[iLabmAn]

Oi.

UPDATE: About my previous post: Reverse Gear hard to switch

Got my car back last week after the week long ordeal. What took the most time was that the speedo sensor was literally fused to the engine block. That took forever to remove.

Anyway, the shop acknowledged that they damaged my reverse light switch and covered parts and labour (they could not remove the sensor so they used the switch to pour in tranny fluid!). They also covered the shipping costs for the new speedo sensor as it had to flown in from Edmonton!!!! I left with a $228.00 CDN bill parts included. Not bad. Although I also had given the shop $513.00 CDN for the bearing and wheel job.

Since then, the car had developed an annoying scraping sound from the passenger front wheel. Only present when the brake was depressed.

The shop felt that it was the brake shield (?) rubbing against the back of the disc. I don't think they even had time to look at it.

I just pulled the wheel tonight and looked at the shield. It is badly corroded. What is this for? I bent it back a little and did a test drive. Problem gone! .......but after a few minutes of brake usage it returned. Any ideas? I notice that the sound is gone when the car is first used...however returns after a tries on the brake.

 

[siragan]

It's most likely your spring clip. It's this little spring that keeps the pads off the discs when "at rest". If the spring jumps off its nub, then the brake pad will scrape along the disc all the time, even when the brakes aren't applied. Should be an easy fix.

One of my life experience tips: never bring your car to a shop. They're money grubbing whoreurs (canadian whores) who don't know your car as well as you.

 

[iLabmAn]

True.

Although doing the bearings myself would have presented a challenge. I am learning! Thanks for all your help!

As for the spring, where is located? What does it look like? Is it the "W" shaped spring (i.e. retaining spring)? I will work on that tomorrow morning.

 

[siragan]

To take out the bearings, you sometimes need a hydraulic press. I live in ******* country, so I know two different people with hydraulic presses (for tractors and stuff). Networking is good.

And yes, I'm talking about the W-spring.

 

[highanddry]

The shield you refer to is simply a dust/dirt cover that's tacked to your steering knuckle to protect the inside of the brake rotor and hub. Do yourself a favour and get rid of it on both the driver and passenger side. They rot, bend and can cause the squealing/scraping you hear when they contact the inside of the rotor. If your car has seen a few of our winters, they do more harm than good. I pulled the remnants off mine off years ago and I don't perceive that anything has suffered any ill-effects.

I don't think your problem is the spring. I've never had any problem with the arms of mine popping our of their retaining holes, but I suppose it is possible.

I think your problem is more likely your dust covers. Take your wheels off and rotate your tires by hand with the car jacked up. You may be able to see and hear what's binding. Alternatively, there's a little wee removable shim at the front of the caliper that your pad rests down on while held in place by the rods. Sometimes it can become misaligned and continually scrape against the rotor.

The last option is that you're just reaching the wear indicators on the pads. Check how much thickness is is left on each pad.

In an earlier post to you, I suggested that the brakes are the Escort's Achilles heel. This may be your indoctrination.

 

[iLabmAn]

Update: Turned out that my front discs and brake pads needed replacement. That was good.

Removed my heat shield though as it was falling apart (ok....completely rusted through and through).

Big thanks to Chris Wong at CTA Motorsports for all his technical support and leads to high quality replacement gear!