Brake Pads and Rotors

On 1998 Tuarus' You must roate the plunger with either a needle nose pliers or the specilty tool that ford makes, i use a channel lock pliers being very careful not taer the boot or go the wrong way and remove the plunger. I belive it is for most of this model run of tuarus' that you do this it is a really bad design.

With two hands

I will apologize for that last answer,,,it was not from me but someone needs to apologize for people who are so ignorant that the actually believe they are funny.

Now on to your Question.

You're best bet would be to go to Auto Zone or NAPA Auto Parts and get yourself a Haynes Manual for the vehicle. It will give you step by step instructions with very detailed photos of the entire procedure. IT will run you about $30 and it is well worth it!!

Removing the wheel is the easiest way. Look at the rotor for uneven wear. The pads should also have substantial depth left as well as no slanted wear. The squeak in the morning is most likely not bad. Dirt/dust will cause squeaking therefor it may just be a settling of break dust overnight. Squeaking that will not go away, poor breaking, and rough breaking are a few signs of bad breaks.

Hope it helps. Stup

It is not unusual to have disk brakes squeek once in the morning on first driving. Brake dust accumulates on the rotors and pads. This dust gathers moisture when the car is idle overnight. The first stop heats the rotor and pads, drying them out, and the dust is released and expelled. Hence, no more squeeks for the day.

To check disk brakes (fronts for most cars) you need to jack up the car, remove the front wheels (only one at a time), and inspect the edge of the brake pads located in the caliper for available brake material. Be aware, there is a metal plate about an 3/16" thick that the brake material is bonded to, don't include this as the brake material thickness. If the brake material is getting down to or less than 1/4" thick, replace the set (both fronts) ASAP.

Inspecting rear drum brakes requires significant experience to remove the drums. If you don't already know how to do it, refer it to a mechanic.

Removing the ABS fuse can be very dangerous. With the antilock braking system not working, if you apply the brake pedal you run a risk of the tires locking up, causing the car to skid dangerously.

I'm assuming front disc brakes here...

Start out by setting the emergency brake on the vehicle. Place something behind the rear tires (bricks are nice) and then jack the vehicle up and remove the front wheels. Once you do this, you'll see the rotor and the brake caliper. The brake pads are located inside the brake caliper, one on each side of the rotor. If you've never done this before and have no idea what a rotor is or what a caliper is, the rotor is the shiny (hopefully smooth) round part that your wheel mounts to and the caliper is the large assembly mounted to the rear (towards the passenger cabin) of the rotor.

On the inside of the caliper, facing the shock absorbers are two bolts (or pins) which hold the caliper in place. One is located at the top of the caliper and the other at the bottom. Each should be protected by a rubber boot and the bolt itself can be loosened by inserting a 3/8" Allen wrench. If your model does not have this type of bolt with the rubber boot protectors, you will probably get by with a 5/8" wrench or socket. (My '98 Pick-up and my 2000 Tahoe both have the Allen wrench/boot type bolts, so I'm assuming a 1999 Tahoe will as well) Loosen the bolts and remove the caliper from the mount points. The brake fluid hose screws into the top of the caliper. Do NOT remove this, it is not necessary to replace the brake pads. Also, the caliper is pretty heavy - don't let it hang by the brake hose. If you need to suspend it for any reason, do so from the strut using an old clothes hanger or some other comparable wire you have lying around.

Once the caliper is removed, you can remove the old brake pads easily. The outside brake pad is held in place by a clip on each side. Push each upper corner of the old brake pad in towards the center of the caliper and up and the pad will slide loose. The inside caliper is held in place by a a spring clip that fits inside the caliper piston. Simply pull the old pad straight out, rocking it back and forth if necessary.

Before placing the new brake pads into the caliper, you'll need to compress the caliper piston to create enough clearance for the new pads to fit over the rotor. Do this using a large C-clamp. Once the piston is compressed back into the caliper, insert the new brake pads.

