Thread: rotor touching ebrake, wheel hard to turn.

hi. i changed my rear brakes today which was easy but after i was done (and yes i pumped the brakes and everything is fine) i noticed that the wheel doesn't turn smooth.

i took the wheel out. still the rotor is hard to move.
i took the brakes off and i think i found the problem (but dont know how to fix)

its like the ebrake inside is touching the rotor a little like i pressed the e brake half way but not all the way and has nothing to do with the new brakes.

i can drive with that but it gets really hot.

please help me fix it i spent like 6 hours trying to fix it. i have to drive somewhere tomorrow morning so i must fix it tonight.
tnx.

Make sure it's seated properly top and sides. Then that the adjuster isn't out of whack and that the cable is moving freely.

What where is the adjuster?

It'll be the little thing in between the pads.. if there is one. It's been a while since I hated on the rear brake setup of a W body. Especially since I swapped mine out to the 04-08 caliper based ebrake setup.

its a star wheel under the hub, you want to close it a bit, put the rotor back on make sure its free. may take a few adjustments.

Scott.. I see that's a non W body photo based on the screw hole in the hub. I'm not 100% sure if we have an adjuster or if it's just the sucky cable driven thingy. Cause that horseshoe isn't really seperate pads. It's one suckball setup that tortures the fack out of anyone doing a bearing.

hes a 99 so it should be just like mine, i have the star wheel. when i changed my rotors the first time, i had to adjust it.

the 04 have the cable deal. like you upgraded to.


and that pic came from grandprix.net. but the star wheel is the same, it was more of a reference pic as what to look for. it should be on the bottom. our e brakes work just like old school drum brakes.

i forgot to say, there is a rubber plug on the backing plate, you pull that plug and stick a brake tool in the slot, then you work the star wheel, but is a pita to do most of the time.

brake tool is nothing more then a flat piece of metal rounded off at the ends, and angled for easy of use. still a pita. worked pretty good for old school drum brakes, not so much on the e brakes set ups.

and the d/s star maybe on the bottom, the pass side the star maybe on the top. or vise versa.


the tool on the far right. is for the star wheel.

Ok I did it. The picture looks almost like.
I used a plier and had to release the brakes a little. The two bolts.

you lost me with the 2 bolts, but glad you got it backed off the drum.

Sorry I was replying while working on it.
I meant.

I guess it wasn't just the ebrake.
It was the brakes themselves too.

There's the caliper bolts and 2 more for brake adjustment I guess.
I released them a little.

I left them half open. Is it good?

no those to bolts are the bolts that hold the caliper on . make sure they are tight.

what you want to do is take the caliper bracket off, lift the bracket and caliper off as one unit. then turn the the rotor. if its dragging, take the rotor off, you will see the e brake pads behind the hub. then turn that star wheel so it closes. you put just the rotor on, and spin it before putting the brakes back on. if the rotor is spinning freely, the caliper may not be opening all the way back up and holding the pads tight to the rotor.

Holy crap ....

Please.. tighten them and sell your tools

I freed the ebrake totally( I don't care just wanna be over it)

But on the caliper there's 4 bolts.

2 holding the caliper on which is tight.

And 2 more that adjusting the pads correct?

The brakes rubbing the rotor so I opened the bolts a little (the ones that have the plastic thing on the.)

Is that ok?

get us a better pic of what your talking about. theres only 2 bolts that hold the caliper to the bracket, and 2 more that hold the bracket to the knuckle.

And none of those 4 should be loose. Ever.. one can come loose.. allow the caliper to move and crash you.

All 4 bolts must be tight on the caliper.

2 for the bracket and 2 for the caliper itself, if you left them loose the caliper bolts will fall out and so will the caliper.

The brakes will always be nearly touching the rotor.

Ok but if Ill tight them all it won't move freely.
So what's going on there.