All right so i have some brake problems. I went, and got my car inspected, and failed. The inspector told me it fail because the parking brake will not hold, and the brakes a hard to puss which effects the stopping power. I am going tomorrow to a repair shop, but i would like some info before i go. All info would be great. Ideas too.
Repair shop? sounds expensive Im not sure where you live but over here where I am, I have seen a simple brake job go for 500$ and all they have into it for parts is a set of 15 dollar pads and 2 dollars worth of brake fluid. My girlfriend had a flat tire and took the car to tire kingdom, she couldnt understand what they were telling her so she had them call me. They were trying to tell her she had to change the brake fluid for maintainence and wanted 195$ for doing it. Maybe someone from this site is close by and can help you do it. Most of the parts for our cars are cheap. I replaced everything on my car and I dont think any one part was more than 30$
you have several options, if you take it to a shop, it could mean big bucks. what i did when i had issues. i replaced all wheel cylinders and the master cylinder, flushed out all the brake fluid and replaced with new fluid. i also replaced all the shoes as well and had the drums turned and or replaced as needed. plus new bearings, and packed them myself, etc. I spent a total of $250 for all the parts, and it took me a day to do it. when i was done, the breaks were so much better and stopped on a big dime. it made a huge difference. if you have a shop do this work, it will cost about $1000 for parts and labor.
well i changed all the wheel cylinders alrdy, and i bled out the rear brakes. I didnt do the front would that fix the stiffness of the brakes. How about the parking brake.
do you have manual brakes? if you do, stiff brakes are normal, i'd rather have stiff brakes than spongy brakes
idk if they are manual or power...but the guy who did my inspection said it wouldnt pass because of the stiffness and how it effects stopping power.
i dont have any brakes right now i have to get another drum for the back i got one and the brakes on the front front are reallyyyyyy weak but the car isnt running so not a big deal... yet.
idk...i might just spend the money to go get them fixed...it will probably drain my budget but i gotta do something...this is the only car i have.
Bleed the front brakes!!! Bleed the front brakes!!! Blee... Oh never mind.You allready bled the rears...The fronts bleed the same way.As for the stiff peadal.We need to know if you have power brakes.If so you will have a large round metal cannister on the firewall with the master cyl bolted to it.This component may have failed on you.Or it isnt getting enough vacuum from the engine to operate properly.Bleed the front brakes. ALSO: If your car has disc brakes up front (its a 76 right?) you may have calipers that are frozen to the carriers(dont know how long this car has sat idle)Or the pistons are frozen in the bores in a retracted position.They wont press against the rotors like this...Hence super hard peadal and lack of stopping ability.
hmmm. if you have power brakes then you do have a problem. if you have manual brakes then chances are your brakes are fine and this inspector has goten spoiled by all the modern cars having power brakes. how do they feel to you? can you lock them up when you stomp on them? my problem with this situation is that its subjective. its based on how the inspector feels about your car. there is no perameters or test equipment that tells you if the pedal effort is too much or to little. i would try a different inspection station before you put any more money in it. if your your brakes needed bleeding then you would have a spongy pedal not a hard pedal.
