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so neither myself nor my wife have ever replaced front brakes before.
Recently through the help of ETCG (stay dirty) I replaced the fuel pump
in my old 1999 Mercury Mystique. My local garage wanted $600 and I
replaced it for about $20 myself.So recently we noticed our 2007 Toyota matrix have brakes that seemed
to lack stopping power. My wife even had an incident that she had
trouble stopping in time for a light. I called my local garage and
they wanted $350 to replace them. I wasn’t sure if it was my pads or
not. I looked through ETCG and watched his video on replacing front
brakes.. I checked the pads and they were very worn (under 1/4 inch)
they had not been squeeling yet tho!I decided well I’ll try to replace the pads.. I went bought some new pads.
The basic ones were $29 for both front wheels and the premium ones were
$57. I went with the good ones.I watched Eric do it afew times.. Note: I did not do the bottle trick to
catch the extra brake fluid tho.I must say replacing these pads were so Easy I was laughing and my wife
complimented me. I even had her help on the 2nd wheel.I posted some picutures that I took during the process.
Thanks guys! — oh Savings on this was $275! not to mention the time
and annoyance of taking it into the shop.
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After I got your message, I kind of sat back and thought, you’re right!
My wife and I took it for a test drive. She drove first, and I drove next.
We were out for a drive in her car and we both drove so we had something to
kind of think about to compare it with.I guess both of us think it’s slightly better. I feel it stops better however
it would be good if the pedal we abit firmer. I almost thought I should check
to see if there was any air in the lines? Any thoughts are welcome. I guess
we’re happy with it but if there’s something more we can do to tighten it up, let
me know.-Mark
Appreciate the good words. This experience and the group here help us alot in
more ways than saving money and having a safer car, but making us more confident
with our automobiles.[quote=”markwauk” post=66836]After I got your message, I kind of sat back and thought, you’re right!
My wife and I took it for a test drive. She drove first, and I drove next.
We were out for a drive in her car and we both drove so we had something to
kind of think about to compare it with.I guess both of us think it’s slightly better. I feel it stops better however
it would be good if the pedal we abit firmer. I almost thought I should check
to see if there was any air in the lines? Any thoughts are welcome. I guess
we’re happy with it but if there’s something more we can do to tighten it up, let
me know.-Mark[/quote]
any air in the master cylinder (in the brake fluid) will result in a brake pedal going all the way down to the floor.
as for a firmer brake pedal, it could have something to do with the brake pads itself. the material of which the pads are made of play a role, but not significantly.
Air in the system will not always cause the brake peddle to go to the floor.
Some brake pads give a slightly soft feel to the peddle until they bed in.
That’s what I feel on my brakes.. it doesn’t go close to the floor at all.
It’s like a softer touch.I’d compare it to almost pressure you have to apply before you get a firm stop.
I took a look around the matrix today and the rear brakes are drum brakes and
on my wife’s car (a passat) all four have pads. So on the passat it takes
a small amount of pressure to get a firm stop. On the matrix it takes abit more
pedal to get it to a hard stop.When the pads were worn the pedal would go down further than it does now.
Based on items I’m reading the drum brakes do not get used much so they should be
fine I suspect. I’ve had that car about 6 years, I could try to see if there’s
any air at all in the lines but I don’t know if it’s worth it.It may be worth removing rear drums clean, check and adjust. If you have had the vehicle for 6 years and not replaced the brake fluid I would suggest this is overdue. I would recommend every two to three years for this depending on vehicle service specs.
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