K.. last week or so my brakes have been acting a little weird, particularly on the left side.

I jacked up the car and took of the wheels... then had a look, the left brake was "pinched", if i put the car into drive, the rotor would turn but it would slow down and "Squeek" once it reached a problem area, it would do this at higher speeds as well but with less of a squeek..

now today the sound turned into more of a metal to metal grinding.. i knew i would have to check this out at my earliest convienience... problem is, the brake didn't last that long... about a block from my destination my brake stopped working and lost pretty much all pressure. luckily i was going about 20 mph, and somehow i had enough sense in the morning (bout 7:20am) to use the e-brake... i didn't flip out and pullout drama style..but i used it to slow down some.. anyway i parked the car off in nearest parking area and walked away being that i was where i needed to be.


i came back when i was done doing my thing, and saw that there was some brake fluid on the ground, and there was even some up on the splashgaurd meaning this has been going on for a bit.. at least since my morning cruise. I popped the hood and saw that the brake fluid is way below the minimum line :-/...

i ended up driving the car to a parking area by a friends house while having someone follow me.. which is where it sits now to be expected.. i have an appointment with a mechanic for tommorow, however i don't know if that's neccessary.

i know for a fact there's a leak somewhere.. i wanted to know if anyone has had similar issues before... there's barely any pressure on the brake left, unless you punch it allllll the way in, then you get a little something.


my friend is guessing my brake lines are shot.. im hoping otherwise...

any comments / ideas? what could be wrong? price estimates?

- thanks in advance.. im out from now - 10pm est...

 

As you said, you probably have a bad brake hose or connection. It sounds like you have some pad/rotor issues too. Hard to guess a price without knowing the full extent of the problem... more than 0, less than 500.

 

Time for SS brake lines.

 

what problably happened is your brake line leaked, and lost all the fluid, and with no fluid going to the caliper, what is going to push the piston out to brake?
the slugish feeling is because you have no fluid man.
Find out where you are leaking from, replace that hose, put some brake fluid in, bleed the lines until there is no more air in the lines, and you should be ok from there.
Good luck.

 

thanks for replies people :-)


ima pop off that wheel and have a look tommorow.

 

so, what do ss lines do?

 

in a short answer, they allow less expansion than rubber lines. allowing more stopping force to be applied directly to the calipers instead of just the line itself.

 

K .. im leaking brake fluid... there is no front brake pad on left side .. and the rotor is a little worn but its usauble.. looks as if theres a leak from the caliper.

so lets see new brake pads .. 30-40$
caliper = ?
possibly new rotor = ?

also im told theres a possibillity that brake lines may get a lil f*cked up during install ...

price qoutes anyone? anyone have similar issue before?

i'll be doing the install with a friend so don't calculate labor into the cost... although i will drop off the car at a shop tommorow to see what mechanic has to say estimate-wise... (they prob going to want to replace all 4 rotors, and basically try to every which way possible.. and there's quite a bunch of ways at the moment)

also anyone parting out in N.E. area.. im in Bergen County NJ..

 

Dude try some preventive maintenence. All of this could have been avoided. Once the rotor was warped it caused the piston in the caliper to vibrate,and over heat causing the seal to go bad. You might be able to just turn the rotors but you definetly need a caliper. Go a head and get a 300z setup, if you have the wheels to clear them.

 

just goto napa and get a set of loaded calipers.

 

Yeah you are going to need new calipers most likely. I've heard you can get front rebuilt ones for $50-80 a pop from Autozone/Advance Auto/Napa, etc. I would also replace your rotors while you are at it, as they are fairly cheap, unless they are in really good condition, which judging by the squeeking, they are warped.

Also, replace your clutch lines with SS ones, that will keep them (hopefully) from ever leaking again.

 

i see a caliper for sale for relatively cheap at the moment.. as for the rotor its all right.. its a little rusty is all but its useable.

i estimated one to cost around 100$.. so yea i guess i'll be replacing that as well.. as for the 300zx setup... pain in the *** for me... spacers etc... blah, don't care about brakes all that much, as long as they can get me from 120-80-60 im good :-p, and as for the SS lines, although i hear they last quite a bit, i hear that they don't show wear over time so its hard to tell if they really do get messed up. ..

anyways i parked the car off in a shop.. so the mechanic will look at it tommorow and get at me with an estimate.. im expecting something outrageous, but at the same time hoping for something reasonable, if i end up doing this myself it'll be another 5 days for parts to come, and it'll run me about 85$ to do all 4 brakepads, and get a new caliper... roughly 185 if i switchup the rotor... and hopefully the brakelines are fine.. however if he does it im hoping i can drive off tommorow.. the question is at what cost? :-/

 

well, calipers are expensive. i think new ones are like $125 with the core. I ordered my brakes n rotors all four

http://groupbuycenter.com/Sale.aspx?id=19529

i think they cost around $250 or something close to that. The only thing i'd say not to go cheap with is NUMBER ONE brakes, NUMBER TWO suspension, NUMBER THREE wheels and tires. everything else you can be cheap on, but brakes are number one.

 

dropped off car early this morning and got price qoute from mechnic.. he said 550 - 600$... and if i had agreed earlier it woulda been rolling by now.

he said new brake lines are needed, 2 new rotors, new brake pads and 2 new calipers.

personally i think that's a f*cked up price but my dad said he'd pay half to get me to shuttup. i still would rather do the job on my own, only problem is getting parts together... currently i can get both calipers for under 100 total (a bit under 50 a peice), brake lines aren't too expensive..lets say 80$, and rotors... mmm lets say 85$ a piece X 2... so lets see thats 100 + 80 + 170 = 350... 350 + free labor vs 600 + no labor..... meh!