Could someone point me in the right direction? I need to put brakes on my 02 Diamante. I will need front and back rotors and front & back pads. I will not need to do my E-brake shoes (I never use it). Please recommend what has worked for you guys. I went L'-Cheap-O' on my last set. I'm trying to avoid groaning, chattering and severe brake dust. My wife does 90% of the driving. She is not a brake friendly driver. If you know of good website on where to purchase the brakes you recommend. That would also be helpful. I'm looking to stay away from the extreme high end, but whatever it takes.

Thanks!

 

I recommend only original Mitsubishi factory parts. That is the only way to be sure the new braking components are all compatible with the characteristics of your Diamante. The best price I have found is from Parts.com where they sell for 31% off the price you would pay at your dealer. Parts.com has been updating their website lately, so sometimes it takes a while for the page to load, so give it time.

I know a lot of people like to go with "performance" aftermarket brands, but quality varies greatly and you can throw off the designed-in balance of the braking system if the new parts have more, or less, stopping power than the original design. Then, if you have problems you can't be sure if it is the aftermarket parts, or something else. The original brakes have always worked just fine for me.

Make sure you, and anybody else that touches your car, always correctly torques the lug nuts. Incorrectly torqued lug nuts is the leading cause of rotor warping.

 

mrvivona I will probally follow your advice and go the OEM route. Great website also......
Any chance you might have the torque specs for the (2002 Diamante) lug nuts and the caliper bolts?

Thanks for all help!

 

Lug nuts - Make sure the center of the wheel and the lug nuts are fully seated first, then tighten in a star pattern, going to 40 foot-pounds the first time around, then to 80 foot-pounds for final tightening.

For the bolts that mount the caliper assembly - Front brakes, 65 ft. lbs. Rear brakes, 40 ft. lbs.

For the bolts that mount the pad assembly to the caliper - Front brakes 54 ft. lbs. Rear brakes, 24 ft. lbs.

I recommend you get a copy of the factory service manual. It provides valuable information and step-by-step instruction for all parts of your Diamante. The only one I could find near your 2002 year Diamante was one for a 2000 model. That should be fine since year-by-year changes were insignificant. As of this posting, here is one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2000-...sQ5fLiterature

 

mrvivona much appreciated. Thanks for the info and the rapid response. I was going to ask, if you knew where I could get my hands on an 02 service manual. I did find an 01 service manual. I guess that would work also. My dad has an 01 Diamante. To be honest, I think the changes from 01 to 02 was cosmetic. His front grill and the back are different. Under the hood appears to be the same. Allthough, I've only seen the heater core gasket issue on the 2002 models, or maybe I'm wrong. Well thanks again for the help.

 

I have a 1999 and my wife has a 2002. I use my 1999 manual for both. The only differences I have found are the 2002 has a different radio and a different exhaust setup.

The exhaust system in the 1999 has a single cat converter with two O2 sensors. The 2002 has an additional smaller cat immediately after each bank's exhaust manifold. Each of those cats have a front and rear O2 sensor, so the 2002 has four O2 sensors. In my 1999 manual it actually shows both setups because 1999 Diamantes sold in California had the dual cat design whereas 1999 Diamantes sold for the remaining states (called "Federal") had the single cat design.

There may be other minor differences, but so far I have not had any problem using my 1999 manual for the 2002.

As to the heater core gasket issue, there used to be a Diamante Owners Group website (now defunct) that had a database of heater core gasket failures and it looked like it could happen to any second generation Diamante. It happened to our 2002 and I replaced the gaskets myself by getting the heater core out through the driver's side using a procedure that did not require removing the entire dash or discharging the refrigerant. Actually, if you should experience the heater core gasket problem, the first thing you should try is putting Bar's Leaks Radiator Stop Leak into the radiator. That almost always will stop the leak and work long term. In fact, it is not a bad idea to put the stop leak in even if you don't have the leak. Just remember to put more in each time you change the coolant.

 

I'd suggest buying a cheap 'click' type torque wrench and a 6-side deep well socket that fits your lug nut. Keep it in the car, a 18" torque wrench will remove lug nuts way easier than the stock lug wrench. That and you will always have 80ft-lb preset, so if anyone does need to change a tire, or more importantly, if you take the car some place and they take a wheel off, you can re-torque the lugs right away. You may tell the counter what to do, but you never know if that makes it to the shop floor. Best to be sure and do it your self. Besides, you think a tire iron makes for good self-defense, check out this http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...o?itemid=00239

 

Excellent advice. I have always had an 18" breaker bar and a good torque wrench in my trunk, along with a socket. I am pretty sure you meant 18" breaker bar instead of 18" torque wrench in your recommendation because a torque wrench should not be used as a breaker bar, i.e. pulling it beyond the point where it clicks. I do recommend that you not leave the torque wrench set at 80 ft. lbs., but reduce it to the minimum setting between uses. That will relax the spring and keep the wrench calibrated.

I can add that over all the years of telling tire shops to only use hand tools and a torque wrench, they routinely ignore the instructions, or do it incorrectly. They will tighten one lug fully, then fully tighten the one across from it. That will create leverage which will overtighten the first one. That is why you should progressively tighten the nuts. They sometimes use a torque stick on an impact wrench to limit the torque. But, still they fully tighten the first nut. I have many times seen them use the impact wrench to tighten all the nuts first (most likely to around 200 ft. lbs.) then put on the torque stick and go around the nuts again. I guess they simply do not understand the physics of what they are doing. A torque stick will not loosen an already overtightened nut. I always stop on the way home from a tire shop and re-torque the nuts. I'd say they are wrong 95% of the time. I have had some nuts tightened to 200 ft. lbs. and others to 30 ft. lbs. -- on the same wheel. That is a sure recipe to lead to lug breakage, or nut loss, and most certainly disk warpage. Keep in mind that you will not feel the warped rotor when braking until about 3,000 miles later when the rotor thickness has worn irregularly around its circumference. That is why most people do not associate the warped rotor with the tire work that was done months earlier.

 

Well thanks for all the info guys. I did replace my heater core gaskets. I did post a thread re: the procedure. I believe I took the instructions from the same user group you referred to mrvivona. I had to recharge the A/C though. Couple of questions for you...
I used the Bar's Leak on my car after I replaced the Gaskets. It turned my coolant a dark color. Common sense tells me cause B-leak was also dark. I do know I'm not leaking oil internally. Is that color change normal in the coolant?
I brought my car to Vavoline instant oil change. They flushed the trans fluid and said I really didn't need to change the filter. I did make sure they were using the right spec fluid for my transmission. No problems and that was 33,000 miles ago. I'll be going in to get it change in the the next two oil changes and just wanted your opinion on the filter change for the transmission.

Thanks again for you help and I'll be looking for you response. I've been shopping around on ebay and other sites for the Manual. Good to know your able to do almost everything with the 1999 manual.

 

mrvivona I noticed you mention your wife drives an 02 D.
Has she, or have you seen the TCL/off flash amber on her car? This is what I experience.

My anti-lock and TCL/OFF (lights) are amber color and my TCL/OFF will flash on and off from the time I start the car till I shut it off. If I turn off my TCL/Off it will just stay a steady amber. I was informed that if your brakes are bad the lights will come on....not sure how true that is. Just curious if you've seen this.