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Brakes...

Hey y'all, I'm back for more know how and stuffs. :D

Alright, since the mechanics in this town cannot be trusted, I'm coming here to see if anyone here would know a little more about brakes in older Subies.

As you all know, I have an 86 Subie GL; I have disc (disk? heh) brakes.

Because it is an older model and I can't afford a newer car, a lot of mechanics in this town know NOTHING about my subie. It's become quite annoying. I'm generally a do-it-yourself-er, but I have no way of lifting my car, and this is a first for me to own one.

Generally, disc and shoe replacement is an easy task (from my past experience), but it seems that most mechanics in town seem to not know a damned thing about my car. They're very unsure about older things, for instance the front rotors and the calipers. Almost every place that I have been to states that they "Don't know". Is this generally the case? Everyone seems to feel that removing the brakes will cause the Armageddon.

OH NOES

Anyhoo, is this generally a misconception that happens with older subies? I've had the brakes on my car for about three years (good ol' subie!) without ANY problems (of course, I don't drive that much).

Reply to
Caz
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Well, I had an '89 GL Turbo with discs up front, with the emergency parking brakes attatched to the front brakes as well, and I was able to replace the pads no prob. Same as any other disc brakes I've ever worked on, but I've only ever worked on Subaru disc brakes, and I don't see what the problem would be, and I would not be surprized if Subaru used the same brakes on my car as they did yours. Why change a thing arbitrarily? Get your wheel off safely, remove one of the caliper bolts, rotate up the caliper, remove the lid from the brake fluid reservoir, remove old pads and backings (whatever the thin metal plates are called) from the caliper, clean the brake areas as necessary, use anti-squeak (just seems like colored spray glue to me) on the new pads, push the brake caliper piston back into the brake caliper, and finally reverse the process you just performed by inserting new pads, etc., once the anti-squeak has had a chance to set up of course(read directions on can).

Don't ask me about rotor maintenance though I'm sure it's the same general principal as any other disc brake system. Last time I priced them for my '89 they were about $22 so I really wasn't worried about grinding or sanding the old ones. My local mechanic would have machined the old ones for $11 apiece, so long as they had enough material he said.

If it's been a while, bleeding the system may be a good idea? Again, consult the more learned.

~Brian

"Caz" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@h54g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
strchild

I think you already got good advice - and some subes do require the piston to be 'screwed' into the caliper. There are 2-3 other avenues to try also. You could post your city here and at

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to see if someone can recommend a mechanic familiar with soobs (or even an individual that might come over and guide you though the process in exchange for a six pack....) Try to fins a book at the library or online that covers your car. Chiltons, haynes - I dunno, maybe Peterson was still in business back then.

Good luck

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

What's there to know? Every disk brake I've ever looked at looked pretty much like the others. Any mechanic worth a damn should be able to look at it and fix it. I thought most shops kept service manuals as well.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

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