Hawk HP+ install- fried pad?: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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July 14, 2010 5:14 p.m. BobOfTheFuture Reader

So today I set up to put the rear HP+ pads on my SVT Focus. I had put the fronts in last week, and all this in prep for my first HDPE on Friday.

I installed the pads, and flushed the system with some fresh ATE blue fluid.

Took the car for the break in, and when I came back I could tell there was something wrong with the right side. It got much more hot then the other side, to the point of where the paint on the back of the pad had swelled.

I figured it was the adjuster/piston not screwed in enough. I pulled it all back apart, screwed in the piston farther and slid the brake back onto the disc with little issue, but it is still too tight. Out of time, so I drove the car, and it lessend as I went, but it was still way too hot. So what might be going on here? Also are the pads still ok for HDPE use?

As this is my first rear-disc pad change I fear I may have changed the pads the wrong way, I took the caliper off the hub, slid the disc out and got the pads out that way. Should I have taken apart the two bolts and seperated the caliper?
July 14, 2010 5:18 p.m. BoxheadTim Dork

Did you check if the pad could freely move in the caliper?
July 14, 2010 5:28 p.m. BobOfTheFuture Reader

Yes, it moves freely, or as freely as the springs that are integral to the pads will allow them.

My thought is i may have gotten a pad with a cocked material surface... I hope.
July 14, 2010 5:31 p.m. BoxheadTim Dork

Hot is usually friction because the pad or the piston don't retract far enough, at least IME.
July 14, 2010 5:36 p.m. BobOfTheFuture Reader

yeah, its too tight somewhere.

The fact that i could slip the assembled caliper onto the disc pretty easy, then it tightens up makes me think the pad surface may be canted
July 14, 2010 8:10 p.m. wlkelley3 HalfDork

I realize that this may be silly,especially around us but does the caliper float on the slider bolts? If not it could apply pressure to one side constantly. If it does slide on the mount bolts like it should I vote for something warped or pad cocked.
July 14, 2010 9:43 p.m. Streetwiseguy Reader

Slide pin or mount is seized. Make sure everything that looks like it should move, can move. Sandpaper and silicone brake grease are your friends.
July 15, 2010 9:17 a.m. miatame Reader

You really need to pull the slider pins, clean and re-grease them, and retract the caliper piston when you change pads (unless you do it a lot).

You probably have a stuck caliper piston or slider bolt.
July 15, 2010 12:36 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork

I had a similar problem with my old Hyundai Tiburon on the front. Seems that it used two different thickness pads on each front caliper. The Thinner one went on the outside and the thicker was on the inside next to the piston.

Without realising this, I had two thin pads on one wheel and two thick ones on the other. It was never enough to affect braking, but it killed the wheel bearings on that side fast from cooking the grease out of them
July 15, 2010 12:58 p.m. triumph5 Reader

Did the pad glaze-through from initial high heat? He says they're rears, so they're not under the same load as the fronts, but, are the pads glazed?
July 15, 2010 6:26 p.m. oldeskewltoy Reader

Do you still have the pads that came out???

Re-install the originals and see if the problem repeats, or goes away...

If it repeats... then you have some other issue... if it goes away... check and compare both sets of pads and look for a fault in the HP pads.....
July 31, 2010 11:58 p.m. BobOfTheFuture Reader

Hey all thanks for the responses. I know this was a while ago, but you got it- had a slight bend in a slider pin. When it was all together it would bind.

Thanks!
Aug. 1, 2010 6:23 a.m. mad_machine SuperDork

a slightly bent slider pin would have driven me crazy trying to find it
Aug. 1, 2010 6:42 a.m. BobOfTheFuture Reader

Almost did. I assembled the brake and tighened everything up with out the disc and found it didnt quite move right. Im sure with the disc on its plane and the caliper on its own the new pads just had nowhere to go.

I removed the pins and rolled em on a table, sure enough...

Made it to the track day, and the brakes worked great! No fade at all.