Old Car Safety

[ew1usnr]

If you got new shoes, I would go back and tell them they squeak too much, if you didn't, I would remove the drums, clean everything up really good with brake cleaner, put a dab of anti squeak grease on the back plate where the shoes rub (not on the braking surface), reassemble, and squeaks might be gone...good luck.

Hello, Don.

The brakes were one of my first "big ticket" repair items.

I bought the car in July 2012, and it looked like it had been sitting somewhere for ten years. The tires were not worn, but they were ten years old and dry rotted. In August 2012, I had a new set of tires installed. I looked at the brakes while they were changing the tires. They looked OK, but .... I noticed that the self adjuster on the right front brakes was backwards:

front right.jpg

I added that to my "to do list" and kept driving the car. Then I noticed that I was frequently adding brake fluid to the reservoir. In December 2012 I took it to Meineke and told them about the self-adjusters and losing fluid and asked them to check the brakes. Well, ... They called back and said that my wheel cylinders were leaking and the rear drums were grooved and could not be turned.

The bill turned out to be: He had repacked the front wheel bearings, added two front brake wheel seals (parts $14.78), two front wheel cylinders ($40.72), two rear wheel cylinders ($36.24), a left rear self-adjuster cable ($19.85), rear brake shoes ($36.85), two rear brake drums ($137.36), and rear brake hardware ($18.40). Total = $348.10 parts/shop supplies + $254.70 labor + tax = $690.15. Wow! It was better than the alternative, though, of running out of brake fluid and crashing into something.

And yes, I could have done it myself. I hate working on brakes, though. It is a messy pain to bleed the brakes and it is a royal pain to cock those springs into position without the correct brake tools. Plus, the springs will wreck everything if they are not in correctly and pop out of place. I preferred to pay the labor and let them do it.

That was about 12,000 miles ago and they had just replaced the rear drums and shoes. How long do a set of brake shoes typically last?

The squeaky brakes are not a critical item, but I will save your description of what to check and have the guys at Meineke take a look at them whenever I am there next. I am due for an oil change in about 300 miles. I could let them change the oil and clean up the brakes at the same time.

Here is a completely unrelated photo that I like. A trio of hotrodders from 1924. The expressions on their faces are great.

Hot rodders 1924.jpg