My 88 GTA pulls to the right on hard braking.


1. Right front wheel heats up more than left front.

2. The piston is really hard to seat, in the RF caliper. Even with the C clamp on it, fully torqued, it s-l-o-w-l-y moves inward, and creaks as it moves.


I guess it could be the LF hose, since if it is clogged, it will not let the LF caliper get pressure as soon as the RF.

Or it could be the RF caliper being "sticky", too.

Any way to determine which it is ???

Thanks,

too cheap to just replace evrything !!

 

I would suggest removing the hose from the caliper and put the end in something like a mason jar and have someone slowly depress the brake pedal while watching to see what kind of flow you get from the hose. If you get a nice stream of fluid then it is time to rebuild or replace the caliper (might have rust in the piston bore). If it is just a trickle out of the hose, disconnect the upper end of the hose and try pressing the pedal again, if this improves the flow, replace the hose. If the flow doesn't improve then you could have either a blocked line, proportioning valve, line from master cylinder to valve or bad master cylinder.
Personally I'd bet on the rusty caliper piston bore.

 

It's probably your hoses. I had to replace mine. They weaken and collapse internally, causing them to hold pressure. That sounds like what's going on with yours where it hard to seat the piston.

 

If you get a even flow of fluid (when bleeding your brakes), your hoses are probaly fine, get your car jacked up and get your friend in your car and give it brake, at various pressure rates, and see if you can spin any of your tires (2), if not your calipers are probaly fine, get your allingment checked if the first two are okay. Thats what I had to do.

 

My car pulled to the left when braking. Also, without the brakes applied, the right wheel wouldn't turn when the car was jacked up. Eventually (after expertly scoring the rotor), while trying to change the brake pads I realized that right caliper wouldn't open all the way. I replaced both of my front calipers ($12.00 each if you give them your old one), it took a couple of hours, but it's not extremely difficult. Count on replacing brake pads if you're doing this... (to keep everything in balance)

Rear brakes (if they are drum), are a completely different story: they have 20something pieces, it's easy to get yourself confused and those good old brake line fittings will probably be stuck to your wheel cylinders, which means you'll get to replace them too, which is a complete nightmare (dremel + vise-grips worked for me)..... I am allright now

 

yea... i had the exact same thing happen to me when i first bought my 82...... first i thought it was the caliper, replaced that.. then it still did it..
i tried everything..

eventually i replaced my hose.. that did it... ALL THAT WORK, and it was just a cheap hose... heh... i learned off that one.


i would just replace the hoses on both sides... and doing the back axle one couldnt hurt either.

 

Just for the archives..... it was the left front brake hose. I replaced the 2 front calipers, before replacing the hose, since they were cheaper, and since a few guys had suggested the calipers might be the cause. But the pull to the right only stopped after I replaced the left front brake hose. And it was a b*itch, too. I had to remove the bracket to get the metal brake line to mate with the hose!

Thanks to all who helped. :hail:

Now it's time to drive back to the inspection mechanic and get my new 2004 sticker! :lala: