Late last Fall I changed the brakes and rotors on our 2000 Saturn LS2. They felt soft and then shortly after the timing belt tensioner died and the car sat for 6 months. The car has been back on the road for a little and the timing belt is working, but I noticed a noise in the frontend when in roundabouts. I took the tire and discovered I screwed up the brakes some how. Something isn't right because the shoes are not swiping the entire space. On the out side it is wearing near the center of the rotor and on the inside it is wearing on the outside of the rotor. Obviously, I didn't put the caliber etc... back together properly, but I was consistent... I screwed up both sides! I must have aligned something wrong. Does anyone have a photo of the caliber/brakes in place and/or any ideas how I screwed up?
Wife is None TOO Happy! Help!
Rj

 

 

My brake pads extend much farther than the edge of the caliper. They said these pads are a direct replacement. Now, I'm not sure. However, I did have the springs on the other side of the caliper lip. Obviously wrong!
Thanks for the pictures!
Rj

 

Okay, I see that I had the springs on wrong, but how it god's name do you put these springs on? I surrender!
Rj

 

 

I got it! Finally! It wasn't until I realized how the spring clip works was I able to get it to go into place. There are two actual "spring" sections near each end of the clip. I started on the bottom and routed the clip to the top. Then, I used a channel lock to elongate, or apply pressure to the bottom spring section. This brought the top closer to the hole. While holding the channel lock on the bottom section, I used a needle nose pliers to "stretch" tension into the upper spring section and pushed it into the upper hole. What I discovered is... both the bottom and the top spring sections must share the tension equally. If you only apply tension to the upper or lower... it is next to impossible to fit the clip into place.

Yes, I pinched a few fingers, snapped a couple knuckles and had to search for the spring clip in the garage more than three times! Might have said a few 4 letter words as well! Thanks for the pictures... they helped a bunch!
Rj