Brakes AGAIN !
Hi, So I am again smelling burnt brake smell on my 2003 7.3L F-250. In the last few years, every one of those brakes has been replaced. Rebuilt calipers, hoses, and pads. Now Im smelling the...
Forum Discussion
So, I had a phone conversation with an engineer at Centric.
He focused on two things.
First was the rubber seal that seals the piston and piston bore (cylinder). He said with new calipers, the surface where the seal goes is almost mirror finish. On remanufuactured units, the surface gets sand blasted. So with the sandblasted surface that the rubber seal sits against, moisture/rust can creep in there easily. So in many returned cores, he sees alot of corrosion in that area causing sticking pistons.
His recommendation? When you receive the new remanufactured caliper, get a syringe and squirt a bunch of dielectric grease (superlube for example) under the seal and into that area. He also said you might even just take some silicone caulk and put that over the outside of the seal(although he hasnt tried this, but it just popped into his head at the moment). Doing this will help prevent moisture entry.
He also said that they offer a zinc plated and painted caliper. He says some of the plating goes into the bore a little bit. So if you order the plated version from Centric, this also will resist the rust effect.
The second observation.
He says that when you get uneven pad wear, one piston is out further than the other. But, both the back of the pad and the head of each piston is flat. So smashing these together makes the phenolic piston crook inside the bore. So when the piston crooks or cants or twists sideways inside the bore, it gets bite marks on it, material might get scraped off of the piston. Bad things.
I did confirm with him that they replace all pistons with new.
I still am in search of the Centric warranty on these units if anyone knows.
He focused on two things.
First was the rubber seal that seals the piston and piston bore (cylinder). He said with new calipers, the surface where the seal goes is almost mirror finish. On remanufuactured units, the surface gets sand blasted. So with the sandblasted surface that the rubber seal sits against, moisture/rust can creep in there easily. So in many returned cores, he sees alot of corrosion in that area causing sticking pistons.
His recommendation? When you receive the new remanufactured caliper, get a syringe and squirt a bunch of dielectric grease (superlube for example) under the seal and into that area. He also said you might even just take some silicone caulk and put that over the outside of the seal(although he hasnt tried this, but it just popped into his head at the moment). Doing this will help prevent moisture entry.
He also said that they offer a zinc plated and painted caliper. He says some of the plating goes into the bore a little bit. So if you order the plated version from Centric, this also will resist the rust effect.
The second observation.
He says that when you get uneven pad wear, one piston is out further than the other. But, both the back of the pad and the head of each piston is flat. So smashing these together makes the phenolic piston crook inside the bore. So when the piston crooks or cants or twists sideways inside the bore, it gets bite marks on it, material might get scraped off of the piston. Bad things.
I did confirm with him that they replace all pistons with new.
I still am in search of the Centric warranty on these units if anyone knows.