Replace the caliper back onto the mount points behind the rotor and tighten the bolts to hold it securely in place.

Repeat this for the other side of the vehicle.

Replace the wheels and lower the vehicle back to the ground.

Start the engine, pump your brakes to reseat the new brake pads snugly against the rotors and check your brake fluid level, adding fluid if necessary.

Finito.

Note: If your old pads were extremely worn, resulting in damage to your rotors, you should replace the rotors along with the brake pads.

I've included a how to video for you that should help out a great deal. Hope this helps.

300 dollars

if its the front caliper its easy first remove the caliper (this is because when the caliper is in its normal position on the bike only fluid runs out and not air) then put a peice of wood in-between the pads (this peice should be as thick as the brake-disk) hold the calliper so that the bleeding nipple faces the upward position now ask some-one to pull the brake lever then as he pulls the lever to its full compression then open the nipple (the nipple is a size 6 wrench) so fluid and air comes out the close it quickly befor it sucks air back into the caliper and keep doing this antill the brakes are hard then put the calliper back on the bike and ride.......then for the back wheel its the same as above but you just have to remove the rear wheel

There is a pulsating on braking.

disc brake components

After you remove the wheel, there will be two large bolts holding the caliper in place, I believe 17mm. Loosen these two, lift & hang caliper, the roto will slide right off. Assemble with antiseize compound if you have any.

YES

I have a 2002 T&C and became frustrated until I realized that those Chrysler engineers make it unusually difficult to change the pads. Here's how - on the inboard side there are two rubber collars on the upper side of the caliper. Inside those collars are bolts that need to be removed with an Allen wrench - the problem is it is a very unusual size - my guess is it is that way to keep people from working on the brakes. I have just about every Allen wrench U.S. and metric sizes they make and ended up filing an older one down to fit the bolt. Once the two bolts are removed it is duck soup. Caliper lifts off and pads can be replaced. Good Luck PS this is enough for me to not consider another Chrysler - these are the lousey things manufacturers do to support their dealers. I suppose they all do that to some extent but this is a cheap shot.

The tool needed to take out the two bolts is a 7mm Hex Bit Socket. I support you can also get an Allen wrench but I think the socket is better because you can use it with your rachet. You can purchase the Hex Bit Socket at any auto parts store for $6-7, or go to Wal Mart and buy the metric SET for $13

Thanks for the answer. It worked like a champ. I took an Allen wrench slightly larger than the bolt required and ground it down to fit. I cut it off so it was about an inch and a half long and put it in a socket. The bolts came right out. So the first rear brake and rotor change took me about 2 hours, without this post it would have been much longer. The second side took me 20 minutes. Thanks.

The 7mm Hex Bit Socket is worth the expense. Thanks for the tip. I got all four wheels done in less than two hours including pulling the tires. Don't know where I'll use that bit again, but worth the expense and saving on frustration.

You can only have them turned a few times until they are too thin to be considered safe. Usually this thickness is stamped on the rotor.

That usually means that your brake pads are so worn that a metal part of the pad assembly is coming in contact with the rotor. Some brake pads have a "feeler" built in that causes you to hear a squeak when your pads are getting low without actually damaging the rotor. If your pads are digging into your rotors, you can usually have the rotors machined at least once without replacing them, as long as the gouge is not too deep.

A wheel cylinder describes "Drum Brakes" - Drum brakes have one cylinder with two diametrically opposed pistons.

There is two screews that hold the cap on ,remove them. Then just pull the rotor

up and off. It will only go on 1 way. Transfur wires to new cap while keeping them in order.

modern cars have a brake pressure equalizer on them. sounds like this valve is not working correctly.could also be a bad caliper on that wheel

It has rear disc brakes with the parking brake built into the caliper.

