HELP! Wife's car is smoking!!!

Hey all,
My first post on this forum-HELLO! I have a 90 Honda Prelude, but my wife drives a 93 GM that I love. I just changed the front rotors and pads yesterday. Used Disc quiet on the back of the pads. Brakes felt great, but maybe needed a bleed. I used a caliper compressor to get the cals back in rather than bleeding...that ok with a GM?
So today I was driving home in it (I always drive it after I fix it to make sure everything is safe before she and my 5 year old daughter), and when brakes a sharp pull to the LEFT. When I got home, there was smoking coming from what seemed to be the hub on the RIGHT! So it was dark, and I wasn't able to see exactly...but I'm headed out right now with lights and such to check it out. Any ideas? I'm working in the dark with minimal lighting so any advice would be appreciated.

I'm thinking perhaps the bolts that hold the caliper on shouldn't be tight as heck? Loose a little? Mind you, this only happened on one of the two sides I changed. Thanks again,

-paranoidjack

Hey Jack, welcome to AF.

I'd check both sides to be sure the alignment of the pads is correct. On my MGM, I had a time getting them straight.

The mounting bolts holding the calipers should be snug, but not mega-tight.

You may have a sticky caliper(smoke coming from right side....) I compressed mine also, and had no problems. You may want to do a bleed to make sure it's all even.

Great, thanks for the advice. What do you mean about lining them up? Do you mean the pads on each rotor must line up with one another? Or that the two wheels must be perfectly situated in respect to each other?

Can I do a one-wheel bleed on this car, or do I have to bleed at each caliper? Thanks so much for your help.

As for lining them up, I had a bit of trouble getting the new pads to line up where they sit in the calipers. And if I remember right, the two pads are similar so you have to make sure you've got the correct ones in the correct place. Geez, is that understandable??

You'll need to bleed each one separately, I know you've already seen the bleed screw on top of the calipers.

Very odd...
I took the wheel off, and everything looked perfectly fine!!! So I put it back together again, and no problems since! Go figure! I'm still going to need to bleed, but as far as the smoking, it is mysteriously GONE!!!

Maybe there was something on the pads that burned off....hmm.

Is it braking evenly now also?

ya, the braking is fine. Weak (probably from needing a bleed), but fine. When I removed the tire, I did notice that there was "Disc Brake Quiet" that I had applied leaking down onto the rotor. I must have used too much....I scraped it all off and put it back together. So that may very well explain the smoke, but not the hard pull to the left!!!

I betcha with all that stuff on the right side, it decreased the braking to the point where it seemed it pulled to the left....mystery solved!

I betcha with all that stuff on the right side, it decreased the braking to the point where it seemed it pulled to the left....mystery solved!

I'm not so sure. Only enough leaked to take the space of a nickel!

the slides need to be lubercated with a special brake slide lubercint which could have been the problem with it pulling to the left