here's the rundown, a friend of mine just did a brake swap on my car and the front brake pads weren't snug when he put them into the calipers. they have no play side to side but they have a little room to wiggle up and down. the front brake setup came from a 94/95 civic w/ ABS and i'm under the impression that the specs are identical to a 94+ gsr. the pads purchased matched either setup.

here's the question for all of u who own a car w/ the same front disc setup or have changed pads in one:
are the pads supposed to be snug or do they move up and down slightly?

i found the following pic on acuraautomotiveparts.com.
there is a clip (#12) shown in the illustration but neither majestic honda or the forementioned sell them for 94/95 civics w/ ABS or 94+ integras.
the side retainers (#17) are present but are the front calipers also supposed to have a center clip similar to the rear calipers to hold the pads down?
do u guys have this clip in ur front calipers or not?


all input is greatly appreciated.

 

yes, those need to be there, or that pad will walk around, and you may smash it, they keep the pad aligned.

 

no one seems to sell these clips anywhere.
as a matter of fact neither acuraautomotiveparts.com, hondaautomotiveparts.com and my local advanced auto parts store even acknowledge their existence. it's shown in the website illustration but they don't have it to order. the guy at the parts store along with myself searched their whole system for said clip and all that came up were the 2 side retainer clips, no center one.

some people i've talked to claim it should be there but others say there's no such clip. this damn clip is starting to turn into bigfoot!
if u know where i would be able to get one or even get a pic of one in the front caliper i'd love to see it.
thanks for the response.

 

My '95 Integra had those clips just on the rear. I bought them from A&H Motorsport but that was a few years ago...

http://www.ahmotor.com
You can't find them on their website, but call to order. Did you try the dealer?? For something little like that, mailorder doesn't necessarily save tons of $$.

Mine were like this.

IIRC, the shape of the end clips (#14) holds the pads in so the other clip isn't needed.

From YOUR picture in the first post, it looks like a caliper that uses the #16 clips will need that #12 spring. But a caliper that uses #17 clips doesn't use #12.



Modified by JimBlake at 11:59 PM 8/2/2006

 

freezyfreeky
Part #12 - That belongs on the caliper.
Part #17 - Pad retaining clips on caliper.

And no, there should be no movement what so ever. Must be snug.

 

thank u guys for the input.
i have #12 clips on the calipers but i can't seem to find #17's anywhere. i checked a bunch of sites yesterday and called napa as well.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by freezyfreeky &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... but i can't seem to find #17's anywhere. i checked a bunch of sites yesterday and called napa as well.</TD></TR></TABLE>

From http://www.partsamerica.com
Raybestos Part # - H15802A
Disc Brake Hardware Axle Kit: Front
Price - $12.99


Direct Link - http://www.partsamerica.com/Pr...set=A

 

my mistake, that was a typo.
i meant "...i can't seem to find #12's anywhere."

thanks for the link.

i have those clips in there but they don't seem to hold the pad snug.


there's no movement left and right because of the caliper but it doesn't seem to have anything to stop it from moving up and down.


Modified by freezyfreeky at 1:04 PM 8/4/2006

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by freezyfreeky &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my mistake, that was a typo.
i meant "...i can't seem to find #12's anywhere."

thanks for the link.

i have those clips in there but they don't seem to hold the pad snug.


there's no movement left and right because of the caliper but it doesn't seem to have anything to stop it from moving up and down.

The hardware I mentioned previously is supposed to give the pads a spot to line up and hold itself snug. #12 I believe only comes with the caliper assembly. I think something is wrong if #17 isn't holding those pads in place.


Modified by freezyfreeky at 1:04 PM 8/4/2006</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

i'll order new clips #17 and see if that fixes the problem.

thank u all for ur help.

 

Do you HAVE the #17 clips? They should hold the pads in that direction. The strange little wedge pieces in the middle should lock into the caliper bracket, so the entire clip can't pull out. Is that part OK?

Then the outer springy part of the clip does the job of holding the pads into the bracket. It shouldn't need too much force, after all, you don't want the pads wedged so tight they can't release.

The spring you're asking about (#12 in your first post) is only needed on certain cars which use the #16 clips. Those #16 clips only provide a smooth surface for sliding, they don't hold the pads in the caliper bracket.

Honda likes to share those illustrations (in the parts catalog) over different cars. So while you see the picture, you can't get #12 or #16, if you're working on a certain model/year of car that uses #17.

Pick a different car, & you can get #12 & 16, but #17 is not available. But don't try to do that, because #12 may not fit on your exact caliper.

 

yes, the calipers came with the #17 clips. it didn't look like they were damaged at all but i didn't have new ones to compare them to at the time anyway. if one clip was broken then it would have been obvious what the problem was but all 4 pads moved the same so i figured i was just missing something.

i checked a few different cars and none of them i looked at used the #12 & #16 combo.

maybe the clips just got warped over the years. i'll pick up new ones and see if my problem goes away.

 

Other than the pads feeling like they have some play when seated on the caliper bracket, are you having a braking problem or issue?

 

i'm not having any problems with braking at the moment but i was concerned with the safety aspect. i didn't know if the pad tabs would eventually snap due to the constant rocking of the pads. better safe than sorry.

 

Nothing wrong with being concerned at all. Just wondering for my own personal understanding.

 

The part of those clips that hold the pad in isn't a very strong spring. But neither is that #12 spring. Just enough so they don't rattle. The forces on the brake pads are really in the direction of the rotor dragging them around as it turns. THAT force is pretty big, and it's reacted by the pad's steel backing plate bearing against the caliper bracket. Besides, the caliper itself won't let the pads get far enough out to matter anyway.

 

so i'm guessing as long as the braking isn't being affected it wouldn't be a crash and burn situation even if the pads move a little.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by freezyfreeky &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so i'm guessing as long as the braking isn't being affected it wouldn't be a crash and burn situation even if the pads move a little.</TD></TR></TABLE>Right. Then NEED to move a little to avoid being wedged & stuck into the caliper bracket.