Write-Up: OEM Front Brakes Pad & Rotor Maintenance

it should be clear/a bit golden. when its black u better change it.

My recommendation: if it's been in there for longer than 5 years, change it out. By the time it gets dark, it's too late (that color is rust from inside the system).

I use the stuff mentioned in this thread. It's not expensive, and will last longer than the cheaper fluids:
https://rivperformance.editboard.com/brakes-suspension-f6/brake-fluid-t5836.htm

JR,
Are you interested in selling the rebuilt F-Body brake set.?
Just curious, If you don't think your going to use them, i have a buyer.
Rick

Did the driver's side today - oddly enough, it appears the outside pad had been used on the inside (note the piston mark). Also, I don't remember either of the pads from the passenger side having the tab I've circled in blue.

I took the Riv for a drive and, while squeal is greatly reduced, it seems there's still a little. I'm not sure what I'm hearing is the brake though. I noticed a little squeal during low speed driving, when the brakes weren't being applied. I'm wondering if the front, driver's side wheel bearing is going out. Would that make a squealing noise? Would it be extra prone to squealing when braking, or going over bumps?

Snowdogg, AA - It's clear enough on my finger, but it has been in for for 5 years (at least).

Rick - From my cold dead hands bro.

AA wrote:

My recommendation: if it's been in there for longer than 5 years, change it out. By the time it gets dark, it's too late (that color is rust from inside the system).

I use the stuff mentioned in this thread. It's not expensive, and will last longer than the cheaper fluids:
https://rivperformance.editboard.com/brakes-suspension-f6/brake-fluid-t5836.htm

Thanks for the reminder and the Link to that older thread, I had forgotten about that and the post by Albert with another link that was of interest to me.

Jack the R wrote:

Did the driver's side today - oddly enough, it appears the outside pad had been used on the inside (note the piston mark). Also, I don't remember either of the pads from the passenger side having the tab I've circled in blue.

I took the Riv for a drive and, while squeal is greatly reduced, it seems there's still a little. I'm not sure what I'm hearing is the brake though. I noticed a little squeal during low speed driving, when the brakes weren't being applied. I'm wondering if the front, driver's side wheel bearing is going out. Would that make a squealing noise? Would it be extra prone to squealing when braking, or going over bumps?

Snowdogg, AA - It's clear enough on my finger, but it has been in for for 5 years (at least).

Rick - From my cold dead hands bro.

I get the message, loud and clear, bro.

Did you clean and lubricate all the necessary points for proper pad and caliper movement.
You remember from the rears (on your truck) where all the critical points need cleaning / wire brushing and lubing for smooth brake actuation.

Regarding the brake pad with the part you circled, that is a device designed to squeal when they contact the rotor, giving you an indication that the pads are due for replacement. Rather than waiting for the pads to wear down to metal to metal contact and ruin your rotors.
The metal tang will hit the rotor and give you a squeal.
Please take a pic of that pad so we can see the side of it and tell how much pad material is left and where that tang is in relation to the pad.
By looking at your rotor's yesterday my first impression is they look fine.
Do you have any brake pedal pulsation.?
If you put on new pads already then a certain amount of squeal can be normal until they brake in, depending on the compound of the pad, and the hardness of the rotor.
If not don't worry about the rotors yet or the noise you are hearing.
After I see how much pad material is left we can better determine if it just requires a pad change and let it go until you want to buy $50.00 worth of stainless hose from ZZP and install the F-body calipers.
Because if I remember correctly, that's all it's going to cost you other than labor to install them. I believe I gave you a set of pads with quite a bit of life on them for the F-Body calipers, so all you need is front hoses and let the system gravity bleed itself. You'll be good to go.

If i recall correctly you said you didn't want to install the F-body calipers yet because of the $100.00 cost of brake lines.
Well, you only need to get the front ones as the new are longer and made to fit the LS-1 caliper. That's $50.00 plus shipping. And I do remember giving you a set of pads, correct me if I'm wrong.

Either way good luck and keep posting if your having trouble's.

Rickw wrote:

I get the message, loud and clear, bro.

I WILL get those fuckers on there

Rickw wrote:

Did you clean and lubricate all the necessary points for proper pad and caliper movement.

