Maintenance of Disc Brakes
Maintenance of Disc Brakes
There is no need to have huge experience for serving disc brakes. First of all, begin with placing chocks behind the wheels. Loosen the lug nuts and lift your vehicle. Remove the wheel in order to make inspection and disassembly. Then, follow these steps to complete all job;
Begin with calipers
Even though calipers are attached by manufacturers in different ways, most of them are bolted to a caliper bracket at the back of rotor. Many calipers contain a carriage pin as part of attachment bolt and rubber cover. If there is corrosion on the pin, remove it and then lubricate. Make sure that the cover is intact just before reassembling.
Examine brake pads
Use a simple gauge to measure thickness of brake pad without disassembly. It is time to change if you measure the thickness between 3 and 4 mm. In case of emergency stop from speed or constantly riding your brakes, you are required to remove your pads if it needs to be glazed. In case of shiny or crystallized appearance, it is time to replace them right away.
Lubricate the caliper piston
Examine the rubber bellows as well. These parts keeps away water from leaking into the piston bore on the caliper. Corrosion that appears inside encroaches the action of piston. The corrosion comes out due to cracks or tears. Carriage pins, back of the pads and the caliper piston should be lubricated by using brake grease. Avoid the contamination of the surface of the pads or rotors.
Examine the rotors
Inspect the rotor if there is cracking or scoring. You are not able to see if the rotor is warped. However, you might feel pulsation when you press the brake pedal. In case of these situations happen, replace the rotor. Keep in mind that before reassembly clean up the hub surface of corrosion. The rotors should be placed on the hub appropriately.
Brake Fluid Flush
Fluid replacement should be done from 30.000 miles to 100.000 miles according to manufacturer’s recommendations or brake fluid flush should be done every 4 or 5 years.
Brakes bleeding
By the time maintenance session is done, if you observe a spongy feeling when braking, or if the pedal falls quickly underfoot before tightly engaging, it is a sign that the brake lines should be bled. This process allows any air which is already inside to be evacuated.
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