Replacement brakes - advice please?

[peterbredde]

Hi - I have a 2002 Mitsi Galant 2.5 V6. I need to have the rear calipers replaced - I've had temporary fixes on them but they're beginning to stick again. The discs and pads also have little life left in them.

I'm tempted to replace the job lot as the cars main weakness for me has always been the brakes - they have never really given me any confidence (I've had the car since it had 10k miles).

Is there anything I can do to improve the brakes or would I be wasting my money? The car now has only 66k miles and is mint - so I'm planning to keep for some time.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Dr.Doofenshmirtz]

Just replace the seals - dead easy to do. Properly working brakes will make a big difference!

Unbolt the calliper and sit it with the piston facing upwards.


Get someone to slowly pump the brakes until the piston pops out.


Clamp the brake hose.


Remove the piston and clean it. Cif and a non-stick pan cleaning pad work well.


Syphon out the remaining brake fluid from the calliper with a piece of small hose.

Remove the dust boot. There is a split ring holding it in.




Remove the seal.


Reassemble with a new boot and seal.

I found it easier to fit the boot first, then ease the piston back into the calliper. Use a little brake fluid for lube, DO NOT use oil or grease.


All the bits you need can be bought from http://www.biggred.co.uk/ quite cheaply.

Edited by Dr.Doofenshmirtz on Saturday 10th July 22:15

Edited by Dr.Doofenshmirtz on Saturday 10th July 22:17

[peterbredde]

Many thanks for your help - this is a little beyond my ability though. Looks as though its the garage for me.

Cheers

[Ozzie Osmond]

peterbredde said:

Many thanks for your help - this is a little beyond my ability though. Looks as though its the garage for me.

The piston in the images above needs replacing, not cleaning.

[pits]

Try the VR4 club for more info.

Although I think I could probably answer this for you, I assume you have had the caliper off, I am guessing you/someone else has used copper slip on the slide pins, this is usually the cause of sticking brakes on a Galant, the brakes get hot and the copper slip heats up and just sticks everything together, you need to use the correct lube for it, I forget what it is.

You are probably looking at new pads, new slide pins, the correct lube and a damn good clean of the slide tubes, don't use copperslip or a coppergrease, as it will just make the calipers stick, give that a go first, will be cheaper than getting a garage to rebuild your calipers, and you can do it yourself.

[The Nur]

Mitsubishi you say?

Could always fit Evo brakes from a scrappy. I imagine that would improve your braking somewhat!

[pits]

The Nur said:

Mitsubishi you say?

Could always fit Evo brakes from a scrappy. I imagine that would improve your braking somewhat!

Not really, the N/A Galant is 4 stud, so you would have to convert it to VR4 5 stud, you would then have to find facelift VR4 caliper bracket things that I have just forgotten the name of, then a set of EVO Brembos which are around £300 up most of the time, no real thing as finding one in a "scrappy" gone are the days of scrappy finds, EVOs will be broken for bits.

Not worth the hassle, better off just fitting VR4 brakes, or just upgrading discs,pads and fluid on the standard set up, as it is a later Galant it will probably have the twin pots on the front anyways, so that would be the way I would go, although I think EVO4 brakes fit, but I can't remember if it is EVO 3 or 4 that the Volvo boys go for, and they usually go for a fair whack as well.

[The Nur]