Not sure if you remember or not, but I was having this major moaning sound coming from the passenger side of my car.

I took it in for them to look at it. They said replacing the front pads, turning the rotors, and repacking bearings (or whatever else is involved) would fix it. For about 120 bucks, they did so.

So I took it out for a drive afterwards. Not only did it start moaning again (just like before), but it started steering to the left BADLY (even when not braking). Seriously I could do a 180 degree turn in 5 seconds going 5 mph. Both hands required to keep car going straight.

So I took it back to them, had them look at it. They said they were sorry, the moaning was coming from the rear brakes, but not sure why. The recommended I turn those rotors and replace the pads (same service they did to the fronts). So they want another 120 bucks for the rears.

But, in order to fix the steering problem in the front - they said that it is a caliper/piston problem, and that 220 bucks to replace both sides should do the trick.



Before I took the car in, I had great stopping power, but with a very annoying moan. Now Im out 120 bucks with a moaning, deadly-steering vehicle. Another 340 bucks they say should fix everything.
Am I out of my freaking mind? When I bought this car, the previous owner told me he had the brakes worked on and were in PERFECT condition.
I dont know about you but I hate liars. Whenever I sale vehicles I am totally honest across the board at all costs. I dont try and make a single penny extra off of anyone.

 

where are you taking your car in for service?

ive had bad experienced with dealers. even though im an automotive marketing student, i hate dealerships. i took my camaro in for a simple problem to be fixed and they went into my dash and a wire went "missing" anyway its a long story but i found a great mechanic a friend referred me to and he is completly honest, knows everything about my car, and charges 1/2 what the dealer charged. he even put in some hours for free on both my vehicles and lets me help. he has connections with his neighbouring tow truck place and body shop, and i get deals on towing and body work through him. its great.

maybe a more personal mechanic that appreciates your business more than a dealership would help you out for this problem, and for future ones.

 

I dont want to mention the name... but it is a locally owned shop.

Do you think I should just go ahead and replace everything? (including the rotors). Might as friggin well just take care of it all.

 

honestly if they messed up & did the job wrong. (saying it was one set of brakes & it being the other) they should DO the work for free. Always make sure you get some kind of garatee(sp?) on the brake work.
Also make sure they replaced both sets of brake pads not just on one side. If changing brake pads on the pax front then should have also turned the rotors & did the drivers side front pads as well.

 

Is it really that hard to work on brakes?
I can do other basic car maintenance... but im scared of brakes (or any MAJOR safety item, of course).

I almost feel like just working on them myself, and with the money I save in doing so, just buy all new parts.

 

pads are easy to be done get a chiltons for the car. it tells you almost how to do it.
If I had time i would type out the brake job but i dont. Turning the rotors means you take it in to like schucks or someplace like that

 

Well according to what some others have told me, sounds like the whole calipers have to be replaced.

 

Even if the calipers are bad, they are usually only like $65 per caliper max. A good set of pads is like $25. $5 for a can of grease to regrease the bearings, and right around $8-10 per rotor to turn them (make sure your rotors meet minimum thickness standards). All of these parts/services can be had at your local NAPA store. If you want some performance rotors (drilled and slotted) expect to spend about $90-110 per rotor.

I would go ahead and replace the bearings and races inside the hubs, and do a brake job all around. This will keep you safe and hopefully undo whatever screw up the shop made. Get a chilton's book and it will tell you exactly how to do a brake job on your car.

 

Cool, thanks for the help.
One of the other boards I visit often (been there for like 8 years actually) told me that I might have a bad rubber brake line hose, or something. He says theres like a flap that opens and closes when you hit the brakes, and it might be possible that it isnt working right (due to someone taking the calipers off in the past, and just lettting the hose hang loose for long periods of time).

 

If it's your front calipers and they aren't the 1LE brakes, the calipers are $12 each.
Do you not have the tools and jack to do it yourself?
I'd recommend using the money you pay a shop to do the work to buy yourself some tools and a jack, maybe get a friend over to give you a hand.

 

Iv got pretty much all tools to do most anything.
I just dont have a garage, driveway, jack stands, lift, etc. (I live in apartment complex with tiny parking lot).

 

What about any of your friends? any of them have any sort of facility to do some work at?

