Brake Retainer Clips?

[jmack]

Naturally Aspirated, not a turbo. Its just frustrating. I thought my father knew what he was doing, but I dont want to drive a car that is just "threw together"

Sorry to sound like such a bitch on here, but I am now realizing that believe it or not, some things are just better off done at the dealer.

[ElectricBlueGT]

jmack,

If I still have the new N/A shims from my PT brake pads, I will ship them to you, no charge. Send me a PM with your name and address.

You can change the shims by yourself, you just need to be able to take off the calipers and brake pads again. You will need to remove the old shims with a flat-blade screwdriver. The new shims fit in the caliper only one way (to follow the contour of the caliper where they sit).

Scott

[jmack]

Scott, I really appreciate it. I asked my father "did you have the rotors trued up" and his reply was "no, why" so I assume that is why the stupid car is shaking when I brake now....so I guess since I only have one vehicle, is to just buy a new set, use those, then I can have the other set trued up at a later time and have a pair to swap out with when I do my next change.
I guess my thing is this. Do you guys honestly think I am ever going to get this? or should I just let my dealer handle it? I mean if you ship those to me scott, will I be safe to drive my car until they get here? Also, do you think once the rotors are replaced/turned it will ever drive the way it did before? Im just irritated that this has happened.

[ElectricBlueGT]

jmack,

Are you the first owner of this PT? Have the brakes been replaced before? How many miles are on the car? The lack of shims can cause the the brakes to have a pulsating feel (per the warning on the installation sheet that came with my Raybestos pads).

Were your brakes pulsating before you changed them? If not, then I have to believe that the lack of the shim is causing your problem or perhaps the bent shim rubbing on the rotor warped the rotor, particularly if the rubbing was intermittent.

If you replace the rotors, shop around the local auto parts stores for the best price. Try to stay away from the Chinese rotors (usually the el cheapo rotors) as the quality is nowhere near as good as a US (rare) or Canadian-manufactured rotor.

BTW, if this is the car's first rotor replacement, make sure you remove the star washer on each rotor (one per rotor, on one of the wheel studs) with cutting pliers. Otherwise, you can't get the rotor off the car. The reason the star washer was there is to keep the rotor in place on the car while the car moves down the assembly line prior to installation of the calipers. You do not need to reinstall the star washer after the new rotor is installed. However, use one of your lug nuts to snug the rotor against the hub prior to re-installing the caliper. This will make your life so much easier when you re-install the caliper. Also, make sure the pad springs (the "TV-antenna" prongs on the top of the pads) are not sticking out of the inspection slot of the caliper once everything is in place.

Scott

[jmack]

Definitely not the cars first rotor replacement. The car has apprx 72000 miles on it. The rotors come off with ease after removing the caliper. I just went to the parts store and got 2 new front rotors just in case I needed them. Its hard to do all this and have only one car in the household. I made sure that the "antenna like" prongs didnt stick out. what bent the shim in the first place is HOW hard it was to get the pad to fit. It was a VERY tight fit. My dad goes "here, i got the caliper on" and all I could see was the shim BENT and sticking out of the outside. I screamed and yelled, but he didnt mean to.
The brakes are definitely pulsating now when I brake. I thought that since they hadn't been trued up, that with the new shoes, they just needed to be trued up/replaced, but since I only have one car, I just decided to get new ones...

[Jeff V]

Somehow when I read all this I imagine Fred Flintstone's car.

[jmack]

Jeff,
Don't know if you were being a smartass or not, but Oh well.

[Jeff V]

Jimmy Mac, mea culpa if I offended you! The intent was, as always, to get a chuckle. No harm intended toward you or your brake problem, I hope it gets all fixed nicely and not expensively. I don't have too much to offer in terms of expertise in brake repair, so I thought I'd chime in with what little I could offer. [)]

[Cal Cruzer]

Are you feeling a shimmy in the steering when you brake? That is usually the first sign of a warped rotor. The steering picks up even slight problems. You would feel this before you feel it in the brake pedal. Even light braking will reveal this. If so, you just need to take the rotors to a brake shop and ask them to turn them. They will spec them out and tell you if you have enough meat on them to turn. This is inexpensive to do. Even some parts stores can do this for you.

If you are feeling a pulsating in the pedal and not the steering then I would look at other issues like ABS.

While the new pads should be fairly tight, the rotor should still turn. Did you compress the brake cylinder enough? Did you use the right tool? Do you have a shop manual?

[jmack]

Yeah I took them this morning and they were GONE....so me (fred flintstone took the ones I bought and FINALLY put them on this morning in the wee hours before work. Now here is the kicker. No wonder my dad bent the shim. HE PUT THE PADS IN WRONG. The pads i bought have the visual wear indicator. He had that one on the outboard and the inboard on the outboard! ARGH. needless to say, much improvement. Also I saw that I need to double up on my savings so I can hurry up and get the hydro edge tires!!!!