Clips on Caliper Braket Causing Pads to seize. Ugh

[SwampSurvivor]

I noticed the Focus was groaning when coasting to a stop. Also, when sitting on a hill, it wouldn't roll without the brakes. LF wheel and tire was getting warm.

Pulled the wheel off expecting stuck sliders. Next was a stuck piston.

Nope - the clips. This has happened on EVERY vehicle with disc brakes we got. Usually it's the rear. This time it was the front on the Focus.

Looks like the clips that stop the brake pads from chattering around caused the pads to seize. The inner pad had to be removed with a pry bar and hammer and the outer pad, while somewhat seized was able to be removed with just a pry bar.

The purpose of these clips is to stop the pads from chattering. They serve NO safety purpose.

With that said, I removed them on the drivers and the brake no longer drags and car seems to stop better - pedal modulation is a bit better.

Unfortunately, I'll need to put new rotors on. The inner pad seized some time ago and never made contact with the rotor - so the inside of the rotor is pretty rusted up.

Pulled the right side apart and it is working fine.

This was fun on a 19F, windy day!

 

[supton]

Yep, I get that. Am trying the route of applying brake grease to them, and doing tire rotations myself, and checking 'em more often than never.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: supton
Yep, I get that. Am trying the route of applying brake grease to them, and doing tire rotations myself, and checking 'em more often than never.


It's usually something I check - but wasn't expecting it at such low miles. Especially on something that gets driven in the city and the brakes are used (and heated up) quite regularly.

 

[yonyon]

Usually it's not the clips themselves but the rust buildup under the clips causing the problem. Clean off the rust and put the clips back on. Without them you may find that the pads dig grooves into the brackets which will also make your brakes drag.

 

[nitehawk55]

I wonder if you grind a bit off the pads so they fit in the (clips) saddles a bit looser ? lube them good as well to prevent rust .

 

[SwampSurvivor]

There are return springs on the pads that wouldn't fit on if I ground the ears off.

We did grind the ears off a bit on the F350 a few times as they would seize up after 2 or 3 months for some reason.

 

[71Chevyguy]

+1 on corrosion under the clips. I have serviced many cars with this problem. Mostly northern cars since we used to get repos from Michigan at work that usually needed brakes due to rust. I was lucky that most had the bolt-on brackets that the calipers bolted to and would always take it over to the bench grinder and use the wire brush to grind off the rust before putting new clips on there. I would say 9 times out of 10 there was quite a bit of corrosion and evidence that they had seized exactly as you mention. Something I noticed on these Michigan vehicles that I never would have thought of using on brakes is the RED anti corrosive spray you use on battery terminals. I saw many of them having the hub or the back side of the rotors sprayed with the red stuff and even though everything else was rotted to death the rotors came right off and no corrosion behind them. Seems to work in extreme situations.

 

[The Critic]

Molykote M77 should fix this problem. It's a dry lube that is used by Honda as a metal-to-metal lube.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: yonyon
Usually it's not the clips themselves but the rust buildup under the clips causing the problem. Clean off the rust and put the clips back on. Without them you may find that the pads dig grooves into the brackets which will also make your brakes drag.


+1.

In reply to the general discussion.

These are stainless steel and designed to provide a rust barrier and smooth sliding surface for the pad backing ears.
If there is rust underneath I either hit it with a needle scalar then a wire brush or remove the bracket and blast it.

In either case i spray a little self etching primer on them then a smear of waterproof grease under the clip and a smear of brake lube on the clip itself.
If the pads don't fit just firm and slide easy something is wrong, never discard the clips or grind the ears/tabs for clearance, something is wrong.

Some clips are wider on the inside and will fit if reversed but don't fit properly, if it goes unnoticed that's when hammers and grinding tools usually come out.
Always match the clip to the one in the original location before removal.

 

[Falken]

Corrosion gets under them. That is why it is good to pop them out and clean under them with a wire brush yearly as a part of your brake service.

Then put anti-seize or a thin film of bearing grease to keep corrosion from packing up under them then squishing the tabs at the end of the pads.

Also, sometimes pads come with a lot of paint on them in the tab area. Lap it off with a small needle file if you have a tough time popping the new pads in.

 

[buck91]

Always though those clips also served to prevent excessive wear of the relatively soft, cast metal caliper bracket. Anyways I use a very light touch of sil-glyde on the contact surface with the pad ears and it always works well for me.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I won't run too long without the clips. In the spring I'm planning on putting new pads in the front since the current ones are not evenly worn.

The good news is I went to the biggest hill in town and rode the brakes, pretty hard, all the way down.

Did manage to clean up the rotor! The car seems to steer easier (imagine that, with no brake rubbing ...) and I no longer have hill start assist.

 

[CharBaby]

Lately, I've been having to shave/bench grind the tips of the brake pads(all vehicles) just to get them to fit in those slots/clips, when doing a fresh brake job. Lube'em up with Permatex and all is well!

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Oh yeah - anything I touch on a vehicle is put back together with grease, anti seize or permatex.

I did lube the ears with the permatex slider lube when putting it back together. In the spring I'm going to take the rotors off (while they still can be removed) and anti-seize the mounting surface to the hub.

Along with bleeding the brakes. It will be 3 years old.

 

[CharBaby]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Oh yeah - anything I touch on a vehicle is put back together with grease, anti seize or permatex.

I did lube the ears with the permatex slider lube when putting it back together. In the spring I'm going to take the rotors off (while they still can be removed) and anti-seize the mounting surface to the hub.

Along with bleeding the brakes. It will be 3 years old.


I like lubing the hub better with grease than with anti-seize as the antiseize wears away in my expereince. It's like I never added it and still have to pull the rotors off with a Puller! And underneath is just rust and no signs of antiseize. Hmmmm!

 

[Hokiefyd]

The clips are not there to quell pad vibrations; they're there to provide a replaceable wear surface for the pad ears. Both of our vehicles have these pad clips and I'm very thankful for that. Our Chrysler minivans and Dodge Dakota did not, and I battled constant problems with the Dakota regarding pad wear on the knuckle. Though our '07 minivan had only 40k miles at its first brake pad change, the knuckles were already getting grooved and I had to be liberal with a metal rasp to smooth them out. The Dakota had over 170k miles miles, and I could smooth the notches in the wear surface out, but I couldn't remove them completely. A knuckle swap (or weld bead) is what was really needed. Your XJ has the same setup. Check this out:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/xj-tj-zj-front-knuckle-repair-brake-pad-grooves-924713/

This is a real problem on high (and even on low) mileage vehicles. Be thankful for your pad clips. Running without them for now shouldn't cause you any long term problems, because you will be able to repalce the clips at the next service.