urbex Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 So, my car doesn't seem to stop as fast as I would like. I'm not 100% sure though how it's supposed to be, considering there have been very few times I've ever had to slam on the brakes. Well, this morning I did, but my car doesn't really stop fast, it feels more like it's just slowing down quickly, if that makes any sense. Pedal seems fine though, doesn't feel really spongy, but the brakes just don't seem to work very well... Or is that just the nature of this car? Is it just a thing with age? Or is there anything I should be looking at to make sure it's alright? I'd hate for instead of a rabbit running out in front of me it'd be a kid and not being able to stop in time... Although, I haven't touched the drums in a long time. For all I know the shoes might be gone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 could be a lot of things causing this.... how old is the brake fluid? could the fluid have boiled since the last time it was changed? are the caliper slides lubricated often? what kind of pads/rotors? do you feel the car "plow" forward when you jam the brakes hard, or does it feel like it stays level? if i want EXCELLENT feeling rear brakes... then i have to adjust the shoes every ~5K miles, not sure if my adjusters are junk or if they're not intended to be able to get the shoes that tight to the drums, but it feels ridiculous and will easily cause rear tire lockup in low traction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted March 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 Brake fluid is probably original. It's never leaked or been replaced since I've owned it. As for it boiling, I have no idea. Hell, I don't even know what would cause it to do that. You're supposed to lubricate caliper slides? I'm guessing I probably did that when I put the new pads on 2 years ago. As for the pads, they're ceramic and the rotors are 2 years old as well, both replaced at the same time. And yes, it does plow forward when I brake, like the front is going to touch the ground. Ok, maybe not that extreme, but the car does not stay level. Like I said, maybe this is just normal, I've never really had too many times I've needed to jam on the brakes to avoid something. I know in the HHR for example the brakes stop pretty quickly. I just want to make sure they're how they should be at least. I'd hate to find out after the fact that I should have checked or fixed something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 brake fluid tends to absorb moisture at any possible opportunity, which lowers it's boiling point. brake fluid will boil when the calipers get really hot, causing air bubbles in the system. usually takes quite an "event" to cause them to get that hot. plowing is an indication that the front brakes are still functional. the 90GP had a bad habit of the front brakes becoming randomly ineffective, so the rears had to do everything, car stayed perfectly level during braking. something to think about. i've heard good and bad about ceramic pads..... some people say they're great all the time, some are crap all the time, some are great ONLY when used with slotted rotors, etc... i'd take a look at the drum system if i were you, definitely make sure that the parking/emergency brake has a noticable effect while at speed(had to do this many times with blown lines on the MC). the shoes on the MC lasted ~150K miles, both shoes and drums were replaced at that point, along with drum hardware(adjusters/springs/etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted March 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 Of course...more uncharted territory for me. Well after now starting to learn about the suspension, I guess some learning is in order for the drum brakes! I've never tried the parking brake while driving (except in the winter on ice...) So I at least know it's functioning! I'm pretty sure the rear pads were replaced when I bought the car, or near that time at least...but I'm not 100% certain without looking in my service records. I know when I took it to the shop to have a few other things fixed right after I bought it they said it needed brakes. I'm pretty sure it was rears, but without that to see I could be wrong. Otherwise if they haven't been replaced then, they're probably pretty old... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted March 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 Hmm, well I took the drums apart and everything appears to be alright. I may just for the hell of it change the fluid, but other than that I'm guessing this car just doesn't stop as great as a newer one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Well I syphoned out the brake fluid from reservoir. Holy hell, there were sooo many contaminants in the fluid!!!! Lots of little flaky pieces of dirt or something. Figure I'll do that a few more times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 that's just the resivoir.... imagine what are in the lines. i've been "lucky" enough to never need to change the fluid, i tend to lose a brake line every 2 years or so, so a pretty good portion of it gets replaced at that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 (edited) All I'm going to do for changing it is maybe next weekend syphon out the reservoir again. Maybe another time after that depending on how it looks. I'm thinking that should get most of it. Or should I still bleed each brake? Or will it works it's way around enough to just keep cleaning out what's in the reservoir? Edited March 31, 2013 by urbex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 if it were me..... i'd go to each wheel and let out a pump or two of fluid at least. obviously, the easy(least tool intensive) way of doing this requires at least two people, but otherwise, it's a pretty fast way of verifying that there is no air near the calipers/wheel cylinders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 I just hate bleeding the brakes. Idk why, but I must always screw something up and I'm always dealing with trying to get air out of the system.... lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AL Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Eric, we can do a brake fluid flush at my place, even the brakes if needed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted March 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 Sweet!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schurkey Posted April 3, 2013 Report Share Posted April 3, 2013 The reservoir tends to be the LEAST contaminated fluid. The worst stuff is at the calipers/wheel cylinders. FLUSH the brake fluid until it runs clear at each wheel cylinder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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