightening of the caliper bolts, the pins actually spin inside the caliper bracket. SO when you tighten the bolt with one wrench, you actually need to hold the pin witn another wrench to keep it from turning. If you look closely, you can see a spot where they are flattened to put a wrench.

Thanks - just so I'm clear on this. . .when I loosened, then tighted the two caliper bolts tonight, I didn't put any wrench on the pin to hold it. The bolts did - after a zillion turns - eventually tighten. Did I really tighten them or did they just finally stop spinning for some reason?

Now you have me thinking I need some new caliper pins and bolts. Can I buy this from a ford dealer? How do you remove the slider pins from the caliper?

BTW, that picture is one of my absolute favs on any mustang web board!

 

[Mustang5L5]

Once you lift the aluminum caliper body up, the slide pins just pull out towards the inside of the car. It might be easier to unbolt the caliper and hang it somewhere with the line attached and then take the remaining caliper bracket off and work on it off the car.

You can regrease the pins, and apply some lubbe to the pad contact points.


You may not have even tightened the caliper up if you only used 1 wrench

 

[BobHyatt]

If you are sure the bracket bolts (2) are tight, that the caliper bolts/pins (2) are tight, I would remove the wheel, then get someone to get in the thing and press the pedal, and use my eyes/ears to try to determine where the creaking is coming from. It could easily be a cracked caliper, a cracked bracket, and it certainly is not normal...

 

[Rusty67]

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and say it sounds like a slide pin issue. I think you can order a slide pin kit from just about any auto parts store. You shouldn't be able to tighten the slide pin bolts without holding the slide pins. If you were able to get one tight no problem, then it provably is sticking. You may need a new caliper mount bracket if the slide pin is stuck in the bracket. I don't know if most parts places carry just the bracket. I doubt Ford sells just the bracket. A brake parts warehouse MIGHT sell you just the bracket.