Should have done the brakes sooner.................
 

That it would cost so much to do the brakes, I would've done them earlier. :(

Here's a good lesson to learn. Bought car, PO said, oh I just changed the brakes. Believed him. Brake squeals a little when I bought it. No biggie, probably just new.

Fast forward a couple of months. Brake really squealing now. Car feels a little 'loose' when braking hard. I don't drive too fast, so it doesn't bother me much. Drive over to Bens Lover's house. We have a look, decide that it looks bad. Pads are good on back, but rotors are shot, front and back. Front bads are at their service limit. OK I go hunt for pads and rotors.

So today, drove over to Bens Lovers house. Take everything apart, and discover that the caliper pistons are seized. :eek: Won't budge even a millimeter even with C-Clamps. Rush over to the local parts store. Pick up a pair of reman front calipers. $263!! Yegods! Back at BLs house, put everything back together and drop the front.

Raise the back, took off the right rear, and ...yaaay, the piston slides back in like a hot knife through butter. Don't even need C-clamps when the channel-lock will do. Take the left rear apart and the bloody piston is jammed. :mad: Tried everything. Run to parts shop. The guy's closed already, but we see him in the parking lot and collar him. He makes a call. And runs somewhere to pick it up. He delivers it to us (in his 190E, of course) And tells me, 'pop by the shop Monday. we'll work something out'. Ouch that sounds expensive :(.

Lesson learnt: If I had just changed the rotors and pads when I first got the car, I could probably have saved the calipers.

Moral of the day: Shop around. Never buy when you have no choice. Its probably cheaper.

Special thanks to Bens Lover, who gave up his entire morning, afternoon and a good part of the evening. Couldn't have done it without you buddy...man, you're a treasure trove of wisdom and experience. Thanks again! :)

It was all worth it!
 

Zu!
The pleasure was all mine.
And thanks again for the delicious Malaysian food.
See you around!
Bens Lover (aka) Dan;)

how old were the calipers? I had to change my front ones. i did a brake job and the next day the caliper "exploded". well it was just leaking a heck of alot, were i had to put fluid in every time i drove it. drove it for like 1 day, and then took it to my dads mechanic. ended up casting me around 500$ i think to redo the front brakes (with new calipers) ahh well, at least when i did my back brakes, it only ended up costing me 60$ for new pads and rotors :-)

I suspect those calipers were toast when you picked up the car.....

Calipers usually freeze due to moisure in the system, a lack of maintenance that occurrs over a long period of time.

Jim

I agree.

Your delayed pads and rotors didn't have any effect on the calipers.

BTW, some planning ahead will allow you to replace those parts at reduced cost via online retailers. I'd typically recommed the forum sponsor for parts, but they won't ship to Canada.

On Zu's car there were many issues.
First of all the front rotors were worn beyond the service limit,the front brake pads were down to the sensor mark.The front pads were replaced many times I suppose but never did the previous owner or owners ever care about the rotors.By having both the rotors and brake pads wear out so much, the caliper pistons had to travel that much further,and allot of rust had settle around the piston itself.
The rear pads still had a long way to go before being replaced,but one of the calipers outer seal was cracked and water made its way around the piston causing it to seize.

Dan

For all you guys in Vanc'r, when I can plan ahead I buy parts from the online retailers and have it shipped to a parcel drop in Blaine or Point Roberts. The drive there is not that long and I save tons of money. When I am in a hurry, the first place I call is VAP; there are several around town. I usually buy from Commercial & 5th location, but have also bought from Port Moody. There is another branch on Bridgeport in Richmond. I find their service good and their prices very reasonable. (No, I have no affiliation with them except as a happy customer).

If only I had known...
 

Thanks for the tip Shingleback. And yes, Brian, I did save a bundle by buying my pads and rotors online. And I actually did click on the top, thinking it was the guys that run this forum. Instead, it was another outfit, and to tell you the truth, I have to say their service rocks! They had free shipping as my purchase was more than $100. Better still, they had shipped out of Richmond, and I had the rotors the day after I placed the order! Now if only I had known that my calipers were shot...:rolleyes:

Sue the Bastard
 

No, no, NO. Don't put up with people stealing your money, EVER.

