Nate's brake's don't work. Please help him.

Chris

Chris

YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
Nate (stein) Is having this issue with his brakes where when they get wet he gets a mooshy pedal and they don't work very well until they dry off. (sorry, run-on sentence).

He has rear drum brakes and barely any e-brake. He needs a brake job. Please for his safety, tell him that he needs a brake job.

Thanks for help.

- me

 
I warned you. Any more chat about your brakes and I'd start a thread. I don't kid around, I get POOP done!

 
First thing you need to do: Make sure you can get the parts BEFORE you tear into them.

Parts list:

Drums

Shoes

Hardware Kit

Wheel Cylinder

Brake Line

Brake Fluid

Special Tools:

PB Blaster

Bent screwdriver or proper brake spoon

Hammer(16oz will work)

Thread chasers

Diagonal Cutters

The tools are just my suggestion to what is needed. I wish I needed to do drum work because I would do a write up.

 
Basically, here are my questions: Would anything other than the brakes just being wet cause this? Isn't it normal for wet brakes to not work until they heat up again? Would now be a good time to switch to rear disc brakes?

 
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Are your brakes noisy? If they are then they may be worn or completely gone. If you have a leak in your wheel cylinder its possible to get brake fluid on the drum which wouldn't go away until its heated.

Also you may want to check your ebrake cable adjuster at the lever. Mine had almost an inch of slack.

 
Brakes are not noisy.

There is no slack at the parking brake lever once its pulled. Obviously its not tight with the lever down.

 
Can you pull the level all the way back? If you can then it might help to adjust it. But if your brakes feel different after you NEED to take them apart because if the shoes don't track right you will ruin the shoes and possibly your drums.

Different as in not like they would feel when they work right.

 
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We learned in our ridiculously long conversation last night that VIP does free brake inspections. Thanks Matt!

There is a VIP like 5 minutes from your house.

Find out whats wrong. If it's something simple, I can link the Factory Manual pages, or one of us can help you, or you can give it a go yourself. A proper diagnosis of why you lose brakes should be the very first step. We can all hem and haw on here all day about what it is, but like we learned with Devon's help thread, internet diagnosis isn't as good as in person poking around diagnosis.

As for the switch to rear disks since no one has addressed that... Find out what's wrong first. Take the cost of fixing your drums, compare it to the cost of buying a disk setup, decide yourself which is worth more. I honestly doubt you're out driving your current brake setup now, so I'd just fix the drums, but that's just me.

Brakes are a safety item first. A performance item second.

 
Stein said:
Basically, here are my questions: Would anything other than the brakes just being wet cause this? Isn't it normal for wet brakes to not work until they heat up again? Would now be a good time to switch to rear disc brakes?
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that is not normal.

I still run hubs/rotors, little ones...

I have counted on hubs dry waiting for rotors..and then there is the other way around. special weathers for both can irritate either one...never at the same time.

mushy in the wet is an odd one..bad fluid or something.

free inspection would be a free long list of stuff not needed.

going all metal squeaks like a rally car (high grade pads and hubs) , they get noisy few days sitting around.

hardware kits are more than an extra, they do wonders...and cheap. don't forget them.

 
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I would be careful with Ceramic. I tried satisfied pro's from VIP on my last car and they were ceramic. They were great for quiet operation and keeping the wheels clean, almost no break dust. But if you are trying to slow down from 85 mph or faster on regular 10 inch rotors then they will glaze and let go of the rotors making it difficult to stop at a stop sign or similar situation. They will also smoke and smell funny when hot and they get hot easy. Brembos pads stop well but sometimes squeek and make too much black brake dust. The cheapo VIP standard non-ceramic brakes worked really well for a FWD Daily Driver. I also don't ussually change my pads without doing rotors too, did it once, the results were not as spectacular as new rotors are. I need to change the rotors and pads on my 2009 WRX soon, comming up 50,000 miles in just a couple weeks I figure.

 
Stein said:
Yeah, people already said not to go with metallic pads. I was looking at ceramic.
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GET YOUR BRAKES LOOKED AT FIRST. GET YOUR BRAKES LOOKED AT FIRST. YOU DON'T NEED CERAMIC PADS IN THE FRONT IF THE PROBLEM IS WITH YOUR REAR DRUMS.

I am going to have an aneurysm if this turns into another 5 page thread, which we're well on track for. GET YOUR BRAKES LOOKED AT FIRST.

 
Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebrakeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeinspectionnnnnnnnnn. Get it looked at they'll tell you what they think it is. If you don't like the answer go somewhere else. They will end up giving you a list of suggested items and main crap. Just don't worry about it. Fix brakes sooner than later.

 
So, this next week I'm going to schedule a VIP appointment...

In the mean time: I did some reading and asking around and found out that wet brakes don't really work... Mine acted normal once wet (including during snow storms). Drum brakes don't dry out very fast, but the discs do, which feels about right.

The bad news is that in my reading/asking, it sounds like any missing brake fluid is a very bad thing (which I didn't really get from our chat room the other night). I'm hoping its just the wheel cylinders and that its a cheap fix (with the help of someone who has the tools and offered to help
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). If more shows up wrong, I'll figure out what to do then.

Matt, how much salt should I take the brake-inspection results with?

 
just don't buy anything, there gonna tell you you need all these main. items based off mileage and what not....just tell them what the brakes are doing and have them check only the brakes.....and it is free regardless what they might say.

 
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