divil

I took it to a mechanic. He cleaned up the brakes and removed the vibration dampers - they were old and he said you can't really re-use those. He road tesed the car and said everything was fine. He said his test for dragging brakes was that he could push the car easily. He said if I lift the car and spin the wheels in the air there will always be some dragging with used rotors.

Today I just had the chance to check them again, and they are dragging exactly the same as before. They'll spin about 1/2 to 3/4 of a revolution with a little push...I have to push pretty hard to make them do a full revolution. He did say this was normal, but they definitely were not like this before I did the bearings. Before, I could gently spin the wheel and it would spin for a long time and stop very gardually...now they stop kind of suddenly after less than 360 degrees.

I don't know what to do next...any ideas?

psychoideas

Have you possibly tightened the bearing too much?
That will effect how freely they spin.

divil

It's definitely the brakes...if I remove the pads the wheels spin freely.

Lizard944

Make sure that the outer pads (opposite from the piston side) are seated in the tab on the caliper frame.

divil

Not sure if that applies...this is a turbo with the single-piece calipers. But I'm pretty sure the pads are installed correctly. The mechanic was in there after me.

I made a short video to show what the wheel is like This is with the pads installed. Should I just live with this level of dragging?

psychoideas

Ok, not as bad as I thought but I can see why you are concerned. So you only changed the wheel bearings right? And they didn't drag before this? Did you do this spin test before?
How long since it had new rubber brake hoses? 70s 911s used to suffer from rubber hoses deteriorating over time on the inside (like clogged arteries) and they acted as a bit of a non return valve. Making the brakes drag.
If you searched I'm sure you'd find plenty of info on it.

Not saying that this is your problem but at least it's another thing to investigate.

Good luck

divil

Yes I did this exact test before...a gentle push, and I gave up waiting for the wheel to stop spinning!

All I did was change the bearings and races. With the new bearings and the pads removed, it spins very smoothly, but not for as long as before. That's ok, I expected the new bearings to be a little tighter (the old ones were a little loose). But with the pads in, they are clearly rubbing the rotor (you can even hear it).

Good point about the hoses...the mechanic noted that I would probably see an improvement with new ones. I am planning to do a complete caliper overhaul including hoses anyway. Maybe I should just go ahead with that and see where I end up.

odurandina

perhaps he forgot to re-install the washers?

divil

I don't remember any washers except the ones that go on the mounting bolts (between bolt and caliper). I don't think they would affect the way anything fits.

Lizard944

Ok, now that I have a visual, I can tell you... that is exactly the way all of my wheels turn and I just completely overhauled everything with new pads , rotors, front bearings, and I rebuilt and painted the calipers. I've done tons of brake jobs and I don't ever remember a vehicle not having a little drag like that except immediately after replacing pads when the caliper pistons are still retracted and the brake pedal hasn't been touched yet. What may seem like a little dragging in your video, after applying the brakes to stop the car, may not exist on the road. The pistons and the floating caliper frame get knocked back a little from road vibration when driving. I'll bet if you stopped the car without applying the brakes and jacked it up, the dragging wouldn't be there. I think the free-spinning you had before the bearing job was actually abnormal as opposed to the light dragging you're now demonstrating. I just did my 944 and my Explorer and they both act this way.