car pulls hard to the left while braking. been doing it awhile but now i think its screwing with my alignment so i'm going to fix it. what might be causing it?

 

Does it always pull to the left? I notice sometimes mine pulls hard either way...but only under slow speed braking. I think it is the front tires just tracking with the imperfections in the road. Does your car do it at all speeds?

Check your rear pads to see if they are uneven between the two sides. I have heard of many people having issues with the rear caliper hanging up. Mine was doing it and wore the outside brake pad on the drivers side down to the steel while the other one was practically new....

Other possibilities: Blown shock on one corner? Tie rods?

 

Check your tire pressures too......

 

every fbody I've ever owned has done it at one point or another, sometimes worse, sometimes not at all. (89 Firebird, 95 z28, 96 SS)

The SS is definately worse, but its only occasionaly and only happens on certain streets. I've got a feeling its just the big tires tracking, but I'll have it checked out when I get an alignment next.

 

the front passenger rim has a lot more brake dust on it than the passenger side rim... what would cause one caliper to not bite as hard as the other side?

it happens at all speeds, and its been getting worse.

 

Try bleeding your brakes... you may have air in one of the lines.. thus giving you un-balanced braking.

 

My suggestion:

Pull the front brakes off....inspect the caliper guide pins and seals, regrease caliper pins and reinstall. Check the flexible brake lines for any leaks, cracks etc. If you can put your car up on (4) jackstands, you might as well do the rears also. They are easier to remove than the fronts and seem to be more succeptible to issues with the guide pins and seals. I would also suggest bleeding the brakes until all old fluid is replaced (upgrade fluid, I use Valvoline Synpower) - Bleed ABS unit first then left rear, right rear, front right, front left.

If you still are having the problem, it may be a problem with the actual brake piston. In that case you would have to rebuild it.

 

If one side has noticeably more brake dust, chances are the caliper bracket is sticking on the guide pins or the piston is sticky. You can rebuild or replace components to fix the problem.

 

how do i go about rebuilding the caliper if necessary? are there kits?

 

Yes. There are actually not that many parts to replace. A piston kit is usually just an o-ring and the outer seal/boot. There is probably a guide pin kit that has new pins and boots for them.

 

i'm thinking back, i think it might have started back when a mechanic replaced my front right wheel hub because the bearings went bad. at the time i thought (and he told me) it might be kinda wierd cause the clips on the back of the pads had fallen off, but even when i changed the pads it still is pulling to the left.

so if this guy had messed up something, what may he have screwed up? is it possible to damage the caliper somehow so that it'll still work just not as good?

i know its working because there are wear marks on my new rotor, but its just not biting as hard as it should i guess...

 

You could go the cheap route and buy new/remany calipers at an auto parts place of chioce (i haven't done a 4th gen, but 3rd gen front calipers,rotors and pads cost me like 100$ for an 89 rs) My right front caliper was seizing up. I think it was like 9$ after core for a new caliper. They're easy to install in you're driveway too. Just need a helper to bleed brakes. That'll give you the excuse to flush the brake system too. Or buy a new expensive brembo aftermarket kit. I opted for the cheap stock fix.

 

It's probably either corroded caliper sliders or a bad caliper. The caliper piston can stick in the bore.



I just took my friends class a motorhome apart and the calipers were both wasted from riding the brakes in the Pennsylvania mountains. They got so hot that all was left of the caliper piston boots was little flakes of white ash. I was like dude your truck was on fire, you may not have seen it but it was burning.

Whatever that has to do with anything

 

I see no one thought about the most common cause may be your old rubber brake lines are collasping under pressure, resulting in a pull to the right or left.

 

Hrm... Ever since you hit the sidewalk barrier thingy?!