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November 16, 2009
The Saga of My Brakes : No Hat in Particular
A few months ago my Subaru needed a brake job. As you know brakes can be very expensive and anything on the Subaru seems to cost more money.
I have helped put brakes on a car before and even once did it solo and I figured - what the hell - save a few bucks and spend a few hours.
I went out and get the needed parts - pads, rotors, grease, brake parts cleaner. I also went out and got some better tools - nothing like a set of good wrenches or a nice jack and some jack stands to help.
The front brake job went - OK. I got stuck on a few bolts (and YES I used various forms of penetrating oil - everyone always asks this) but after much fussing and fighting I was able to get it all done.
I did run into a snag where I broke a wheel lug off - but my friend Ed talked me though the replacement.
Overall I was very pleased - it did take a few days but I was able to finish the job with only making phone calls to my friend Ed for help and not for physical assistance.
The next day I was hurting pretty bad though. They say the muscles that hurt are the ones you don't use - well apparently I don't use my ass.
I was very proud when I pulled up to Ed's house the next days to show him. He then proceeded to take my lugs nuts off and tell me that I had put them on backwards (the lug nuts!). Well every job you learn something new.
--- Jump 4 months later.
So I know that my rear brakes are a mess - I can hear em crunching every time I stop. Normally I wouldn't consider doing a rear brake job but on my 2000 Subaru Legacy they are also disk brakes - so I figured this shouldn't be a problem.
First to find the rotors and pads. My local Murray's (which is now O'Reiley's didn't have them but could get them in a few days. The idea is not to wait so I called around.
My local NAPA store had this really nice guy named Norb who hunted down the parts for me at another store. So I went and purchased my pads, rotors, brake parts cleaner, and grease.
I went home and thins started to go very well.
1) Jack up car and place on stands
2) Remove tires (without braking any studs)
3) Remove Caliper
4) Remove what's left of the rear pads (they where horrible).
Now when I went to retract the calipers I almost forgot to pop the lid off the master cylinder but after I did that I was able to clamp them back without any problems.
All I needed to do now was the remove the caliper bracket that would allow me to slide the very corroded rotors off.
This was a problem. First there was NO room to get a tool in there. I found that you needed a very short tool for on and a very long tool for the other. Once I found that out I realized that the bolts just didn't want to move (penetrating oil wasn't helping).
I went to the store and got better sockets and a breaker bar but the moment I felt the socket skip over the head I knew I was in trouble.
I was 4 bolts away from getting these rotors off and they wouldn't move.
Could I give up? Put my good pads on my crappy rotors and hope for the best? Drive it to a mechanic and pay double?
I called my friends who told me I had done everything but that a pro 'might' be able to heat up the bracket to loosen the bolt but that was iffy unto itself.
Since I didn't want to take it to a mechanic I wondered if I could get one to come to me?
So I visited Craigslist. And yes - apparently there are MANY roving mechanics who come to you to do the work.
Upon making a half dozen phone calls it appears that most of them are just bat-shit crazy.
I finally got a hold of someone who was very professional. He wanted to schedule an appointment and refused to make promises over the phone.
He came by on Friday in a fully equipped truck and proceeded to try and get the bolts off. One came off - three did not.
The good news is that if I had gone to a shop they would have run into the same troubles and then tried to charge me more. The bad news was it was time to cut the brackets off.
I called the dealer and they said it would take 2-4 days and cost $80 per bracket.
So he cut the brackets off (with his really cool torch) and left.
So now I can get the rotors off but I need the brackets.
I didn't want to wait the 4 days to buy it from the dealer so I started making calls to junk yards - nothing!
I looked online - nothing!
Well something. I did find if I was willing to wait a week I could get the pair for like $75. But since I have been walking to work for the week I do need to move on.
I also found out that sometimes the caliper COMES WITH the bracket. Not only that sometimes it comes with pads as well. One local parts place had the Caliper with Bracket with Pads in stock.
The problem was going to be the core fee. As many of you know - most parts charge an extra core fee that you get refunded when you bring the old part back. Well I don't have the old part anymore!
The one place agreed to give ma a partial core fee back (since I didn't need the caliper and I wasn't going to open the brake lines) and would sell me them for $67 each. This was great because then I could even take the pads back (since it came with them).
I drove there first thing Saturday morning to find that they had one and not the other (it was an inventory glitch and a missing part).
So I left. And called literally 100 places. First I was finding nothing at all - thing I started to find them but they were not going to refund ANY core fee so it was going to cost $110 each!
Then I found someone on the west side who had it for $85 each. Turns out it was a NAPA and as I was purchasing it I realized I could save a few by just buying the one and going back for the other $67 one (it was on the way home).
The guy at NAPA was confused when I told him I didn't want the caliper and he had to go in the back and take it off himself and keep it for the core fee but it all worked out.
That is until we realized that it didn't come with bolts. The bolts that attach the caliper bracket to the car. The things that wouldn't move in the first place. The guy at NAPA was concerned because they were specially hardened bolts and he didn't really know where to get them and his only ideas were closed on the weekends.
On the way back to the other parts store I stopped at a junkyard and they didn't know where to get the bolts either.
So you fully understand I am driving all over the city and paying a few extra dollars to NOT have to wait until the next week to do this job.
At the other parts place they sell me the other bracket and also have no idea where to go.
So I call Home Depot.
They put me on hold. While on hold I drive to Home Depot. In fact I was talking to associate while I was still on hold - it was 15 minutes of silence - they never came back. The in-store help was helpful and suggested I call Parma. They had hardened bolts but not metric automotive ones.
Another guy came up and said - that's off your brakes isn't it? He told me to call my dealer and that brake bolts where very specific.
So I call the dealer and surprise they are still open and they have the bolts for $5 each. I run to the dealer and when I show the lady what I want she gets a little worried. They don't have those bolts!
We go through page after page of computer diagrams trying to match the right bolts to no avail.
Finally she grabs a mechanic from the back and after they talk for a few minutes she hands me a handful of bolts and says - these are what you need. She knew I was having a long day and then added "No Charge".
So now I have all the parts but its too late to do the work.
In the am (Sunday) I got up and put the brakes on without any troubles. New parts, new hardware, good grease. It went fine.
I did run into two more little snags.
1) The roving mechanic jacked my car higher then my jack normally goes so it was hard getting it off the jack stands.
2) When I drove the car it braked GREAT but started to make the same grinding noise it had before. I later found out that the rusted out dust shield was hitting the rotor on one side (the other had rusted into oblivion) and after I removed it the car is golden!
Thanks to Kyle Wering (the Mobile Mechanic) who I will use again if I get stuck!
So next weekend - I replace the alternator/power steering belt (no joke folks)!
Posted by jeb2 at November 16, 2009 10:04 AM
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