rear brakes
 

I went out to lunch the other day and I smelled something funny. I looked outside of my car to find the left rear brakepad smoking. I am pretty sure it has somethig to do with the e brake because the problem got worse after I used it.

my mechanic says that i probably need to replace my caliper(s) but I was wondering if you guys had any advice for me before I spend the money.

my mechanic is a good friend and will let me work on my car in his shop


I also had an other question to ask

would it be safe to upgrade my rear pads and rotors only to 1.8 as i do not have enough cash for all four wheels and i think I need to replace at least 1 rear rotor anyways?

yeah...

i know...

go ahead:cool:

sure, not sure what's going to happen to bias though.

The PlanetMiata website isn't running for me right now, but you might check there if you just need a caliper. You could also look into a caliper rebuild kit. It's probably your piston sticking and they can sometimes be rebuilt depending on what's happened.

When I ordered my 1.8 brake upgrade kit from PlanetMiata, I paid $180 total for 4 new rotors, Hawk HPS pads, and the brackets. They were having a sale then, but you could try.

did you drive with the e-brake on? otherwise the rears are sticking. It can easily be you need to grease up the slider pins, or the piston is seized altogether.

since the calipers are the same, you might as well just get caliper replaced if need be, then worry about sourcing the parts for the upgrade when you get a chance.

dont need to think about the upgrade yet, go ahead and figure out exactly whats wrong with your caliper, if you do the upgrade the caliper stays the same, so you have to fix that first, but as stated above, either slider ot caliper itself, if its the slider just sand the caked on stuff of it and lube it good, if its caliper than its more intensive

I have a spare set of rear 1.8 brakes, but after shipping its probably not worth it for you.

thanks for the replys

I loosened the e brake today and the caliper released. now my e brake kinda sucks though. I looked at planet miata and those calipers are within my price range so thats good. still gotta find out if i really need them tho

Your ebrake needs to be adjusted two ways. With the allen screw at the caliper and the screw at the ebrake handle.The allen screw at the caliper needs to be adjust for correct brake function anyway. Ebrake slack is taken up with the screw at the handle.