WTF? I decided to change out my brakes from stock to EBC and now i have abosolutely no clearance. My aftermarket wheels are now hitting the calipers on both sides and all i did was replace the rotor with EBC ultimax sport and EBC redstuff brake pads. and installed SS brake lines. I took the brake assebly apart to paint them and when i put everything back together i now have my wheels hitting the calipers, so as of right now i am unable to drive my car. I dont get what i did wrong, everything went back on the way they came off. please help with suggestions.

 

Are you sure your rotors are the right ones for your car?

What's the offset of your wheels?

 

this is for the front, i have yet to get to the rears. the rotors are the right ones, i compared the old and the new to see if they are the same thickness from one side to the other. plus everywhere i looked had the same part number, so unless everyone is wrong, i have the right rotors.The wheel offset is 40. I had no problems before this.

 

The new rotors could be a mm thinner at the hub. You can measure with a caliper.

What all did you paint? If you did the caliper and mounting bracket, it could have moved the caliper outward just enough to rub. Always sand or file paint off of machined mating surfaces.

 

Hmm...the offset shouldn't be a problem, and you say your rotors are the right size.

The only thing I can think of is the pads. But, if the pads fit the calipers fine, then they should be the right ones.

 

my clearance was decent before, there is no way that a coat of paint would have caused it to hit like it is doing. Its almost like the calipers are wider than they were before. It doesnt make sense. Before it had a gap between the spokes on the wheel and the caliper, now its just hitting the caliper. I would understand a paint issue if it was just rubbing, but paint isnt going to cause this type of hitting, i cannot even spin my wheels. the gap before was about 3 id cards thick, i really dont think that i could have put on a coat of paint that thick anyways.

 

So to clarify, what you changed was pads and rotors. Not calipers, right?

Pads have 0 effect on caliper to wheel clearance so that can be ruled out.

That leaves the rotors. The new rotors have to be thinner than the stock ones at the hub area.

 

I see what you are saying. You are correct, the only new things are the rotors, pads and brake lines. If the rotor is thinner at the hub then it would bring my wheels in a little. So if it was lets say 2mm thinner then the wheel would defiantely be hitting the caliper. This would suck if true. I have to wait to get my rear end back on the ground to lift the front back up to check.

If anyone else has any suggestions as to why this would be happening i will still listen, righ now i am up for anything. I dont want to have to go get my stockies just so i can drive my car. and still thats not even a guarantee to work.

 

Stockies have an offset of +45 as opposed to your current wheels' offset of +40. I don't think they'll help.

 

Well my rear brakes went on without a hitch, except for having to drill out the retainer screws, good thing i looked that up last night and saw that they wernt actually needed. Here in a few minutes i will be lifting the front back up, hopefully i can figure out the problem. The rear rotors were the same as the stock at the hub. I thought a +45 offset will make the wheel stick out farther, the only issue with stock compared to mine is that stock is only 8" wide, my wheels are 9" wide all around. Why are there so many problems when trying to upgrade things on our cars.

 

well just checked the thickness of the rotor mounting point and compared it to stock. The EBC is only .003" (0.0762mm) thinner than stock. So that is not the problem. Would the brake pads be pushing the capliper out. That wouldnt make sense though because other than the piston, the caliper is one solid piece, not including the frame. So it wouldnt be affected by the pads. Can anyone tell me how thick the front pads are on our cars for a non brembo. So i can compare them to the new ones

 

ok, i found the stock pad thickness in the service manual. the new pads are dead on, what the hell did i do wrong when i removed everything. I put everything back on the way it cam off, so it makes absolutely no sense why i am hitting. i am dumbfounded. so the new rotors and new pads are all within standards. this is givin me a headache. I have been trying to do the brakes on this car since last night.

 

This shouldn't be your problem but I was thinking of the 4 piston calipers when I first posted.

Remove all shims from pads. I forgot on a 1 piston caliper, it does move a little.

 

What may have happened is you replaced rims when your pads were worn out so they cleared. With new pads pushing the caliper out more there's no clearance.

 

get a 5 or 3mm spacer and you can still use the stock studs. if you pull the shims then it may start to sqeak/squeal

 

What size is your caliper? Do you have the Brembos?

 

this will probably be the solution to your problem

 

BINGO! If you remove the shims use some anti-squeal lube on the backs of the pads. You can also take a disc grinder to the pads themselves to get the clearance. Should be about 3mm clearance between the caliper and any part of the wheel.

 

thats what i was just thinking, i put the old stuff back on and now i have my clearance back. But that means that my front brakes barely worn dow, because the clearance hasnt changed on the front. So i guess i have to try and find some 1/4" spacers fro the front, or put the stockies back on. I dont want to do that.

I would like to thank everyone for their help. I was getting aggrivated yesterday and wasnt thinking properly. i should have seen this one.

And princleybug, you had the right suggestion in the first place, sorry i did not try that out first.

 

No problem, joker. I'd be aggravated if I were in your shoes as well. I hope you get everything worked out.

Just shave down the brake pads.

 

Glad you got it worked out or at least you know what to do. Once I get mad at the car my brain shuts down and I no longer can think logically. I've gotten so made before and walked away just to come back and solve the problem in seconds once I was calm.