Braking News

I spent the better part of two days trying to get the brakes fixed on the Sonata. And it really should've only taken an hour or two. But I tend to get dragged into complications that make every little task turn into a mountainous fuss.

Cheryl had been making the astute observation that the brakes were very, very noisy when she drove, especially the rear driver-side brake. Cheryl does not like it when mechanical things start making odd noises, since she knows that it is the harbinger of trouble. Luckily for her, she has a wannabe-mechanic for a husband who is willing to sacrifice a couple days of productive work for the opportunity to tear apart something and make a huge mess in the garage, inconveniencing everyone for the sake of finding out just what is going on.

As it turned out, what was going on was that the rear brakes were just about worn down. Which surprised me in no small measure because in my head I was thinking, Didn't I just redo these brakes last year? In fact, didn't I just put a completely new set of parking brake hardware in it last year?

Well, no, in fact, I did not do that last year. It's actually been a couple years now. How time flies by when you are not having any fun!

Seriously. The speed at which time is flying past makes me want to scream sometimes. How can it be time for bed when it feels like I just got up? How can it be 2020 when I distinctly remember 1992 like it was yesterday?

Must be the drugs.

Anyway, I started working on the brakes Sunday night. Jacked the car up, pulled the rear driver-side wheel off, pulled the pad cover, and -- oof. The pad was nearly gone, starting to scrape metal. Wow! How could it have worn out so quickly?

It was too late to run down to NAPA and get the parts I needed, so I just ordered them online so that I could pick them up bright and early Monday morning. Front and rear. Might as well do the whole set, since they're only $40 for a pair. And I've got money to burn! (Not really, but it's got to be done.)

Monday morning came along, and I'm down at NAPA to grab my parts (and those guys are really bored because business has been extremely slow, what with people not driving their cars); it took all of five minutes before I was homeward bound again. Started replacing the driver-side rear pad, and ran into a familiar issue -- the pad was having a difficult time fitting in the caliper mounting. Had to grind down the flanges just a bit (not really supposed to do that, but I was getting tired and frustrated and had only been working on it for half an hour!). Finally got it to fit, then spent another half-hour adjusting the parking brake (because it had not been grabbing early enough before). Then switched over to the passenger side.

This one wasn't worn down as much as the other side. Hmmm.. That's not good. They're supposed to wear evenly. Not quite sure why the driver side was wearing down faster than the passenger side. Oh, well, not going to figure out that mystery just yet. The important thing is to get the brake pads replaced! And adjust the parking brake on that side!

Another hour zipped past. Then I took a moment to test the parking brake setting by going up and down the driveway, checking to see where it started to grab with the car in neutral and gravity pulling it toward the street on the slight incline, holding the little button at the top of the handbrake lever while slowly lifting it until the car stopped rolling. I was hoping for half the travel length, but three-quarters will do. So long as it stops the car before the lever is all the way back.

Whew. It was nearly noon by this time. Lunch! Just a quick break before getting back to work. Time to relax for half an hour or so before resuming the fray.

Then suddenly it was one o'clock! What happened? Where did the time go?? Off to the garage again...

And now for the other side: Lifted up the front end of the car using my T-jack, pulled the passenger-side wheel, checked the pads. They were about two-thirds gone, which wasn't bad. Still, it was a bit of a struggle to get the new pads to fit into the calipers -- especially with the shims, which seem to be designed to block them from gliding in place. Arg! This is taking too long!

On to the other side -- and the wheel refused to come off. Jammed. Stuck. Probably a spot of rust between the rotor and the wheel rim. This happens a lot in the Rust Belt. Which is why normally I put a bit of anti-seize between them when doing brake checks. Evidently I forgot to do that the last time I worked on this car. Or perhaps this car was worked on at a shop and they forgot to do it.

Took me another half hour to (finally) figure a way to get the wheel off. Had to use a six-foot iron pole (which I normally use to break the ice off the driveway during the winter) and jam it into one of the holes around the rim to pry it off. Man, that felt good when it finally popped off! But there was also the anxiety of time zipping past...

Quickly pulled the final pad off (which was worn about the same as the other front one, so at least they were both wearing at the same rate!) and put the new one on. Half an hour to get it on/off and tightened down.

So it was nearly five o'clock before I had them all in place and all the wheels back down on the ground and all the tools put away and everything cleaned up.

Now it was time to get around to all the other chores which were supposed to get done today. Sigh.

Mondays are so much fun.