ABS or Anti-lock Brake Systems, were designed to stop one or more of the tyres on a vehicle from stopping (and hence skidding) when the brakes are applied too firmly for the level of grip (friction) between the tyre and the road surface. In theory the brakes will work from very good grip levels i.e. a dry road and hot "sticky" tyres, to poor levels e.g. low tread depths and deep standing water on the road surface and even when roads are icy. The difficulty with the latter is that all four (if it's a standard passeger car we are considering) wheels may stop turning. The ABS "brain" would say everything is OK, we must have stopped, when in fact the vehicle was in a four wheel slide!!! For this reason, don't think you are invincible if you have ABS and the roads are icy - You will come unstuck!

The answer to the specific question ABS front or rear is simple - Both are necessary or they achieve nothing. If you stop the rear nicely, but the front skids, you will carry on in a straight line. If you stop the front of the car and the rear skids, you will soon find yourself overtaken by your back wheels - Very scary, and there's not a thing you can do!!

This last situation is the one you can avoid by having your best tyres on the rear. YES, I said best on the rear, regardless of whether you have front or rear wheel drive, you can steer the front if you lose a bit of grip, but if the rear loses grip you cannot steer the back axle, (OK get off your high horses all you Nissan Skyline / Honda whatever it was drivers - Most of us can't, and even you don't have independent rear steer!!!) And if you are worried that you will lose some braking on the front, remember that the weight shifts to the front axle as soon as you brake, so this extra downforce more than compensates for the more worn tyres here - Trust me, I've tested this extensively on wet test tracks!

I assume you mean "replace" the brake pads instead of "repair". If that's so, then here's how to do it.

The piston will not compress with a clamp (like others) because of the internal parking brake setup. Remove the two caliper attachmnent bolts from the inside of the wheel assembly with a 14mm wrench (socket wrench makes it easier for the upper bolts). You might need to pry a little with a large screwdriver if the pads are tight on the rotor.

Remove the lid from the brake reservoir and if it is full of fluid, you might want to remove some of it because when you compress the piston, the fluid backs up into the reservoir and may overfill it. The fluid is an excellent paint remover, so be careful. A turkey baster works perfectlly.

The old pads should be removable by hand with a little jiggling. Pay attention to the way they were installed so that you can put new pads in the same way (in reverse). The piston must be retracted in order to allow for the thickness of new pads. Turn the piston clockwise and it will screw in to the retract position. It may be stiff at first, but after a revolution or so, it should turn easily. Watch that the boot does not get deformed or damaged. If it does not go in properly, you can help it with your finger. Be careful not to puncture it. To turn the piston, you need something like a very large screwdriver. I used the end of a bricklayer's hammer, which has a chisel on it about 1" across. The slot is about 1" long (diameter of the piston) and about 3/16" wide and I never heard of a screwdriver that big. Whatever you use, make sure it doesn't extend beyond the diameter of the piston or it may damage the boot. Screw the piston in until it is flush with the housing, and then back it out to align the slot so it is vertical (one of the protrusions on the inner pad rides in the slot). Check to see that the boot is uniformly retracted. If it isn't, carefully work it with a small (dull) tool to get it properly retracted. You might have to back the piston out a turn or two, and then turn it back in.

Apply anti-squeal to the face of the piston and the back of the pad, and insert the pad. You have to slide the outer housing so that the pad is all the ways back in order to install the outer pad. Apply anti-squeal to the steel side of the outer pad and install into the assembly the same way the old ones came out. You have to be patient and carefully compress the little spring clips to get them in; however, they will go in without force if you do it right. (It's easier if you have a helper to hold the caliper assembly while you install the pads).

Then, slide the complete caliper assembly over the rotor and replace the 14mm attachment bolts. I recommend that you do the brakes one side at a time. That way you won't get the inner pads mixed up and you will have a model to check if you get confused on how they should look assembled. The left and right inner pads are different because the brake wear indicator ( a steel strip) is located differently on the left and right.

Incidently, this works on all late Honda Accords with rear disks. I have a '92 and an '01 and they are essentially the same. They even use the same brake pad part numbers.

Yep.