Buellwinkle

I got my Porterfield pads and I'm ready to put them on. Should I get the MB anti-squeal paste or will any work as well? When I remove the wheel, is there a pin or screw to remove to get the pads out? Do I have to unbolt the caliper? To I need any special tools?

I though we can do this as a group event in OC/LA area but only two people took advantage of the $100 Porterfield special last week. They are still a good deal for $135 in comparison to other Porterfield dealers that charge as much as $169 for them.

SoCal240/6

I think any antisqueal would work, MB or otherwise.

Squealing is, surprisingly, caused by the pad backing plate vibrating against the caliper piston! The paste serves as a cushion between the two surfaces to quiet the vibration.

You don't need any special tools, other than a metric socket (I think its 10mm).

DO NOT REMOVE THE CALIPER!!! Its not that complicated.

You just remove the two bolts that go through the mounting holes in the brake pads, as I recall. Its been a while since I've done the fronts, so my memory is a little fuzzy, but I do recall that it is simply 2 10mm bolts to remove. (The rears are even easier, its just a single pin you drive out!)

I can take a look again tonight to refresh my memory, if you get stuck or need more help.

Before you take the old pads out, push the old pads back a bit with something (I used a screwdriver wrapped with a bit of electrical tape). You need to push the pistons back a bit to fit the new pads in, since they will be thicker than the old.

2 other things I'd recommend:

1) Some blue loctite for the bolts. Just to be safe.

2) Zip ties for the sensors. You are going to need to mount them out of the way somewhere. You don't want them just dangling around.

Oh, Ryan

I made this mistake once, and while I'm guessing that you won't - just to be sure....when you push the pistons back into the calipers, make sure you remove some brake fluid from the reservoir. Otherwise, it overflows and gets all over your paint, which is not a good thing.

Dave

SoCal240/6

I found that removing brake fluid was not necessary.

Because you are only pushing the pads back to where they originally were when the car was new (the Porterfields are the same thickness as the OEM pads). Unless you have added brake fluid, you should not overflow (the level goes down as the pads wear, when you push the pads back, you are simply driving the level back up to where it was when the pads were new).

If your pads were 3/4 worn, and because of that you added brake fluid at some point, you would definately need to remove some before pushing the pads back.

But, it is still a good idea to keep an eye on the fluid level whenever you push the pistons back.

MARK CUMMINS

I have LOTS of ANTI SQUEAK from MERCEDES both liquid for the PADS and paste for the backing plates...you will need to replace the mounting bolts OR CLEAN and RE APPLY BLUE LOCKTITE
to the mounting bolts.....SEE me on SAT at the SHOW or send me a email to remind me to bring some

BTW I ALSO ORDERED PADS BUT did NOT GET THEM for the GROUP price

Buellwinkle

You can thank Jerry Jones of myroadster.net for making such a fuss at Porterfield that they forced SpeedToys.com to raise their prices. Call it restraint of trade, call it price fixing, it's not fair. I would trade my Benz in for a Toyota before I would buy anything from Jerry.

As for Saturday, I have to coach my daughters first softball game Saturday from 8:00 AM until 2:00 PM, opening ceremonies and stuff. Will the show still be going on in the afternoon? How does the anti-sqeak for the pads work? I understand the paste on the backing pads. I owned Harley's so I've got plenty of locktite!

MARK CUMMINS

I have M.B. antisqueak for the pads,to soak in to the PAD and the
copper stuff from M.B. for the backing it WORKS !!
We used it on the SQUEAKY ONES and it made the Squeak go away also trim/the sides of the pads to help the chatter
and lube/clean the caliper for the BEST results...

I will let you know when MY pads show up for the INSTALL

revstriker

I'm not sure of all the details here, but being in the retail business, I can see perhaps another side to this: When negotiating costs and figuring retail prices and margin, we rely on the supplier to give us retail information of competitors which we use in creating our sales plans and in turn, our buy quantities. When the supplier goes out and sells to another retailer at a lower cost giving that retailer the ability to undercut our sales price, it affects our ability to sell to plan. Our first option would be to go to the supplier and force them to give us a cost concession so that we could lower our price to match. Or they could go out and force the other retailer to match their pricing cadence as they have with us.

I do not know myroadster.net or SpeedToys.com so I don't know if this is what happened (or even if it works this way in the auto parts business). Just saying that there could be other details.

Buellwinkle

I don't know how things work in other countries but here in the U.S. a manufacturer/supplier can not price discriminate (at least legally) to a reseller. They can charge different prices based on quantity, shipping costs and region but they cannot charge two nationwide internet based dealers, buying the same quantity, same product, shipped to the same place two different prices. That's restraint of trade and if it impacted my business I can assure you a lawyer would be involved. A retailer can charge what ever he wants to anyone he wants.

As for retailers getting together to decide on what to charge, that's price fixing, also illegal.

I can not prove nor do I care if Porterfield breaks (or is that brakes) the law or if the dealers fix prices because I would have done what every consumer does when faced with such information and a high price for a product, shop elsewhere.

mleskovar

I don't know if I'd put anti squeel from MB on the Porterfield pads since they are a different composition. The anti squeel paste/lubrication between the pad backing plate and piston should be generic though. I see two bolts on the front brake caliper housing..one above the pads and one below, both accessed from inside the well....correct? They look like the sliding pins and have a rubber accordian cover just behind the bolt head? And for the rear pads I see the pin but nothing to capture it. Is it just friction fit? It also looks like the front and rear (only one on the right rear) pad wear sensors go into a connector which plugs into a female connector. I was thinking of just pulling out the whole sensor wiring, connector and all, and putting a plastic plug (from Ace hardware) in the female connector.

SoCal240/6

mleskovar, yes, that is all correct.

Flashman

Mostly correct. However, you can charge different prices if there is no posted wholesale price and instead independently negotiate each distribution deal with each dealer. The problem occurs when you misrepresent your wholesale price to a dealer, making it seem it is the same price for all dealers. Hence the violation of 'fair trade'.

revstriker

Beullwinkle, thanks for responding to my post. I believe in general, you are correct here. However, there are some instances where prices are "fixed" that are not considered illegal. When a supplier works in partnership with retailers/dealers, they have a vested interest in the sales of the product through their customer. For example: If I am a buyer for a company and I agree in cooperation with a supplier to a sales plan, and in turn, the inventory to support that plan, it would not be wise for that supplier to sell to someone else (competitor) at a lower price that would cause me to miss my plan. If this were to happen, the first two things that I would do would be to cancel, or readjust future orders (down), and I would hit them up for a reduction in cost (cost concession/partial refund), of all the shipments that I have received or placed orders for so far. This is why some suppliers have price cadences that they negotiate with retailers/dealers in order to keep pricing level. This is an over simplified version of course. But one way you can see this, is if you ever priced perfume in department stores. You will find that most of the top brands are the same price (or really close) in every store.

I 10000% agree with your last statement though. As a smart consumer, if you don't like the price, shop elsewhere!!

--Sorry folks if I got a little (waaay) off topic here.