Publisher's Note: Welcome to our 33rd edition of Tech Tips Tuesday on "Expert Brake Maintenance Tips for Top Performance".  We'll be re-publishing an edition of AMSOIL Tech Tips for you every Tuesday.  Click on the Blog Category "AMSOIL" to see everything published to-date.

Expert Brake Maintenance Tips for Top Performance

John Gardner: A Quality and Professional Brake Job Consists More Than Just Slapping Pads On – Welcome to this AMSOIL Tech Tip.

When professionals do a brake job, they do a lot of little things that make a significant difference. One of them is lubing the caliper slides, and you can do this right out in the driveway. It's simple to do, but let's take a look at two types of calipers. Well, they're moving calipers because they move. I'll show you that in a minute.

The first one here, this is actually a floating caliper, and it floats on pins. The other one is called a sliding caliper, and it actually slides on those support keys. Now, of course, Motorhead Garage, we're going to show you how they actually work.

So, if you look right here, you come down, this is actually a floating caliper, and it floats back and forth on these pins. So, what happens is when the pad hits the rotor, the whole caliper actually moves. It's a moving caliper, and then the outboard pad will actually contact the rotor.

On the sliding one, well, the same thing here, it's got to move back and forth, so these slides are going to push the whole caliper back; there it goes, it slides back, and then when it hits, it moves forward. But it's important to keep them clean. Now, why is that?

Well, you can see right here, this is called a square-cut seal, and the square-cut seals in the piston, and when it moves, it distorts a little bit. That's the only thing pulling those pads away from those rotors. Len here, it is right here, this is a cutaway; this is so cool.

So, you can see this little seal right here. Just think about that for a minute, that just distorting that much pulls those pads away from that rotor. Man, it's important to keep brakes clean when you're doing a brake job.

Len Groom: Exactly, you don't want to have buildup on any of those parts – no dust, no grime or grease or rust or anything. You've got to make sure that it's clean

John Gardner: And you guys got a product to do that.

Len Groom: We do. Our brake cleaner has a real high solvency, so it's going to cut through any of that grease and grime that builds up on there, and we've got a nice high-pressure can so you're going to get some pressure. Be careful while you're spraying it, and then it dries and gets out of the way real quick so you can apply that lube.

John Gardner: There you go, you demo it for us. I got a pin out right here, go ahead and let it rip, man, give me a blast. There you go, that's fine, look at that. Then wipe it here and clean it, and things like brand new. You may want to take it to a wire wheel, but make sure it's clean.

Expert Brake Maintenance Tips for Top Performance