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  Them's the Brakes! (Updated)

  Aug 1, 2024

  We've all been there and I know I'm whining a bit but...sometimes it seems that the stars aren't in alignment and almost everything you touch either breaks or is already broken.  This has been my world for the last two weeks and I don't mind saying I'm ready for a change.

  Two weeks ago, our home computer network switch quit, disrupting Internet access, email and general computer operations around here.  It took a while to figure this out because all of the little blinky lights on the front of the switch were happily blinking away – but inside, it turns out no one was home.  No help for it but to get a replacement.  Yep, you guessed it - the replacement was bad out of the box and had to be returned.  I finally got one that works.  Yay!  Then our two main workstation computers started behaving strangely along with the printers too.  It took a few days to get them squared away but that’s a story for another day.  What's the old TV ad saying?  But wait - there's more!  

  While I was wrestling with computer and network issues, Jan poked her head through the office door and told me the clothes washer quit.  Sigh.  I did all of the usual troubleshooting to no avail.  Yep, you guessed it - nothing.  No lights - not even blinky ones this time, no joy whatsoever.  It’s dead, Jim.  I suppose 15 years of service is too much to ask.  Of course, we could always have it repaired for a lot less than the cost of a new one.  That is, until the next part breaks.  Given my record of late, we chose to order a new washer.  Notice that I’m very carefully not mentioning how well the dryer works.  Having had enough of the frustration, I took the GTO out for a cruise to unwind.  A nice cruise up the local Route 6 bypass known as the Casey Highway.  Just a short blast for about 15 miles or so then right back.  That’s all I wanted. 

  The ride up was perfect.  Almost no construction, beautiful weather, 70mph with the cruise control on.  Glorious!  After getting off the highway just short of Carbondale, I thought I heard a metallic noise from somewhere towards the back of the car.  Entering the on-ramp for the return trip, I heard a grinding noise that got very loud but only when the brakes were applied.  There were no vibrations when rolling, so I went slowly and got off at the next exit, shifting over to local roads with lower speeds.  By backing off the gas way early when approaching a red light, it would change back to green before I got there.  Doing this let me go about 35mph and avoid using the brakes almost completely until I got home.  Beer is a wonderful thing.

  The next day, I pulled the rear tire on the side I thought the noise was coming from.  The inside of the wheel showed scrape marks which matched up with some of the red powder coat missing from one corner of the Wilwood disc brake caliper.  Upon closer examination, I was shocked to discover one of the two caliper mounting bolts simply gone, along with the shims that locate it relative to the brake rotor. Yikes!  The second bolt was not even finger tight.  It seems the shop that I had do the rear disc brake conversion failed to apply the Loctite thread locking compound to the bolts as per the instructions, before tightening them. 

  Once the replacements arrive, I'm going to disassemble the entire installation and start from the beginning, replacing the now missing hardware and following the procedure correctly.  I don’t have to do anything with the front brakes because I did those myself.  So, here I am cleaning up another mess left by someone who should've known better.  Though I’m not happy about having to repeat work already done, I’ll have a lot more confidence in it when I’m finished.  

  Some people think I’m simply fussy when it comes to the work done to the GTO.  Actually, it’s because like a good doctor, finding a good auto mechanic is next to impossible.  But there's no use whining about it.  Them’s the breaks, or is it brakes?

  UPDATE: 8/4/2024:  I finished the rebuild and the results were eye opening.  The calipers were shimmed wrong (in my opinion).  Instead of being centered over the rotors as close as possible, they were excessively offset ranging from .040" on one side to almost .070" on the other.  That doesn't sound like much but trust me, it's a lot for this type of application.  Thinking back, this explains some odd behavior and difficulty modulating brake pressure I had experienced at low speeds.  It always felt like something was "sticking" when coming to a stop or pulling away from one.

  Wilwood says +/- .030" from center is acceptable.  With only .030" shims in the kit, it's no suprise that's the tolerance they give.  I still think that's too much but hey, that's just me.  After some careful measuring and scrounging through my other washer and shim pack leftover from the front brake install I did, I was able to get the offset within .005" just as I had done with the front brakes.  The difference in pedal feel is amazing and it now behaves and stops like I always thought should.  No sticking or weird behavior.  OK, now it's done.

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