So.........I lost a brake pad!!

[BlueOvalStangGT]

For the past month or so my rear brake has been making all kinds of nasty noises. Well today I finally got around to machining the rotor and replacing the pads (Hawk HPS) and when I was taking my wheel off I noticed that I was completely missing my outside brake pad! Its weird because even though its been making this noise for a month or so, I have a picture of my car with a BBS RS wheel on it with that brake pad still there less then a week ago. Is there anything I should be worried about? I think I might buy a caliper rebuild kit for that side just in case (where can I get that?).

 

[xkuntrycowboyx]

You can get a rebuild kit at your local auto parts store... for the rear its just the dust cover and the inner seal. you have to buy the guide pins seperate if you wanna do those too.
Auto Zone rebuild kit is like 29.99 and guide pins(they call it a lil diff there) are like 7.?? for the pair. and then the guy will say well i sell a lifetime warranty reman. caliper for 39.99 or 49.99 at least that how it went for me a couple weeks ago. ha!
so i ended up pulling the guide pins i had and cleaning them up and cleaning up their hole and greasing the poo out of it before putting em' in. though i hear you can use anti seize too.

this is just from my experience... if you haven't had horrible looking fluid come out with stuff in it, and your piston dust boot isn't torn, and it seems the piston slides fine.... just clean up the guide pins or replace them and leave it. and if not... i'd say for the cost and time its worth the lifetime reman. caliper.
hope this helps

 

[Chythar]

How the heck could the rear pad be gone? There's no way it can just fall out. Could it have broken apart? But then the metal plate on the back should still be there. Was that rotor messed up pretty good?

 

[BlueOvalStangGT]

It was definitely gone! Maybe it did break off, I do not know. The rotor was definitely scored, but I had it machined and the guy said it was ok. However, my pass side rotor is much thinner then the drivers side....i wonder if the original owner had a problem there before.

 

[ronstang94]

I wouldnt trust that caliper. I cant imagine a pad breaking apart (the pad backing is like 1/4 inch steel). And I dont know how the caliper could just drop the pad.

I have my old calipers in the garage if you want them.

 

[94-302-vert]

I had the same probelms with my right rear... My brake cylinder came out and actually leaked all my fluid (lost my brakes)... luckily it was only 500' from the house...

So either rebild that caliper or replace it... I took this as a good time to put the cobra's all the way around...

 

[BlueOvalStangGT]

I looked into that, but it looks like I would need to buy axle brackets which are $$$ and I think you need to remove the axle when putting them in. Anyone have any good links for the cobra swap? (just rear)

 

[BlueOvalStangGT]

Just looked into it again and yeah, not really looking to do all that work right now. For now I will add the HPS pads, rebuild (or buy a reman) caliper and be done. If I upgrade down the road, I will still be able to use everything I do today, and jsut replace the rotor and axle bracket.

Here is a link for cobra rear brake upgrade for future reference:

http://www.2kgt.com/item.php?itemid=104

 

[94-302-vert]

Yeah, the cobra rears are a lot of work.. I just told myself when I bought the car that ANYTHING I had to work on would get upgraded... That was part of my jsutification to my wife... The car stays stock until it NEEDS something... although it is pretty easy to justify some things...

 

[Chythar]

The Cobra rear calipers are identical to the V6 & GT, it's the bracket on the axle tube that pushes the caliper out so far. As far as replacing the rear bracket, that is the right way to do the upgrade. BUT, you can buy these adapters which attach to your current axle:

http://www.v6mustangstuff.com/brakes.htm (look for 'Rear Caliper Adapter Plates')

 

[BlueOvalStangGT]

Those are pretty pricey! I cant find anything wrong with the caliper so I am just going to buy this kit http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=TRQ&MfrPartNumber=D351837
and lube everything up good.