ecarter423

Okay i have an insanely loud squeaking noise coming from my front brakes, so I took it into a shop and they said they have to rebuild the brake caliber's because the pistons are sticking. I had ceramic pads put on while they were trying to get a hardware kit because they don't have one for the Tc. They said the only place to get it from was the dealer and it was $95. bucks and that I'd have to buy it if I wanted them to rebuild it. My question is, how hard it is to rebuild them and should I just buy the kit myself and do the work?

Thanks!

ack154

iTrader: (7)

That sounds... odd. I would maybe look to get a second opinion. Without seeing them, it sounds like you might just have really low pads and there is a piece scraping the rotor as you're driving. How are your pads? Is the rotor in decent shape?

ecarter423

My pads are only a few months old and still have a lot left on them. Rotors are dirty, but not warped. I thought maybe something with the heat shield but it's fine too.. It only makes the sounds when I'm braking around 40-50mph and from 70-80mph.. He said the rotors are getting way too much heat from the pads sticking. Said it was caused by pistons sticking.

ack154

iTrader: (7)

I guess it's possible. I don't know much about having the calipers rebuilt though - never had to go through that. I'd also look into how much replacement calipers would be. If not from your local dealer, look up on TRDsparks.com (and click the OEM parts search on the right).

ecarter423

Thanks for the quick responses. I appreciate the help. I guess i'll have to call a few shops, TRDsparks.com doesn't have calipers on there from what I saw. Just pads and rotors.

ack154

iTrader: (7)

Check this:
http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...layCatalogid=0

This is for an 09 tC (not sure what year you have) but they should all be the same anyway. You can get the caliper, the piston, or an "overhaul" kit... which I think is what you'd need for the rebuild.

ecarter423

Awesome, thanks I'll look into it and ask sparks if the overhaul kit would work. My Tc is an 06, but like you said it should all be interchangable throughout most of the Tc.

I'll definitely be hanging around this site for a long time.

faux_ghost

I had to have one of mine rebuilt about a month ago. It cost me 50 bucks and was fixed, I can stop now...yay

sciontc_mich

have you thought of checking the sliding pins of the calipers? Those can lose their lube over time and cause the caliper to stick. If those are dry (no lube) then there's something to try first.

ecarter423

I have not, but I can have the guy at the shop look at it again this weekend. He said something about using lube to help for now. I'll probably do this until it starts back up.

Ghost: That's a great deal compared to the $160 he quoted me to get both rebuilt.

Domo

iTrader: (3)

dang my girl has 30 thousand miles...drives the car daily and sometimes hard breaking. We still havent changed our brakes.

ecarter423

Well mine is an 06, and the only thing I've had to replace is the tires and the brake pads / rebuilt calipers.. which isn't bad for almost 80k miles.

sciontc_mich

yeah that lube is what happened with mine, the sliding pins needed to be lubed up and caused the one pad to wear slightly faster. Others have ignored lubing up the sliding pins, and the caliper actually seized that pin inside the housing. ouch. so hope that is what helps cure it, cheaper than a new caliper. i'd say it's like every 15k miles those pins need to be lubed. There is a special lubricant that toyota uses, one mechanic used silicone on mine and made it all "gummy". so try and find the right stuff

update just found the toyota part
08887-01206 it's called rubber grease, it's actually a lithium soap glycol grease that the service manual says to use, works a lot better than the silicone the mechanic was trying to use.

ecarter423

Thanks I'll be sure to pick some up this weekend and have the shop use it.


UPDATE: Just an FYI, I had them look at my brakes again and this is what was causing the squealing. When I had my ceramic pads put on, it wasn't properly on and was slightly touching the rotors incorrectly, causing a small rut in the rotor. So they sanded down my pads and rotors to a smooth surface and the squeal is gone!