Im trying to put a new set of powerslot rotors and hawk hp pads on my 93 si hatch but Im running into some problems. The pads appear to be too thick so the caliper wont fit back over the rotor. I called the place I orderd them from and apparently my part number is correct so the only thing I can think of is that the canadian si has different brakes then an american one. Any ideas? Can I just mill the pads down a bit, they are only a millimeter or so too big (about a mm or so). I should specify that the pad thats too big is side thats opposite of the piston.

 

have you compressed the brake caliper piston back down?

 

Yep the piston side clearence is fine its the opposite side thats wont fit.

 

LOL, you have a stuck slide then, the caliper should slide freely as to where either side clears. if you cant get it free-ed up, cleaned and lubed you will have to get a new "loaded" caliper assembly which sucks, cuz they are expensive. try heat if you got it.

 

Humm would it help if I disconnected the brake line to take some pressure out of it? Or should the caliper slide freely even while connected?

 

not the caliper piston itself. it shouldnt move without force. im talking about the slide, theres one up top and one on bottom of the caliper. do this, take the pads out, bolt the caliper bracket and all back to the spindle. take just the bottom caliper bolt out (not the bracket bolt, the caliper bolt) try to swing the caliper up, if it doesnt then its a frozen slide. if it does the top slide is ok, to check the bottom slide just look at the sleeve part the bottom bolt goes through, try to push/pull it back and forth, it should move, if not the bottom slide is stuck. hope that helps.

 

You called it man. The top slide is compleatly sized. Is there anyway to fix that or like you mentioned do I need to replace the entire thing?

 

some times you can heat it up, like one of those little hand held torches, and just work it loose. if you dont have one, just try to keep working it up and down a little til it frees up enough to move up and down a good bit, keep doing it and it will generate heat inside it, eventually it will move up and down easily, then you gotta try to move it side to side, it slides off away from the rotor (obviously). if yo succeed in getting it off, use a wire brush, some fine sand paper/emery cloth ect. to clean the rust and junk off it, then use some "brake lube" on it. it should slide easily when its good.