The guy told you he just had the brakes done, then the brakes should have been new, not old. If it was just the back pads that were new, maybe he's off the hook, maybe to him that meant "new brakes", or maybe he took it to some place where they put new pads on, and he thought that's all he needed. It's also possible the mechanic ripped him off, and he didn't know.

I'll tell you EXACTLY how to handle this. I've done this before, and it works.

1) Call the P.O. Be nice as pie. Don't accuse. Tell him when you bought the car, he told you he just had new brakes put on. Ask him to expound on that a bit, because you had some problems, but ....DON'T... tell him what they are at this point, just say they were squealing more.

My guess is that he had the car at a shop for service, found out it was going to NEED a bunch of work, so he sold it asap, to you. Ask where he had the work done, etc. Then you can tell him what the real problem is, and that if these are new, they sure don't look it. He'll slowly get the picture that you're not a happy camper.

2) If he got them done at a shop, call them. Make it like you're a potential customer, ie, possible new money coming in, they'll be more open to you. Tell them you bought the car from a prior customer of theirs, and ask what brake work they might have done, because you have a squeal. They might pull out an old invoice that says it needed X,Y, and Z, and new calipers, but the PO declined. Or you might find out the PO had a receipt that they did work, but the work was actually never done.

3) Anyways, someone ripped you off. Play these 2 parties off each other until you find out who. You got screwed, and now want your money.

4) Once you find out who the offending party is, make them feel the noose closing around them, slowly. Let them fill in the blanks to several questions that came up to the same conclusion. "Well you told me that they were new. 2 months later, I have a $700 repair bill. How did this happen?" They'll eventually get the idea, that you're not going to stop. Without you asking, they might come up with some 1/2 baked excuse, and offer to pay 1/2 the bill. That's not bad for a phone call to a liar who stole from you, if it seems reasonable, take it. I consider it entertainment, plus I get paid. But state your case. I'm out $X, and I want you to pay $X.

5) If that doesn't get you anywhere, take action. Your best step for real action, is to try to kill a fly with a sledgehammer. Take out a warrant for his arrest, theft by deception. Might not be possible in this case, however, you can sue in civil court then, might cost you $75. Just the sherrif showing up at his door to serve the papers will let him know you're not joking. I know a car deal is a "buyer beware" sale, but you'll be surprised where you get with doing what I'm suggesting.

Try it, it's fun, and gets results.

Good luck,

Jeff

Zu, I think your problem with the rotors has nothing really to do with letting the brakes wear out, but water in the hydraulic system causing corrosion and rust which seized the components of your braking system.:eek: This is an often neglected part of the car, purging old fluid and bleeding with new! :(

Especially since you live in the Northwest where the air is always full of humidity ans sea air is loaded with it, not to mention brake fluid is very hydrophyllic!:D

To be able to have parts shipped to northern Washington State,you need a mailing address,they don't accept P/O boxes.If you have a mailing address there please pm me and share the info!
Thanks again
Dan
Richmond BC

I'm in Bellingham if you need a US address near by.

Dan
I am happy to share the info with all who live around Vancouver:

for delivery to Blaine, have the packages shipped to Hagens of Blaine.
Use this shipping address:

<YOUR NAME>
816 Peace Portal Drive
Blaine, WA 98230-4010

Give them a day after the packages have been delivered and call them at 360.332.5246 to confirm that the package is ready for pickup. You can also call them ahead of time and they will put you on file and call you when the package is ready (for a small fee).

They are just up the road from the Peace Arch border crossing in Blaine; take the exit out of the border, go past the Chevron station and they are on the left. Prices are very reasonable and the service friendly.

For delivery to Point Roberts, I use TSB Shipping:

<YOUR NAME>
1574 Gulf Road
Point Roberts, WA 98281

They are open only M-F 8am to 6:30 pm but there is no construction at that border at the moment so it will be a lot faster (and closer than Blaine). However, their prices are a bit higher than Hagens, but not unreasonable considering how much you save on the parts.

ZU:

Will you please share your parts source that ships from Richmond? I would like to compare their prices to that of my regular suppliers.

Cool; do you know of a northern WA/southern BC GTG?

Thanks so much shingleback!

Dan
Richmond BC