So my front passenger caliper is failing...anyone else had this problem?

I just did a full brake job on it a month ago, full brembo cross-drilled rotors with carbon fiber pads front and back...

The front caliper in question is squeaking 70% of the time and sometimes u hear some wisseling sounds like if the pads isnt correctly pressured or not enough pressure on the disc to cause this problem. My friend who own a body shop and installed my brakes told me that my caliper is failing, i was shocked especially cause the car is fairly new(2004)

I called Acura and the tech told me to 1st bleed the brake fluid system and fill it up with new one and they are gonna check out the caliper and see what is going on, they also told me that it is covered under warranty, but who knows when it comes to dealers

What is the best brake fluid system out there that you recommend putting instead of using oem fluid?


thanks all

 

Are you running actual BREMBO calipers- as come on the 6 speed cars?
or just brembo rotors- and where did you find carbon fiber pads for a TL?
Are you sure they are not Carbon FERRO, which is Hawk HPS material

Brake fluid needs to be replaced fully every year- especially wet weather areas
Bleed order is LF driver front then clockwise around the car
LF RF RR LR if real brembo calipers- bleed outside nipple first until clean fresh fluid comes thru. then the inner nipple same way. Move to next wheel- always topping off the master cylinder and putting its cap back on fully

Squeeks and whistling? Has the installer rechecked their work in person?
A caliper weakness can be seen by removing the pads and comparing the wear.
It can also be felt in the steering and pedal if you pay attention

I would pull the pads and look at the rotor wear so far- did you bed the pads and rotors in?
then grease the pad backs with caliper grease, change out the brake fluid and go drive it again.
Since you may end up at the dealer- keep with the OE fluid for now
Takes 1 quart to flush the brakes on average.
Many ziners prefer synthetic DOT4 over regular DOT3 that is stock.
Higher boiling point and less moisture issues with synthetic
DOT is an american term/standard so use what it says on the master cyl cap for your car in Canada
Good Luck and here is one proven method of pad/rotor bedding- conditioning
http://heeltoeauto.com/httech/YaBB.pl?num=1184261899

 

The calipers arent brembo , they are the oem automatic calipers, but the rotors are brembos. The pads are PBR ORganic which are semi metal and carbon fiber. I had noticed even before my brake job that when putting pressure on the brake pedal the car would brake and 2 seconds brake alot harder as if the pad had grabbed on to the rotor conveniently, but since i was due for a brake job i tought it was probably the wear on the pads and rotors...But i was wrong. I will get the job re-inspected on monday by the installor, which i dont think was the issue and get him to bleed the system and get some dot4 synthetic fluid in there since its better than oem.

Appointement at Acura is on tuesday so ill give you a heads up when i get trough with them

THx for the help

 

did you ever change the brake fluid? If not, its no wonder its failing. The brake fluid absorbs water and starts rusting components in the brakes. In you case, the Caliper is falling apart from the inside.

 

I would say that if the car is not pulling to either direction when the brakes are applied then your caliper is fine. I have not really heard of squeaky brakes( with out any other symptoms) being caused by a bad caliper. I would lean more towards improper instalation.

Lube should have been applied to guide pins, pad backs, and the guids that hold the pads. All anti-rattle clips/shims should have been replaced. Alot of mechanially inclined people think that brakes are easy, but most do it yourselfers end up doing it wrong or incomplete.

As far as your slight delay when aplpying your brakes. If you haven't changed your brake fluid you should. If you have changed your fluid then I would suggest bleeding them. That delay sounds like air in the system,

I may seem a little nuts but once a year I remove all my brakes clean out the guides/ relube all harware and exercise all the calipers.

 

Ill get the system flushed out tomorrow pronto. The dealer told me that they suggest changing the fluid every 3 years.

Which fluid do you recommend?

Brands???Synthetic?

IF you say there should be some lube to apply, which lube would this be so i can get some on my own..

Thanks for your help guys

 

How many liters do i need?

 

italian- try reading my original reply regarding your questions
According to the owner manual- which list the MAX time between services as the Normal Schedule, you will see brake fluid- replace after 3 years, then every year.
So if you live where there is a lot of wet weather, humidty-rain snow etc, every year from year 1 is not going to hurt you at all. See the other brake caliper thread in gen2 for more info.
for details google hygroscopic

 

Define "Failing"

 

I've had PBR brakes before on my Maxima and they do squeal like crazy. It says it's a shimless design, but you definately need the brake shims. Did you install it without the shim?

 

Blue types, i dont know if the shims are there or not since i didnt do the install myself but im getting them checked out tmr. What have you done with your squeeking issues?

 

ugh. i know this problem all to well


have them bleed the lines and check the VSA module & master cylinder. if you can't get all the air out of one of the lines, you've got problems with the hydraulic system. the root of this is most likely the VSA module, and if they replace the master cylinder, it will only be a short time until it fails again.... or atleast this was my problem

 

I'm still using the brakes while it's still squeaking. In about a month or so, I'm going to switch back to OEM with the shims.

 

OK, bleeded the system today and replace with Dot4 synthetic....STILL SQUEAKINKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK......the calipers arent the problem, and the shims are there....the vsa isnt causing the squeaks but the pads, its the only thing left that can be the cause of this problem. Im gonna swap the front pads for Hawk HPS pads, i hope they wont do the same. My friend at the shop told me that the pads might be defective...

Let u know what happens

 

Yea, I hate those pads. Rather go with Hawk or EBC.

 

The problem is fixed...INstalled Hawk HPS carbon ferro yesterday and no more squeaks...

It brakes like crazy i tell you, just a little tap and it hops forward haha

Thanks for your help guys

 

The bleeding brake fluid is a CYA thing for the manufacturer. So the dealership warranty dept. can say "Yep your caliper failed because you didn't change the brake fluid"

I've owned many cars and never once changed the brake fluid just for the sake of the fluid.

It MAY be necessary for extremely damp areas.

It's also necessary if you track your car (Why would you track and Acura TL?? Or any 4-door sedan for that matter??)

The manual also says to repack the wheel bearings every 30,000 miles. How many people do that? How many older acuras do you see running around with original pads, calipers, fluid and wheel bearing +grease???

If you have a caliper sticking, most likely it is because something else is causing the rotor to get so hot, that the caliper sticks. This happens to a lot of people that drive with both feet -- one on the brake, one on the gas.

 

Not so-- the old days are not the days of today
google `hygroscopic` and discover the world of compressed moisture in a hydraulic system
Add the ABS complexity to that, and start changing the fluid every year.
Many of us had caliper probs because former owners didnt get it changed in 5 years and then.....
At least the Legend front calipers are the same price and a great upgrade IMO- which does not represent the views of acurazine owners managers mods etc etc.....

 

the TL is a great track day car- not all out racer- but a lot of fun
a 2005 TL with a turbo and a few safety mods won its class in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill endurance race in 05 and 3rd overall iirc

I wonder if some members here dont actually own a TL, or an acura at all. Many of the Mods are in that group.

 

I own both a 2004 TL and a 1997 Corvette C5.

The TL is not my track car of choice. End of story.