Ha... where the hell did I get "shoes" from? Meant pads... and you better not have just jinxed my brake job...
Don't act this is going to ruin your weekend, we know you have the tools to do a proper job. A few weeks ago I had to change one side out in a parking lot with nothing but a cheap, shitty adjustable wrench and a pair of vice grips. We had a brake failure on the interstate and it had to be done. I should have bought a basic set of wrenches when I got the parts, but I'm cheap and stubborn.
I am looking for an idiot-proof car (SUV, preferably) for about $8000. I have a Range Rover and we detest each other....almost nothing works reliably. I am considering a used Lexus RX3-something. I do not want a CRV/Rav4 and I don't think a Jeep is as reliable as a Lexus, albeit cheaper to repair. I want something that can pull a trailer of my shit when I get ready to move, can handle snow driving, and isn't a massive v-8. Suggestions? Tips?
I had an '02 Nissan Xterra that I bought in '06 and drove until June of this year. I bought it at 67,000km and when I sold it it had 270,000km's (~170,000 miles) on it and there was almost nothing wrong with it. Outside of regular maintenance (oil/fluids/tire rotation) I only had to replace one window motor and the ECU due to a short in the wiring to the rear door. The window motors are a well documented failure point and I found that as long as I used the windows and didn't let dirt build in the tracks they were fine. The only other issue was a small leak (a drip a month) from the power steering seal. This is also a well documented problem, most leaks are really small and a new power steering unit is like $2000 so most owners just keep an eye on it and top it up once a year. It was a fantastic vehicle, with a really good 4x4 as long as you're not rock crawling with it. I took it up numerous logging roads with some pretty deep washouts in the mountains without any issues. It will tow a max trailer load of 5000lbs. Cons: Gas mileage is terrible (I've heard the SC version is even worse, and it has to take premium gas). Mine had a 3.3Ltr V6 in it and it's a heavy vehicle. Smaller engine so acceleration is a little sluggish. Don't expect a lot in the way of amenities. It's pretty basic, A/C, p/w, p/l and that's about it. The paint started to bubble in a few spots in the last year or so that I had it. But I live in a pretty unforgiving climate for paint. Lots of road salt/sand, and big temp swings in the winter leading to lots of freeze/thaw cycles.
I'll admit to being a Lexus fan because of previous experience. There are a lot of first generation RX300's out there below $8000 in very good shape. They mostly have around 100k miles on them, but that's really nothing. I mentioned elsewhere that our '97 ES300 had 282k miles on it when it was totaled and the only thing I ever replaced on it was the alternator at about 230k, and a couple of O2 sensors along the way. The RX300 used the same drivetrain so I would expect similar reliability. If you're in a snowy area you will find a lot of them with AWD. I would argue that the Lexus is no more expensive to repair than a Jeep, and there are a couple of great forums online if you're the DIY type. Pulling a small trailer is no problem and there are plenty of options for tow hitches. You can find some in great condition because so many of them were purchased by older people who never hauled kids in them and always took them to the dealer for service. The 2nd generation RX330/350 (2004-2009) starts at a little more money, like in the 10-12k range.
So I figured if anybody could come up with ideas, it would be you guys. I have a 2009 Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring AWD I just bought a couple months ago with 75k miles. The dealership put on brand new NAPA rotors and pads up front the day I bought it, as well as brand new tires. About 2 days later, it would grind under slow braking. From 80 mph down to 5, it's fine. Crawl along at 5 and brake to 0, and it sounded like the rivets in the pads digging into the rotors. So I took it back. They took off the pads and rotors, said one of the rotors had a burr in it, so they turned it. Put it all back together, it was fine. About 2 days later, repeat the above: Grind under slow braking, and the longer/further I drove it, the worse it got. It seems to get bad the hotter it gets. So I took it back. They took off the pads and rotors, chamferred the edges of the pads, sprayed them with anti squeal, slapped it all back together. About 2 days later, here we go AGAIN. So I took it back. This time, they said they couldn't duplicate the problem. They had it for a whole day, they claimed 3 different people drove it, it was fine. So, I got one of the guys, took him in it, and drove it long enough for it to heat everything up. Sure enough, GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR from up front. They went to the Mazda dealer (I bought it from a Chrysler/Dodge dealer) and got factory pads and rotors. Guess what happened 2 days later? Yep. Grinding again. So, back it went. For the 7th time. They put on new aftermarket calipers. I got it back Tuesday night. Wednesday on my way to work, it seemed OK... But on my drive home, it started to grind a bit. At this point, I'm wondering if it's the brakes at all. Everything is new up front, so I'm thinking a bad hub maybe? The other issue is that it has a weird wobble to it, almost like a wheel is out of balance/bent rim/flat spotted tire. It's very obvious at 75-80, and again, when the car is warmed up and I'm stuck in 25 mph traffic on I95, it rocks back and forth. The dealership thinks it's the roads... Except the area where I get stuck at 25 mph was just repaved and is absolutely as smooth as glass. They've rebalanced the tires, road force balanced them and it doesn't do any good. The dealership can't seem to track either problem down, and I don't have a lot of faith in their efforts anyway. They agreed to let me take it to my mechanic for him to diagnose, then they will decide whether or not they want to repair it or if we're going to end up swapping the car for something else. Do you guys have any ideas? I did Google this, and it seems there are some known problems with the brakes on this, but with all new stuff, you'd think that would be handled. I joined a forum with a CX-9 section, but it doesn't seem to get a lot of traffic, so I figured it's better off here.