I cleaned and lubed the sliding pins and the bushings the pads slot into.

Rickw wrote:

Regarding the brake pad with the part you circled, that is a device designed to squeal when they contact the rotor, giving you an indication that the pads are due for replacement. Rather than waiting for the pads to wear down to metal to metal contact and ruin your rotors.
The metal tang will hit the rotor and give you a squeal.

Thanks for letting me know what that tang is for. The driver's side pads looked to have as much material on them as the passenger side pads. I'm not getting a constant squeal, it's not happening much at all. It's just bothering me that it's happening at all, I'm wondering if it's the wheel bearing.

Rickw wrote:

Do you have any brake pedal pulsation.?

No, normal use feels fine.

Under really hard braking though I get an awful grinding type of sound and feedback in the pedal - I meant to ask if that was the ABS or not. I turned traction control off to test, because traction control makes a similiar racket. So it isn't the traction control. Now that I think about it though, the Silverado didn't make any crazy sounds under hard braking.

Rickw wrote:

If you put on new pads already then a certain amount of squeal can be normal until they brake in, depending on the compound of the pad, and the hardness of the rotor.

I put the same pads back on. I was only trying to eliminate the squealing.

Rickw wrote:

If i recall correctly you said you didn't want to install the F-body calipers yet because of the $100.00 cost of brake lines.
Well, you only need to get the front ones as the new are longer and made to fit the LS-1 caliper. That's $50.00 plus shipping. And I do remember giving you a set of pads, correct me if I'm wrong.

Hell, I didn't know the front one's were only $50. Has everyone been doing the rears too? It doesn't seem like the rears would be worth converting to stainless.

I did the rears also because I wanted to, and to replace some ten year old hoses.
But it wasn't necessary and quite a few people here only ordered the fronts, I believe that's all Aaron did was front's also.
But I can tell you the pedal travel with both front and rear is minimal.
My experience with motorcycles has taught me to do both, but it's not necessary at all.

Chris,
Read your Inbox.
Rick

Quote :

Did the driver's side today - oddly enough, it appears the outside pad had been used on the inside (note the piston mark). Also, I don't remember either of the pads from the passenger side having the tab I've circled in blue.

Some pads have squeal tabs on all four pads in the set, some have them on only two, and some don't have them at all. If you get a set where two pads have them, put the tabbed ones on the inside, touching the caliper. If the caliper becomes seized and decides not to float, the inside pad pad will wear out faster, so you always want the squeal tabs on the piston side.

Quote :

Under really hard braking though I get an awful grinding type of sound and feedback in the pedal - I meant to ask if that was the ABS or not. I turned traction control off to test, because traction control makes a similiar racket. So it isn't the traction control. Now that I think about it though, the Silverado didn't make any crazy sounds under hard braking.

That's ABS - it's supposed to be noisy. When you turn off TC, ABS stays on. The Silverado likely has rear ABS only. It's a totally different type of system.

Quote :

But it wasn't necessary and quite a few people here only ordered the fronts, I believe that's all Aaron did was front's also.
But I can tell you the pedal travel with both front and rear is minimal.

I don't believe using rear SS brake hoses will cure the extra pedal travel for F-Body. Braided hoses help to firm up the pedal feel; they will not subtract the 1/2 of added pedal travel required to fill dual-piston calipers in a single-piston caliper system.

Question.?
After having taken all four pads out of your front brakes, are any of the four pads worn down excessively compared to the rest.?
If not, and they are all almost equal, then you have nothing to worry about.
But if there is one pad that is closest to the piston and worn down considerably more than the rest, then you have a sticky or frozen, seized or otherwise non-working caliper / piston. Otherwise, clean, lube and you are good to go for many more miles.

At least as many miles as the F-Body Brake Calipers are willing to wait for you to install and enjoy.

For what it's worth, F-body pads last a LOT longer than the OEM size. Much more pad area to wear down over time.

So, no comments about the wheel bearing?

Rick - All the pads looked equally worn to me, and fairly new. Closer to the new ones I put on the Silverado than the old ones I took off of it anyway, I was kinda surprised.

