I see some listed for my car (98 2.8L) but they don't have sensors attached to them like other brakes.

Anybody?

 

Pads without sensors are the cheep way to go. And I mean CHEEEEP!

You can do it - just take the plugs and wires from the old pads, cut the wires, and solder the ends of the wires together near the plug. Smother the mess in RTV to protect the connection and push the plugs into the connector on the vehicle. Make sure you place the wires in a position so they don't get caught in anything.

You'll have to remember that you will not have a warning when the pads wear down.

 

If the wires are soldered together why wouldn't i get a warning when they wear down?

 

Because soldering them together makes the computer think they are ALWAYS good.. Its the disconnect of the 2 thats signals pad wear.

Wires together (conducting) = Good pad
Wires apart (not conducting) = Worn pad

 

I understand that but if you solder the wires together so the ECU thinks they're good, when the pad does wear down and burns the end wouldn't that creat an open?

As an aside, my pads are not worn so my sensors are good. they just squeal and have no shims. Plus I've tried all types of grease to quiet them down and nothing.

Edit: Never mind. I understand what the first poster means. my question now is, is there a way to remove the sensor end that sits in the pad and place it in the new pads?

 

Well, the sensors are integrated into the pads, so if you buy ones w/o the sensor you will not have anything to connect to. This leaves the connector from the car disconnected. The ECU sees the open and triggers the light. So, you need to either solder the sensor wires together or jumper the pins together. This is the connector that goes to the pads, not on the pads since the pads will be without.

 

Opps posted fast

As far as I know, no.

 

If my current pads are fairly new i.e. have a good chunk of pad left, could i just replace the side that doesn't have the sensor with a new pad with shim? I think the majority of the noise comes from the pad without the sensor since it's on the outer part of the rotor.

 

Normally the innerpad wear out first - In any case if you change the outside pad the inner one will have less friction material and wear out long before the outer.

But why would anyone ever want to replace just one pad? Not a good idea - It will certainly mess up the braking because of the differences in friction between the two sides.

What are you greasing? Some types of pads just make a lot of noise. It is waht disk brakes do. It sounds as if you should just live with the squeeling or change the pads to something that is quiet..

 

That's what I figured, I just wanted to hear someone else opinion on doing that. I guess I'll just change mine out with Centric Ceramics and solder the sensor wires together.