I bought the baer rear drum to disk kit a few weeks ago. I finally got the thing installed and did the proper bedding procedure for the pads, I replaced the front pads at the same time as well.

Im having some problems though. I had a loud chirping comming from the left rear caliper after the first bedding run. When I jacked the car up and put it in drive I could still hear a tiny grind/scrape on it. There is some signs of scraping around the outside surface of the rotor as well. I also noticed the rotor is wobbling in and out quite a bit (Id guess 3mm?) on that side, while the right is maybe half that.

My main question right now is for anyone who has set up brakes that require spacing between the caliper housing/frame thing and the rotor. How accurate do I have to make all sides? Baer wants minimum of 0.03" and max of 0.09". On the left I have about 0.032 on the bottom outside, and 0.06+ on the top outside. Is this ok or do those measurements need to match?

Also, my brake pedal constantly feels like it goes to the floor. I know its not actually going to the floor, it stops before its max travell. Im guessing that since I changed the rear to disks, I changed the surface size of the pistons thats being pushed by the fluid. And to make up for it my pedal has to travel much farther to compensate for it. I did not replace the proportioning valve since all the reading I did here left it about even as to requiring it or not. But I dont think it would make any change at all to the pedal travel since everythings still going to the same now larger pistons. So Im thinking I need to get hold of a larger master cylinder and brake booster? If so does anyone know which ones I should go to?

I can get pictures later tonight of the rotors and the wear pattern if it would help any.

 

Even new rotors need to be turned before install. Even if the manufacturere says not to. I always turn mine on a lathe to check trueness before installing- If they are very close, then I don't worry about it until I heat cycle them, then I will pull them and take a very minimal cut to bed the new pads.

Always try and use the softest pad possible to heatcycle a new rotor. The pads that come with a kit are not always best to first use.

 

Drive it for a while Baer zinc plates there rotors the noise will go away after a couple of weeks. DO NOT Resuface the rotors this will not help and you will be wasting money. I have done count less Baer brake installs and I know for a fact the noise will subside.

 

As for you pedal travel being excessive, try bleeding it again. Sometimes after driving a little while helps to force the air out. Just a thought I had...

 

Are you kidding me? Did you read his post?
Lets recap what he said:
"I also noticed the rotor is wobbling in and out quite a bit (Id guess 3mm?) on that side, while the right is maybe half that. "

The excessive pedal travel is from pad knockback because the rotors are warped and need to be trued.

Turn the rotors. Edit: This doesn't mean to cut the heil out of them, it merely means to take off just enough to true them, and to rough them just enough for pad bedding. New shiny smooth rotors take very long to bed the pads properly and can run the risk of hotspotting the rotors if not patient enough to drive carefully until so- especially with Zinc coatings. When you turn a rotor, you are only removing the zinc from the pad contact area , not the rest of the rotor that needs corrosion protection to stay pretty(which shouldn't be there anyways for brakes to function, but impossible to zincwash a rotor without getting it on the pad contact surface)

 

When you were doing your measurements, did you keep a few lugnuts on the rotor to hold it flat? You probably did, or Baer has some sort of device on their system to fasten the rotor to the hub, but I am just making sure the measurements were taken correctly. Other wise the rotor won't sit flat on the axle flange...

 

Axle flange might not be truly flat too.. Just make sure the rotor is tight on the axle.


Ed

 

Thanks for the replies!

I had lugnuts on the rotor when I was playing with it. I didnt at first but soon realized what that does. I dont know actual travel Im just guessing 3mm for now. Im heading out today to get my hands on some kinda tool to tell me if its the rotor or my axle flange thats out.

I tried the cheeper option of just driving the thing some more. Im still going easy on the brakes using them lightly and trying to get firm stops form 60mph down to 15mph or so.

The noise is still present, a loud chirping that is consistant with 1 chirp per rotation of the wheel. (Yes I hung right out the car looking at the thing while a friend held the wheel.) Noise goes away when the pedal is pressed. Now for the new part, I think the caliper is siezing or catching on the rotor when I reverse. It sounds like when a brake isnt really grabbing that well and it makes that low hum noise. But when it does it on my car its vibrating the whole car.

Also the pedal is now changing in firmness. When I first start the car the pedal is soft, but after driving it firms up and stays like that until I put the car in park and let it sit a minute. Does that make any sense at all??

 

Some kind of vacuum problem maybe.