BTW you did send a set of F-body pads,

I thought I sent you a set of slightly used pads that came with the calipers i received. I had no use for them because by that time i had already spent 100 or so dollars on EBC Redstuff pads for my car.
Now I can't remember who got the pads that i had, I could of sworn it was you along with the left over tube of Silicone grease.
Well, if you didn't get them then I apologize and must have shipped them with another set of calipers to whoever bought the other ones I sold.

Matthew, are you there. Did I send them to you, and if you haven't used them, please send to JR.

Quote :

So, no comments about the wheel bearing?

If it's not roaring when cornering in one direction, and the wheel doesn't feel loose when rocked from 12 to 6 o'clock position (with car on stands), I wouldn't worry about it. The only bearing that ever squealed at me resulted in a front wheel coming off the car 2 days later - that was a really old car with all kinds of issues.

AA, don't you know better than to tell JR the only other car that squealed, in your lifetime, spit the whole wheel assembly off at speed.
Jeez, you know how sensitive he is toward this shit.
More paranoia is not good.

No worries. That bearing roared loudly for many months - it only squealed right at the end, before the spindle melted. It came as no surprise when the wheel finally detached at 60mph. On the plus side, the brake caliper kept the wheel aligned until I came to a stop.

Rick - You did send me the pads and the tube of grease.

AA - Thanks, I guess this squeal has to be coming from the brake then, even when the brakes aren't applied?

I've got no roaring wheel bearings at least, glad to hear that's one problem I don't have.

How comforting to know that, Thanks for passing along your experience as far as letting something as noisy as that reach the total failure point and watching the wheel leave the vehicle.
Must have been during the Broke College days.?

Jack the R wrote:

Rick - You did send me the pads and the tube of grease.

Well JR, you'll have to tell me at this point as I cannot remember. I thought, you being the last person to get a set of calipers, would have been the one to get the pads as well. We already know I sent you a partial tube of brake lubricant, but I can't remember who got the pads. It was either you or Mr. Riviera (Matthew)
I was pretty sure it was you, as you were the one to buy the last set I had, so I threw in everything I had left, including the pads.
I guess we need to wait and see what Matt has to say.

Came across this tool that may be helpful to anybody trying to diagnose a possible problem involving the amount of pressure being applied to each caliper. The tool is inexpensive and is sold by SSBC.
http://www.ssbrakes.com/commerce/detail/index.cfm?nPID=8891

Nice find. Notice it measures 1000s of PSI!

I was looking at their "F" Body stuff and came across the tools, cause I like tools and since this only $50.00 it will be going in my tool box.

But they have 3 and 4 piston caliper and rotor kits. But they all include the Rotors which are 13" and a bolt pattern on 5 x 4.75, which is made for the Camaro and Firebird.
Don't quite know how that would all work out.
But the kits are so comprehensive there is stuff we don't need, that won't fit such as the stainless braided lines.

And the "big brake" kits from SSBC and others are LOTS of $$$$$, and they really don't offer a clear stopping advantage vs. OEM for most daily driving. There are only two reasons for going with such a set-up: 1) looks, or 2) off-road/track racing. The big advantage these kits provide is maximum heat dissipation for serious high-speed, repetitive stopping. If you aren't doing continuous 150-0 mph stops for a dozens laps at a time, the big brakes really don't do very much.

AA wrote:

And the "big brake" kits from SSBC and others are LOTS of $$$$$, and they really don't offer a clear stopping advantage vs. OEM for most daily driving. There are only two reasons for going with such a set-up: 1) looks, or 2) off-road/track racing. The big advantage these kits provide is maximum heat dissipation for serious high-speed, repetitive stopping. If you aren't doing continuous 150-0 mph stops for a dozens laps at a time, the big brakes really don't do very much.

I certainly was not interested in buying a brake kit as I am completely happy with the brakes I have. (Stock size, 12", EBC Rotors,EBC Pads and F-Body Calipers)
But I was just throwing it out there for anyone who might be interested.
The other thing is you can substantially lower the cost of the KIT if you find a dealer of their products and just get the caliper, 3 or 4 piston, and a 13" rotor and delete the rest.
There are some on this site that want race ready or track ready brakes.
For the fronts, you can still order the pre-made Bonneville SS hoses from ZZP to fit either of these Calipers.