DiscoStudd Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 Thought I'd share this with y'all. A couple of weeks ago, the front rotors started warping on the wife's Lumina. I ordered up a set of EB Greenstuff pads from TireRack and bought some Raybestos PG Plus rotors from Checker. Okay, so yesterday I start tearing the brakes apart and I notice the caliper bracket bolts are a bit rusted on the driver's side. I got them off after hosing the bolts with WD40 and using a cheater bar on the end of my "Rat-Shit." I was cursing the previous owner for getting "White Box Special" rotors at first, then for them not using anti-sieze on the caliper bracket bolts. So I get the rotors and pads mounted on the driver's side no problem. Go over to the Passenger side and one of the caliper bracket bolts is stripped (the Torx part, not the threads.) Son of a bitch! :cuss: I get on my bike (cause my wife drove my car to work) and ride over to Checker and NAPA and neither place has the bolts. I called the local Chevy dealer and the parts dept was closed until Monday. So I went over to a junkyard close by and they didn't stock the part either, plus the yard had just closed, so I was SOL. Went back to said yard this morning and they had probably 3 dozen W bodies and not one of them had the caliper bracket or bolts I needed :cuss: . So I started driving around and the first yard I stopped at had several W's with the brackets and bolts (halle-freakin-lujah! ) So I get back to the bracket. I got out the ole grinder w/a cutoff wheel and proced to cut the head off of the bolt to see if I could knock it off somehow. No dice. I figured I had to hack up the bracket in order to get it free (good thing I bought a bracket at the J/Y!) I cut that sucker into 4 or 5 different pieces and finally got it free. Yaaaaay!!! I noticed the Ceramic pads I put on the car over a year ago still had as much beef to the pad as they did when they were new! Now if only the numbnuts that owned the car before me hadn't have used White Box Specials, I could have put off doing a brake job for another year! Now after bedding in the new pads, the fucker stops on a dime! I think I might have to flush out the brake fluid and/or replace the rubber lines (or perhaps the master cylinder) because the pedal still seems spongier than my Regal does (you just barely press the pedal on that fucker and it'll put you through the windshield...) So here's a pic of my hacked up caliper bracket: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 The brake difference might come from the fact that your Lumi has drum rear brakes. See if they're adjusted correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscoStudd Posted August 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 I know it's probably a stupid response, but I always figured if the e-brake would hold the car then the rear drums were adjusted properly. I know that you have to back the car up and hit the brakes several times to get the adjusters to do their trick, but if they were severely out of adjustment, wouldn't you have to remove the drum and manually adjust them? I've only replaced rear drums drums one time way back when. I seem to remember adjusting the "star wheel" until it was almost tight, then backing it off a tick. This seemed to adjust the e-brake as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
god910 Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 Also, if your adjuster is broken or stuck, it won't adjust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KING JOKER Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 u really hacked that thing to pieces.nice job i think i might take the picture and show it to my brackets as a warning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutlsp Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 WAY to take your agression out on that bracket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94CutlassSLCoupe Posted August 10, 2004 Report Share Posted August 10, 2004 I had the same problem on an old '88 Cutlass that I had. I ended up hacksawing through the washer on the torx bolt...and it slid right out....those bolts are the dumbest design on the whole car. next time i have mine out I will have to see what thread and length they are for "alternatives" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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