I finally decided to service the rear brakes on my ’98 Max. Rear right caliper had been seized for a while. The inside side of the rotor was quite rusted because the pad was not rubbing against it, The hand brake was squeezing the right rotor, making it very inefficient when parking even on small grade inclines.

Lesson no. 1:

When I was applying foot brakes with a little more pressure than normal, the opposite wheel on the same hydraulic circuit of this rear right wheel, - the front left wheel in this case- would immediately lock and the tire would squeal. I realized since the hydraulic pressure on the right rear peeked sooner than normal because of the seized caliper, all the pressure was transferred ( by the proportioning valve)on the left front wheel, causing it to lock the wheel sooner. Also, the last time I serviced the front brakes, the left wheel pads were due for replacement, but I noticed the right pads had app 40% life remaining. This all caused by the left wheel taking more braking hydraulic pressure than the right wheel. All together the braking efficiency was reduced. I should have taken care of this way before. One lesson to remember: one faulty wheel affects other wheels.

So I replaced the rear pads, installed 2 new Brembo rotors, a new right caliper, the left caliper was ok , (rear calipers are expensive enough, didn’t replace without reason). I waist much time trying to engage the rear hand brake cable hook on the caliper lever. There was just not enough slack in the cable to slide over and in the caliper lever. Then it occurred to my thought that I had to loosen the hand brake adjuster nut on the brake handle, inside the car, to yield some slack. So I went to remove the 4 screws that fasten the center console, then removed the console itself, and started loosening the adjuster nut. The nut was rotating, but was not moving: the threads were gone! A while ago, I had tighten this nut to increase the hand brake pressure on the left wheel, because the right wheel hand brake was not functioning.

Lesson no. 2:

Unfortunately, back then I must have torqued the nut ( very small and fragile nut, app 5mm thread size) too far all the way down, causing the thread damage. I should have known, I did the same damage on my Mazda 626 few years ago. On the Mazda I decided the replace the brake cable for app 25$. Changing it was fairly easy once I crawled under the jacked up car. But on the Max, not so easy to change: the cable equalizer is located on top of the exhaust pipe and on top of the heat shield. Without the car raised on a lift, it is merely impossible to remove the exhaust pipe and the heat shield. I thought this was a job for a garage. Then I decided to remove the 2 bolts that fasten the hand brake lever bracket to the console floor, that gave enough slack to finish the brake job. I managed to reinstall the hand brake lever with the 2 bolts, with some prying effort to align the bolt holes because there was no slack in the cable. I bleed the brake on all 4 wheels. Drove the Max for a ride to bed in the new pads, using a procedure referred by a previous post. Wow what a difference! I should have serviced the rear brakes sooner. I have no excuse, I knew for a while only 3 wheels were braking.

Lesson no. 3:

Don’t wait servicing failed brakes!

Lesson no. 4:

Next operation will be replacing the hand brake adjuster nut and cable. Although the hand lever is pretty firm when I pull on it, I can hear all the required 11 clicks when I pull strongly on it, as per the owner’s manual specs, but I admit I feel like I am applying more then 40 lbs pull to reach the 11th click. I was disappointed thinking about I would have to spend the labor money I saved doing this maintenance myself, to have a garage replace the hand brake cable. I had another idea: why don’t I carefully and gently grind down the adjuster nut with a grinding wheel on a my drill ( I don’t have a nut splitter) . Remove the nut, and reinstall a new one. Use a spacer to gap the worn thread section of the cable bolt end, and bingo! I could use another identical nut as a spacer, provided I would drill the inside threads first, increasing the nut hole diameter so it can slide freely over the existing bolt threads. This will avoid the need for replacing the cable. Not done this yet. Waiting for a rainy day.

I hope this story may be useful to you, and make you save time and unnecessary trouble!

 

Wow, i do mine in bout 1/2 hour. . .Hmmm thats not good though. . . .what happened to you.

 

yowza.......

that can suck.....

 

1/2 hour ? That`s great !
I dont have any air guns, no lift . I took me several hours including bleeding all 4 corners. The satisfaction of this job well done is self-rewarding.

 

having same problem. i can just replace caliper right?

 

thanks for input, I didn't notice it while I was working on my car but my drivers side rear brakes were not wearing at all, then when I looked at my front passenger side it was VERY worn, almost metal on metal....looks like I may have a seized caliper in the back as well.....$200 for non oem caliper and 400 for oem caliper.....hmmmmm

 

Sounds like the "oh sh*t" factor that happens to us all at some point
I always like to think that what you lose in time now, you gain in the knowledge to do another job (even though you had no intention of learning a new job).

 

Yep. Calipers can be replaced independently. I'm 95% sure the rotors can also be replaced independently as well . As for the the pads, they have to be replaced both sides at the same time.

 

werd