I let some of my friends do some work at my house as long as it's not anything major. Some of the cops have given us **** about doing non-routine maintenence work in the driveway so my friends just do minor jobs.

 

Dude, offer the cops a beer and tell em they can check out the ride. They'll leave you alone after that.

 

another problem you could be over looking is the flexible rubber brake line that connects to the caliper. when these hoses get old, the inner liner starts to break down and small pieces can peal off (just like pealing back a bannana). when this happens, it acts like a one way flapper vavle and keeps the pressure from being released from the caliper after you take your foot of the brake. so, my question is do the brakes want to lock up after you have released pressure from the brake pedal? if not, the hoses are ok. but if they have never been replaced, it might be a good idea to do so, since your vehicle is over 10 years old.

if its not the problem above, its your calipers. like the dude said above, they are only 13$ apiece, and a piece of cake to change. go buy a jack and set of jack stands from sears for about 80$. after that all you need is a lug wrench, 3/8" allen wrench, and a 11mm wrench. you still save money and you will also know that the job was done right.

don't buy parts from auto zone or advanced auto. try to find a local napa or car quest. i just put new brakes on my 3rd jen and got my parts from napa: calipers 13$ (after core return), rotors 32$, and pads 40$ (but the old ones had a lifetime warranty and i got them replaced for free). always spend the extra money for the top-of-the-line pads. they generally cost twice as much, but they will outlast and perform the cheaper pads by more than 2 times.

good luck

 

Sweet yall, thanks for the info. Ill probably get started on it today if I can.

Ill explain the situation again a little better:

1)Bought the car in May. Was informed by the seller that the emergency brake needed a new cable. No big deal. Rest of the brakes were just fine. Towed the car 400 on a flatbed to get it home.

2)Got home, drove the car to Midas and had them put on a new cable (old one snapped or got cut somehow... the mechanic did inform me that the new cable comes very close to the exhaust system, though). On the way to the shop, noticed a moaning sound coming from the passenger side of the vehicle.

3)Told Midas to go ahead and do a visual inspection of the rest of the vehicle. They did and said everything looked fine, even though the moaning was still there.

4)A couple days ago, I decide to have the moaning checked out. Took it to local shop and had them look at it. Mechanic came back and told me that all four rotors were getting thin, but could probably take another 10-20k miles. But, he told me the fronts looked the worse - that apparently, it looked as if someone had been riding the brakes, since there was significant heat buildup where the pads rub against the rotors. He said a rotor turning and pad replacement should fix that. I asked him about the moaning, and he said it would be coming from the front because of this "heat" buildup.

5)I told him to go ahead with the service. 120 bucks spent, and he turned the rotors, replaced the pads, and repacked the bearings.

6)I drove the car home (or tried to). I got onto the main 4 lane road and drove about 2 blocks. No problems. Turned off to the right onto a small road to test out to see if the moaning was still there. Slowed down, and by God it was still there. I turned around and took a left to get back on the main road. As I took off, I noticed that the engine was having a hard time... immediately as I merged from the center lane, the vehicle took at super hard left turn (I had hardly a grip on the steering wheel - was not expecting this at all, especially only going about 15mph). Car did almost a 180. I pulled over, said WTF a few times, and pulled another 180 to drive another block and pulled into the brake shop's driveway.

7)Pulled up, the service manager was there outside. I left the car running, opened window and said "come ride with me". He said he couldnt but went and got the mechanic that worked on it. We went down the same streets. First to test out the moaning. Moaning appeared, and he yanked on the emergency brake... moaning went away. He goes "yea that defintely is the rear brakes".
Oddly enough, when drive the car back to the shop, the brakes never seized up to cause the vehicle to swerve. but I did inform him of it.

8)Service manager requests that I leave the car. I ask for an estimate and inform him that I HAVE to be at work in 1 hour and cannot wait (he said his mechanics were all busy and would have to get to it later). I asked for an estimate, and he said it would be about 220 bucks for the front calipers, including bleeding the brakes. He said that should fix the brakes from locking up. I told the dude "well, thats for the fronts... but the whole reason I came down here in the first place was for that damn moaning sound". He said "yea, the mechanic said that it is coming from the rear... a good rotor turn and pad replacement should fix that".

9)So if I were to do what he wanted me to (and apparently everything left to do to the vehicle), it would be another 340 bucks, at least.