I just put a new set of pads and rotors on my front brakes. Before I did this, my braking absolutely sucked because of how worn down the old pads were. The braking difference now is just phenominal. Anyways, when I am accelerating, the car pulls to the right bad. The faster I go, the worse it is. Doing 50 MPH I have to have the wheel turned 20-30 degrees or so to keep the car straight. After 6 or 7 minutes of driving around, smoke comes from the right front wheel well, and smells extremely bad (like burning brake pads). This did not happen at all before I did the pads and rotors. Could it have been something I did, or is the caliper screwed now for some reason? What do you guys think? I'm clueless because it didn't happen before I did the new pads and rotors. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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1984 Camaro Sport Coupe - Rebuilt 355 S/D TPI L98, Crane 2032 CompuCam, Crane adjustable fuel pressure regulator, MSD Blaster coil, custom burned PROM, stock TPI intake, Accel 24# injectors, gutted air box with K&N filters
F41 Suspension Package, 700R4 Tranny, TCI Breakaway torque converter, 3.27 Posi Rear
Hooker Shorty Headers, Catco High-Flow 3" Cat, Flowmaster 3" American Thunder Cat-Back

Best 1/4 Mile Run:
13.847 @ 95.91 MPH

1992 1LE B4C Police Camaro RS - 305 TPI 5-Speed

 

I think that's normal. New rotors have a coating on them and until it is worn off(should take very long) they will smoke. Drive them for an hour and it should fix it. Or spray some brake parts cleaner on them and I think that will also get rid of the coating.

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'86 IROC 5-speed
305 LG4
edelbrock performer rpm intake
edelbrock 600 cfm carb
msd pro billet hei distributer
'95 3.23 rearend
hotchkis rear suspension
PST front polygraphite suspension
"speed kills. buy a f@&d, live forever."

 

Just wondering if when you took the caliper off if you pushed the piston back in all the way? It might be just keeping the pad pushed slightly against the rotor, this would cause the pull to be more noticeable at high speeds. Also I did have an 86 camaro that used to pull to the left and it turned out the inner lining of my brake lines were colapsed, so this could do it also ( not letting the pressure out). But these are just thoughts so Good Luck.

Yes they should smell and smoke a little when new but they should not pull.


[This message has been edited by 88firebird305 (edited October 17, 2001).]

 

did u season the rotors? or whatever its called? driving and stopping hard, etc. whatever the sequence is.

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- David
88' GTA 5.7L TPI MODS---> air foil, K&N, Shift Kit, 180* therm, TB bypass, Gutted CAT, Flowmaster 80 Series

http://www.geocities.com/david_angel_16

 

Replace the rubber brake lines that connect to the calipers. My '87 did the same exact thing.

 

Ditto. Sounds like a calapsed brake hose to me. Do yourself a favor and replace the rubber ones with stainless steel braided ones from Earls or Russel and you won't have to worry about it ever again..........

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1987 GTA L98 MD8
355, TFS Heads, LT4 Hot Cam
My GTA

The Minnesota F-body Club

 

Also a good chance of it being the calliper... sometimes after doing a brake job, they don't retract properly and keep pressure on the pads. Have a shop check it out right away before you crack a rotor and get yourself into a real mess.

 

Possibly when you had the caliper off, you rotated it 180 degrees when you put it back on. This will kink it when the wheels are turned a certain way and either keep the brake from working, or cause it to stick on.

 

Hey guys, you guys are really freaking me out here.
#1. That coating on the rotor, you're supposed to take that off. With the rotors I am familiar with, they put it on there as a rust inhibitor, notice how it's a bit greasy/oily. Get it off.

#2. On a fresh set of brakes, do not stop hard from a high speed. Your brakes are trying to achieve an interface between the pads and the rotors. If you stop fast, you transfer too much energy to the pads in the form of heatand you glaze the pads, and your brakes won't work. Also, too much heat applied to the surface of the rotor WILL WARP THE ROTOR. Break them in slowly at low speeds with a generous stopping distance. Take 50 city driving miles to break them in.

As a note of caution, if you have never done a brake job, get someone you know to help you out. If you're driving with bad brakes, you could hurt yourself or someone else, or more importantly, me. Fix the Brakes!

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355 c.i.
Dart 180 Heads
Lunati 224/224 cam
Harland Sharp 1.5 rockers
Performer RPM Manifold
Holley 600 cfm double pumper
Hooker Super Competition Headers
Flowmaster Exhaust
Competition Engineering Sub-frame connectors
Super T-10
GM posi 3.42 rear
Hurst Roll Control
13.9@102