Hey again guys,

So in the early spring I had to have 1 caliper replaced because of a stuck piston/torn boot and my mechanic friend told me if I put it on he'd bleed it for me(I've never done this before) which he did.

Anyways while I was replacing the caliper, I'm referring to my repair manual which stresses that calipers must be replaced in pairs - my friend swore up and down to me you can just replace one which is what we did and her brakes work fine - the one thing though is if your going like 70mph+ and have to slam on the breaks really hard you'll start hearing a banging in the front driverside wheel(the one we worked on) that goes away if you shut off the car or drive for a while, but as long as you aren't SLAMMING it on she stops perfect and doesn't make that noise or squeal or anything..!

Anyways I'm asking if I'm going to eventually run into problems driving her as I did not switch out the calipers as a pair? Keep in mind I go out of my way to treat her well on the road.

 

There is nothing in you brakes that should bang. Shaking, Noises even pulling are all normal signs of a brake issue. Banging is not. "IF" this noise is coming from the brakes you have a major problem and really should take it to someone that knows how it all works. The only time I have heard a complaint about banging that was caused by front brakes it was a broken slider which allowed the caliper to lift away from the rotor and hit the rim. On your car it could be the slider or one of the bolts that hold the caliper braket inplace. "IF" that is the case and your second slider/bolt falls out or breaks you will loose brakes.

 

I dunno if the sliders broken but yeah thats what it sounds like, the caliper moving and hitting the rim as it seems to bang in time with wheel revolutions, I'm not really too worried though as it only happens when you have to SLAM your brakes on and all - when you say I could lose my brakes you only mean my front ones right, I'd still have my rear brakes to stop me??? I had to drive my car over to my friends house when we did this and all I had was my rear brakes which still worked, albeit not nearly as good as with all 4!

 

First off you should be worried. I understand how brakes work. I would move that car around the shop like that but I would never drive a car in that condition over 25 mile per hour. If it was 5 miles from my shop i would have it towed. If someone pulls out infront of you and you would slam on the brakes and the last remaining fastener would break the caliper would rotate with the rotor and this would rip hose loose causing you to loose brake fluid. The caliper could wedge between the rotor and the wheel and lock the tire up or in the worst case rip the whole tire assemble off the car. You would loose 50% of your braking and your anti-lock system instantly. Basicly you have two brake systems in terms of fluid loss. Each system control one front and the opposite rear wheel, Rear brakes do not do as much as you think your car would take about 6 X as long to stop with just rear brakes.

Right now to fix your issue is less then $10. If the second bolt fails I would not be surpised to see a $800 repair (new lines, new caliper,new bracket, New spindle, New Bearing, New wheel, new lower control arm). That assumes you do not hit anything and it does not rip the wheel assemble loose. If either of those things happen the paint work alone will be in the $1000's

 

Gorn is right, this has to be checked. Not only are you putting your life at risk but also everyone elses on the road.

 

Make sure the caliper is bolted down well before driving the car any further. My daughter once had her boyfriend (now ex...and almost deceased) replace the front brakes on her Cavalier (that car is another story). A few months later she told me that her car was making a banging noise in front, only while backing up. A quick look showed that the lower caliper mount/slider bolt had backed out letting the caliper rotate up when hitting the brakes in reverse. Going forward, you wouldn't know there was a problem. The numb-nuts obviously didn't torque the bolt on tight enough. That bang you hear is a warning. The next bang you hear could be from you running into the poor sap in front of you.

 

Wow - well since you guys put it that way I sure will take a look especially if its something as simple as tightening a nut/replacing a bolt. Thanks C69 and Gorn, BTW my car is mostly the same color as your 96..! I'll post up some pics of Cammy soon enough!!

 

I would also recommend using the high-vibration lock-tight on those bolts. I've seen those bolts come out over time, even if they were put on the right torque.

As far as replacing in pairs, what they were probably talking about was brake pads. With those, you wan't to replace both pads on both wheels at the same time (so really 4 at a time).

 

Hey guys I had some spare time so have been givin Cammy sum luvin - she's jacked up right now wheel pulled off - I checked out the caliper and I see 3 bolts which I assume are the mounting bolts(the 2 slide pins top and bottom and a bolt in between looks like it's got a brake fluid hose attached) but saw something that made me go: WTF!

So there are these caps on the calipers that you bleed through - I had my friend do this as I didn't really know how but I remember seeing it at the top of the Caliper - anyways looking at her now the cap is missing so I'll replace that, do you think this could be the problem? I was kinda thinkin it was like pressure related cuz my brakes wouldn't bang if I let my car sit for a when they started to bang after braking hard so that makes sense to my noobish little mind - what do you think?

I have a dial(circlespinnythingatbottomofwrench) torque wrench now and will tighten cammy's mountingbolts to 23/footpounds I beleive but will double check before doing this, I've never used a torque wrench looks like you unlock it, set it, lock it, and from what I understand it will indicate when it hits the proper force with a clicking noise???\

I'll get some pics up later too, gonna go play with her some more.
Thank you all your so awesome helping people out with their camaro's all the time I luv you all!!! You rock!!!

EDIT:
The 3 bolts all clicked on the torque wrench set at 23 foot lbs, so Im thinkin A cap for the caliper bleed screw will fix my braking banging problem? I also noted the bottom caliper slide pin's rubber boot is a little frayed but not really ripped open, and I see no fluid so Im gonna say it's still good.

 

There is a bracket the mounts to the spindle (2 bolts) then the two sliders for a total of 4 bolt heads. there is a line and the bleeder. The "cap" you are reffering to is the dust cap. The only thing that does is keep the dirt from getting into or on the bleader. There is no way the lack of that cap could do anything but make you clean the bleader the next time you blead the brakes.