Brake issue.

Ugh this 02 WRX is being a pain in my arse already.

Brake pads and rotors were needed all the way around off the bat. For now I just got some napa blanks and pads until I can get something more performance related. It was the cheapest option which I know isn't always the best but they've worked for me before....

Anyways the rusty rear rotors did not want to come off. I loosened up the drums, that didn't work, so I used one of the caliper bolts to push it off which worked but stripped a bolt on each side due to the amount of rust (only real option at that point in an apartment complex parking lot).

Got the new rear pads and rotors on, did the proper burnish technique but holy jeebus they are loud when not on the brakes. Sounds like metal on metal when rolling when just cruising (almost like train wheels on the tracks). Also, when turning it's even more prevalent. Am I dealing with a bigger issue here or is this just due to the crappy cheap pads? Everything lined up correctly, fit perfectly, went back together right.

How were the caliper sliding pins? Did the caliper slide on them smoothly?

Is that set up like a less than WRX subaru? If so, did you clean under the stainless clips/shims on the caliper brackets? You'll get rust under them and the brakes will drag.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Is that set up like a less than WRX subaru? If so, did you clean under the stainless clips/shims on the caliper brackets? You'll get rust under them and the brakes will drag.

Don't really follow the first part of your question but I'm thinking I may need that hardware kit they sell because those were rusty as all hell. I scuffed them but rust is a new thing to me living in Fl my whole life I rarely saw it working at Honda/GM.

Slippery, I put new sliding pins in because they came with the new bolts I received for the rears. The fronts pads and calipers went on very easy.

Thank you guys.

Sounds like you didn't get all the rust off then, if you didn't get shiny metal you're just scraping through scale.

When it comes to brakes in the salt belt, you pretty much spend all day removing rust, buy everything new, or slap it together and hope for the best. Everything slathered in antiseize no matter what.

Looks like I found $20 more to spend on this haha. I'm slowly starting to hate salt more and more and more. Especially with how Northern Virginia counties operate. "Oh I saw a single snow flurry! Let's make the roads look like Bonneville!"

In Michigan, all cars are gray between November and March. There are huge salt mines around Detroit, keeps the auto industry going by rusting the old cars till suspension parts and a K members fall off.

We see this fairly often on Subarus at work: the lip on the drum is machined a little taller than necessary, causing it to rub into the backing plate. It'll eventually go away on its own when the backing plate rubs through. The better plan is to take the rotor back off and have the drum lip machined down a bit; a little pneumatic sander with Roloc discs works well for that.

Thanks for the help guys. Lathered all the stuff up in even more anti-seize, sanded down the brake guides (hardware) to be nice and clean, got new hardware for the rear, scuffed the pads up with some sand paper on a flat surface, and found a little pebble in the dust cover that was causing some of the noise. All of the noise is gone, so I'm very happy. It's crazy what a little bit of lube can do.

I feel your pain, brakes on my celica have been a pain in the ass. Ended up getting a new caliper bracket and slide pin for one side.

They suck. I have just wanted to get this issue fixed so I can start driving it on a daily basis. Plus it'll give my parents something to drive around in when they come visit. I plan on doing STI brembos, new axles, and save up for an engine/trans overhaul as my next upgrades. Still runs strong for 144k. I spent the other half of my morning cleaning the engine bay up to look all purty. All of the metal components just looks gross so I polished them up, scrubbed down all the plastic, and used some back to black on some of the other pieces.