I'm willing to bet it's the pad compound. Brake pad compositions are a science that make my brain hurt... it's a compromise between grip, amount of heat (as in cold for a street car vs. heat soaked for an endurance race car), initial bite, abrasiveness vs rotor wear, performance during braking (how the grip behaves from cold initial braking to being hot at the end of the braking), and a whole bunch of other shit. If they're using OEM brake pads, you could swap in a high quality after-market brake pad and see if that helps. Most OEM parts are the shittiest quality stuff from China, and are so cheap now that it's almost hard to find a shop that will turn rotors; they're usually under tolerances, and cheaper to just replace than to turn. On top of that, very few shops properly seat/bed-in brake pads any more because it involves doing a round of extreme braking. For example: http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/tech/tec ... ?techid=85 Failure to do something like that can cause glazed brake pads and result in excessive noise and reduced performance. So yeah, after they've gone through the process that many times, I'd be tempted to say that it's the (lack of) quality of the parts, not anything physically wrong.
Possibly. But I don't know anyone that actually seat/bed-in brake pads anymore. No matter what quality of pads/rotors I sold I never had that issue. I just find it weird that it was under slow braking that it was happening. Only thing I could possibly think of is that the brake hose has collapsed on the inside and doesn't allow the brake pad to back away from the rotor. So under high speed it doesn't matter because there is pressure holding it to the rotor, but under low speed there isn't as much pressuring trying to hold it to the rotor, but the hose isn't allowing the fluid to back out the way it should.
I know that the more "racey" the compound, the more noise they make at low speeds. I race with Pagid yellows or blacks, and they are noisy as fuck when they're cold, and are problematic for daily drivers because they NEED heat in them to work, and then they are designed to work under high-pressure braking. We can run a 12 hour endurance race with Pagid Yellows with no problem, while braking like a motherfucker with almost no brake fade. The guys that put those (or similarly aggressive) compounds on their daily drivers to look all cool and shit end up having no cold-temp braking (which is the majority of your daily driving), and it's noisy as hell until there IS heat put in them. Slow braking means low pressure being applied and relatively cold braking, which equates to noise with almost all "race" formulated brake pads. I've also seen the same thing with cheap "non-race" pads. And yeah, bed-in procedures vary by brake pad manufacturer, but if you don't bed them (when the manufacturer requires is) you'll get a decrease in performance and that noise, because you haven't transferred a layer of brake pad material onto the rotor. Again, I have no idea of the details of this particular case, but my instinct is to check brake pad compound or bed-in procedure for that pad, once all mechanical issues have been ruled out.
I had a bookmark that doesn't work any more that showed a review of the various high performance, track-day to race car brake pads by manufacturer, with their various temp ranges, abrasion, friction, and a whole bunch of other data that was put together to help people figure out which brake pad was best for their application. This is kind of the idea, but only for Pagid RS (race spec) pads: http://pagid.brakes-pads-discs.co.uk/ma ... ations.php Same kind of thing can be seen with the "street pad" compositions. It's really interesting from an engineering perspective... and I spent a couple of years going down that rabbit hole with a buddy who's a Brembo dealer.
Oh I know the ceramic racing pads only work once they have heat in them, which is why they are like a 10,000+ option on most high end cars. But generally you cant get those for normally automotive applications.
Right, but the same kind of issues exist in the non-race compounds as well... you can get "performance" non-race compounds that have similar characteristics, just lower on the friction/temp scale. That's kind of the point I was trying to make.
Yeah, it's just at low speed, and seems to be worse in parking lots. My mechanic was thinking cheap pads too, but they've tried 3 different sets of pads, Napa, the best Napa, and the Mazda OEM stuff.
Anyone here on Corner-Carvers.com? I haven't been able to get the board to open for he past two days. I didn't see a message about being down for maintenance or such like. When I attempt to open it, I get "</he" or some permutation thereof.
Re: 300k Nice, my 02 Civic just hit 123456 km, it is nice living in a small community. No need for huge commutes.
Today can fuck itself. As much as I love working on my Jeep, some things just become shitty very fast. Had problems with my front bearings, ball joints, and u-joints. And I had new brake calipers to put on. No shop, most of my "good" tools (pneumatics, big wrenches, impact gun, etc) are still in storage waiting to be delivered to my new place. Buddy came over early this morning to help me out, figured it would be a fun way to spend my birthday, and get to play with my new 4-ton press that I got thanks to a great Princess Auto gift certificate from my Dad. (They're like Harbour Freight, and I want to know how the hell can they sell a press like that for $80?) Here we are, hard at it, at 8:30am. Nice hot coffee, birds chirping, sun was shining, and there was a spring in our step. Life was great. Both axle nuts seemed like they were fucking welded onto the axles. I should have just gone and bought all new parts, but nooo... we have "brains", and can figure it out ourselves. Here... hold my beer while I pump on this here jack that'll push up on this here lever. I believe it was Archimedes who once said... Fuuuuck... I guess we'll see just how good the Jet warranty actually is... meanwhile, I'm kind of guessing that it's "limited" when it comes to breaker bars. And, thanks to all sorts of fucking BULLSHIT, here we are at 10pm, in sub-zero temps. And to top it all off, when we were done and bled the brakes, the pedal went straight to the floor. What. The. Fuck. No bubbles in the fluid, three fucking containers of it pushed through the lines. Really? Then it dawns on me... and then I cried. Then we did the fastest caliper switch ever... it was like we were Nascar pit crew or something. For those of you not in the know, calipers have a side. If you put them on the WRONG sides, the bleeder valve is on the bottom, and a huge fucking air pocket forms above them, so you have monstrous air cushions in your brake lines, and they don't work, and you can't bleed them out. And, to top it off, the calipers are interchangeable, so it's REALLY FUCKING EASY to put them in backwards, and not have shit work.