SavantFusion Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Ok, so I am new here and figured I would start out with a issue I have run into with my 2011 Ford Fusion SE. So I bought my 2011 about a year and a few months ago and it is by far the best car I have ever owned. it was re-inspected right after buying it and all was good. So other then finding out my back caliper was bad 3 months in no issues and honestly it wants that hard to replace. Fast forward to today ... well a month or so ago. (don't peg me on the time I don't have a lot of cash to spare and I need bill paid first and no I am not driving it atm) So I go get it inspected and everything passes except the front rotors and front brakes! Yay me! I have done front brakes before about 30 times over the years. This is the first time on my fusion so I do a couple youtube video checks and noticed the need for the torque driver so I grabbed one and was good to go. Ok so they say rotors were rusted a bit and brakes needed to be replaced, no biggie. LIARS!! Rotors were rusted solid on to the spindle so 3 hours later and a sore shoulder plus hammer and rust penetrating oil rotor one is off and replaced. Jump to the next day same this for the other side except the torque was screwed up before so add in a power drill and a metal bit later that screw is removed. Add on top 4 hours later and again said sore shoulder and penetrating oil second one is off and rotor is replaced and brakes done. I back out of friends garage a little grinding but that's normal usually disappears in like 3 minutes max. So 2 weeks later and a lot of looking on my part and that grinding is still there and it is eating into the rotor little by little. HELP!! I can only think Calipers but odd and hell that 2 working calipers stopped working. HELP!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Speaking from personal experience - did you put a pad in backwards? It it wearing a groove in the rotor? If so it should be easy to find the problem on the pad. Did you grease the caliper pins? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SavantFusion Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 I did grease pins. I have to ask this cause I never have done it, how would I put the brake pads on backwards? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 The outside face of the pad would be facing the rotor. In my case (this was about 12 years ago on a Lincoln LS) the rivet on the back of the pad dug into the rotor. Luckily I did a quick test drive of only a few hundred feet so it didn't cause any permanent damage. Just throwing that out there as a remote possibility. If that was the case there would be a groove on the rotor. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SavantFusion Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 Ok I was thinking that each side was pad specific for a moment there. No, I may not be a mechanic but metal side goes on the outside is built into my head. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Probably not likely but easy to check. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SavantFusion Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 only difference I saw was the squealer that was attached but that's it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 (edited) What is the wear pattern on the rotor? How many of the front 4 pads are grinding? Edited January 4, 2017 by akirby 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monochrome11 Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 If you have grinding and grooving into the rotor, you have metal contact to the rotor. Most likely a pad in installed backward. I have done many brake jobs and know how to do it. I still installed one backward once but realized it right away like akirby did and corrected it before any damage occurred. It sounds like your damage has gone too far. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 If you have grinding and grooving into the rotor, you have metal contact to the rotor. Most likely a pad in installed backward. I have done many brake jobs and know how to do it. I still installed one backward once but realized it right away like akirby did and corrected it before any damage occurred. It sounds like your damage has gone too far. Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's done that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SavantFusion Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 Brakes are installed correctly not backwards. From what I can see (I have no garage and there is now snow on the ground here) its all four pads pushing into the rotors. It's like the caliper isn't releasing but the from what I can see the calipers are not engaging which is just a issue in itself. Getting a bit pissed at this simple process that is being a pain in my pocket! I miss driving my car!!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SavantFusion Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 it just looks like pad wear but its straight squeal/ grinding on the rotor not big gashing into the rotor 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlong Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 (edited) If the caliper appears to not be releasing it could be a stuck pin. I now make it a habit of replacing the pins along with the pads. If the pins didn't go in without resistance then that could be the problem. If there was some moderate resistance when putting the pins back in then that could be it. Also if you put too much grease in the pin hole then it could be trying to force the pin back out and not allowing it to slide freely. Also Not sure if this is a problem on these cars but if you bled the brakes or flushed the fluid and you let the reservoir go dry you could have sucked air into the ABS pump and that would make it to where the brakes won't work. This happened to me on a chevy 1500, early 2000's model. You would have to have the ABS pump cycled to get the air out while bleeding the brakes. Ever since I did that I have never let the reservoir go dry! Edit: It could also be a stuck caliper piston. You might take the caliper off and have someone press the brake pedal and see if the piston comes out. If it pops out it's ok, You can press it back in. You might want to get a caliper rebuild kit, which is basically just the rubber seal/dust boot. Edited January 9, 2017 by jlong 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcroni19 Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 I just did my rear brakes on a 2010, doing the fronts when my pads get shipped - I remember on the rears there was a difference between the guide pins. Not sure if that is true on the fronts. one had a rubber bushing on the end, one did not. Also maybe check to see that your release springs are properly placed and the brake hardware is not contacting the rotors. The clue should be in the rotor if its a constant grinding. What are the chances of a small piece of metal stuck in the pad material? Maybe post some pictures to see how things are going. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PartsHateHammers Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 I was looking in to this as well, my calipers compress just fine but it sounds like there is some noise coming from the wheel well. Is it possible your rubber break hose was damaged during your last project. The hoses can be damaged on the inside without any visual damage or kinks, or so I've heard. Maybe your caliper isn't fully compressing and decompressing? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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