240sx Brake Problem

Anybody have this problem? I was testing on Friday. Came in after a session and the outside pad on the right rear caliper had disenegrated......metal to metal. The inside pad wasn't terribly worn, but some (these were new organic pads). It beat up if not destroyed the rotor, and the caliper was leaking fluid at the boot. So, I scrambled and found a new caliper and rotor, bolted the thing back together, thinking that a I had gotten a bad pad that had seperated. Saturday for the warm up, go out 6 laps, same thing happens again. I no longer had the money or time to go buy all new parts. And besides I wasn't convinced it was a pad problem. So much for the weekend. After talking to few people, and forming my own ideas, I have come to a couple of ideas of what the problem might be. 1) the stainless steel braided brake line formed a kink, collapsing in on itself. This then doesn't allow the pad to retract and it burns itself up. 2.) the Caliper pins under load get hung up (from wear or a notch that formed) and again the pads burns up.
The interesting part is that I never felt anything terrible unusual while actually on the track, although my the brake pedel firmness was a bit inconsistent (though never really soft). So anybody ever have these problems and if so, your solutions? Thanks in advance.

Tristan Smith
ITA Nissan 240sx #56

By 'new organic pads' are you refering to stock OEM pads or some parts stores equivelant? Depending on the car, the stock pads can range from very good, mediocre, and 'totally suck'. The first generation Honda CRX OEM pads fell into the 'totally suck' catagory. A new set of pads would last about 10-15 laps at a track like Blackhawk, where as the Volkswagen GTI's could run all week-end on their same set of OEM pads without no problems. Of course the brakes would come back a little when you got down to the backing plates because the backing plates didn't fade (i.e. really expensive 'metalic' brake pads). I don't miss the days of OEM pads one bit!

What track did you run at? Maybe someone else from that area can advise you on what to expect for brake life. If you are in Cen-Div and you try and run Blackhawk or Road America on soft pads, forget it! But you can run soft pads at IRP, Gratten, or Mid-Ohio and they might hold up reasonably well, but you will still only get one week-end out of them.

Tristan,

I had a RR caliper start leaking too. I replaced the seals and it continued to leak, wound up replacing the caliper.

I use OEM type pads in the rear and have not had a problem. It seems to me like you have a caliper hanging up due to the fact that only the outer pad came apart. I would check that the pins are straight and the holes are not worn. If the slider holes are rounded out some, it may cause the piston to cock and screw up the seal.

Just reread your post. I completely missed the issue of just the outside pads wearing out. Sorry for the bad info. Does sound like a caliper hanging up on the pins/slides (assuming that these are not double piston calipers).

Could also be temp related???? i.e. work fine at ambient but bind up when hot??

Those pistons have been getting tight since 1982.